Download or read book Science and Destabilization in the Modern American Gothic written by David Oakes and published by Praeger. This book was released on 2000-06-30 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The writers of Gothic literature reflect in their works the concerns and fears of the times in which they were created, not only making these tales cultural artifacts of a previous time, but also showing how some sources of dread remain constant over the passage of centuries. This book examines how H.P. Lovecraft, Richard Matheson, and Stephen King have used science and technology in their modern Gothic works to destabilize the reader; that is, to create the sense of fear and dread at the heart of the Gothic genre. In doing so, these works force readers to ask disturbing questions about the society around them and to challenge long-accepted notions and belief systems.
Download or read book Science Fiction Canonization Marginalization and the Academy written by Gary Westfahl and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2002-01-30 with total page 191 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Science fiction occupies a peculiar place in the academic study of literature. For decades, scholars have looked at science fiction with disdain and have criticized it for being inferior to other types of literature. But despite the sentiments of these traditionalists, many works of science fiction engage recognized canonical texts, such as the Odyssey, and many traditionally canonical works contain elements of science fiction. More recently, the canon has been subject to revision, as scholars have deliberately sought to include works that reflect diversity and have participated in the serious study of popular culture. But these attempts to create a more inclusive canon have nonetheless continued to marginalize science fiction. This book examines the treatment of science fiction within the academy. The expert contributors to this volume explore a wide range of topics related to the place of science fiction in literary studies. These include academic attitudes toward science fiction, the role of journals and cultural gatekeepers in canon formation, and the marginalization of specific works and authors by literary critics. In addition, the volume gives special attention to multicultural and feminist concerns. In discussing these topics, the book sheds considerable light on much broader issues related to the politics of literary studies and academic inquiry.
Download or read book Reading Richard Matheson written by Cheyenne Mathews and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2014-05-07 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Richard Matheson (1926–2013) was a prolific author and screenwriter whose career helped shape the horror and fantasy genres in literature, film, and television for over sixty years. Matheson authored more than ninety short stories and dozens of novels, many of which—including I Am Legend, A Stir of Echoes, What Dreams May Come, The Shrinking Man, Hell House, and Bid Time Return—have been adapted into feature films. Despite his extensive body of work and influence, however, Matheson has remained largely outside the scope of academic scrutiny. The essays in Reading Richard Matheson: A Critical Survey provide the first critical overview of Matheson’s texts, covering seven of Matheson’s novels, a sampling of short stories, and several adaptations for both film and television. The essays are arranged thematically and address the sociopolitical anxieties reflected in Matheson’s oeuvre; consider his precursors and successors; and situate him within narrative traditions of mythology, cinema, genre, and memory studies. By providing an overview of his career, Reading Richard Matheson illustrates how a commercial writer can contribute to academic discourses of literature and film. Though the essays use a variety of theoretical frameworks, the crossover nature of the collection reflects the broad range of Matheson’s output. As such, this volume will appeal to fans of Matheson’s work in general as well as scholars of literature, film studies, cultural studies, genre studies, media studies, memory studies, and popular culture.
Download or read book Alan Moore and the Gothic tradition written by Matthew Green and published by Manchester University Press. This book was released on 2015-11-01 with total page 358 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first book-length study to address Moore’s significance to the Gothic, this volume is also the first to provide in-depth analyses of his spoken-word performances, poetry and prose, as well as his comics and graphic novels. The essays collected here identify the Gothic tradition as perhaps the most significant cultural context for understanding Moore’s work, providing unique insight into its wider social and political dimensions as well as addressing key theoretical issues in Gothic Studies, Comics Studies and Adaptation Studies. Scholars, students and general readers alike will find fresh insights into Moore’s use of horror and terror, homage and parody, plus allusion and adaptation. The international list of contributors includes leading researchers in the field and the studies presented here enhance the understanding of Moore’s works while at the same time exploring the ways in which these serve to advance a broader appreciation of Gothic aesthetics.
Download or read book The Pleasures of Horror written by Matt Hills and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2005-06-20 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Pleasures of Horror is a stimulating and insightful exploration of horror fictions—literary, cinematic and televisual—and the emotions they engender in their audiences. The text is divided into three sections. The first examines how horror is valued and devalued in different cultural fields; the second investigates the cultural politics of the contemporary horror film; while the final part considers horror fandom in relation to its embodied practices (film festivals), its "reading formations" (commercial fan magazines and fanzines) and the role of special effects. Pleasures of Horror combines a wide range of media and textual examples with highly detailed and closely focused exposition of theory. It is a fascinating and engaging look at responses to a hugely popular genre and an invaluable resource for students of media, cultural and film studies and fans of horror.
Download or read book The Science Fiction Dimensions of Salman Rushdie written by Yael Maurer and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2014-01-30 with total page 213 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book focuses on the science fictional dimensions of Rushdie's later novels, Fury, The Ground Beneath Her Feet, Shalimar the Clown and Luka and the Fire of Life, and Rushdie's first unpublished novel, The Antagonist, to show how the author's oeuvre moves towards a more consistent engagement with science fiction as a generic form and an ideological investment. The author demonstrates how Rushdie recreates personal and national histories in a science fictional setting and mode, and contends that the failure of his first novel Grimus may have led Rushdie away from SF for some time, although he returns to it with a much firmer conviction and a much stronger voice in his later novels, showing his commitment to this imaginative form which he describes in Fury as providing "the best popular vehicle ever devised for the novel of ideas and metaphysics."The science fictional mode is the most appropriate vehicle for expressing these thematic and ideological concerns and the organizing feature of Rushdie's oeuvre. The author rereads the later novels in light of recent critical engagement with SF as a vehicle for reimagining national histories and as a potentially subversive tool for social and political engagement in a fictional realm.
Download or read book A Research Guide to Gothic Literature in English written by Sherri L. Brown and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2018-03-15 with total page 253 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Gothic began as a designation for barbarian tribes, was associated with the cathedrals of the High Middle Ages, was used to describe a marginalized literature in the late eighteenth century, and continues today in a variety of forms (literature, film, graphic novel, video games, and other narrative and artistic forms). Unlike other recent books in the field that focus on certain aspects of the Gothic, this work directs researchers to seminal and significant resources on all of its aspects. Annotations will help researchers determine what materials best suit their needs. A Research Guide to Gothic Literature in English covers Gothic cultural artifacts such as literature, film, graphic novels, and videogames. This authoritative guide equips researchers with valuable recent information about noteworthy resources that they can use to study the Gothic effectively and thoroughly.
Download or read book Horror Literature through History 2 volumes written by Matt Cardin and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2017-09-21 with total page 1004 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This two-volume set offers comprehensive coverage of horror literature that spans its deep history, dominant themes, significant works, and major authors, such as Stephen King, Edgar Allan Poe, and Anne Rice, as well as lesser-known horror writers. Many of today's horror story fans—who appreciate horror through movies, television, video games, graphic novels, and other forms—probably don't realize that horror literature is not only one of the most popular types of literature but one of the oldest. People have always been mesmerized by stories that speak to their deepest fears. Horror Literature through History shows 21st-century horror fans the literary sources of their favorite entertainment and the rich intrinsic value of horror literature in its own right. Through profiles of major authors, critical analyses of important works, and overview essays focused on horror during particular periods as well as on related issues such as religion, apocalypticism, social criticism, and gender, readers will discover the fascinating early roots and evolution of horror writings as well as the reciprocal influence of horror literature and horror cinema. This unique two-volume reference set provides wide coverage that is current and compelling to modern readers—who are of course also eager consumers of entertainment. In the first section, overview essays on horror during different historical periods situate works of horror literature within the social, cultural, historical, and intellectual currents of their respective eras, creating a seamless narrative of the genre's evolution from ancient times to the present. The second section demonstrates how otherwise unrelated works of horror have influenced each other, how horror subgenres have evolved, and how a broad range of topics within horror—such as ghosts, vampires, religion, and gender roles—have been handled across time. The set also provides alphabetically arranged reference entries on authors, works, and specialized topics that enable readers to zero in on information and concepts presented in the other sections.
Download or read book Science and Social Science in Bram Stoker s Fiction written by Carol A. Senf and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2002-10-30 with total page 172 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Best known today as the author of Dracula, Bram Stoker also wrote several other works, including The Jewel of Seven Stars, Lady Athlyne, and The Lair of the White Worm. In his exploration of supernatural subjects, such as vampirism, he is clearly a Gothic writer. The fantastic elements of his novels seem very much at odds with the world of science. Stoker, nonetheless, draws upon a large body of scientific theory and technological innovation throughout his writings. This book studies his blending of Gothic subjects with emerging discoveries in science and technology. The volume begins with an overview of Stoker's familiarity with scientific and technical developments. It then examines the role of science and technology in his various works, which demonstrate his familiarity with civil engineering, anthropology, physics, chemistry, and archaeology. While many of his writings seem to offer a rather uncritical celebration of science and its applications, some works, such as The Jewel of Seven Stars, reveal what happens when science oversteps its bounds. Stoker emerges as an early writer of science fiction whose work thoughtfully considers the place of science in society.
Download or read book I Am Legend as American Myth written by Amy J. Ransom and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2018-07-10 with total page 231 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Richard Matheson’s 1954 novel I Am Legend has spawned a series of iconic horror and science fiction films, including The Last Man on Earth (1964), The Omega Man (1971) and I Am Legend (2007). The compelling narrative of the last man on earth, struggling to survive a pandemic that has transformed the rest of humanity into monsters, has become an American myth. While the core story remains intact, filmmakers have transformed the details over time, reflecting changing attitudes about race and masculinity. This reexamination of Matheson’s novel situates the tale of one man’s conflicted attitude about killing racialized “others” within its original post–World War II context, engaging the question of post-traumatic stress disorder. The author analyzes the several film adaptations, with a focus on the casting and interpretations of protagonist Robert Neville.
Download or read book Richard Matheson s Monsters written by June M. Pulliam and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2016-02-02 with total page 269 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Richard Matheson was one of the leading writers of science fiction, fantasy, and horror in the twentieth century. Matheson’s most famous early works, the novels I Am Legend (1954) and The Shrinking Man (1956), both depict traditionally masculine figures thrust into extraordinary situations. Other thought-provoking novels, including Hell House (1971), Bid Time Return (1975), and What Dreams May Come (1978)—as well as short stories and screenplays—convey the ambiguous status of masculinity: how men should behave vis-à-vis women and what role they should occupy in the family dynamic and in society at large. In Richard Matheson’s Monsters: Gender in the Stories, Scripts, Novels and Twilight Zone Episodes, June M. Pulliam and Anthony J. Fonseca examine how this groundbreaking author’s writings shed light on society’s ever-shifting attitudes on masculinity and domesticity. In this first full-length critical study of Matheson’s entire literary output, the authors discuss how I Am Legend, The Shrinking Man, and other works question traditional male roles. The authors examine how Matheson’s scripts for The Twilight Zone represented changing expectations in male behavior with the onset of the sexual and feminist revolutions, industrialization and globalization, and other issues. In a society where gender roles are questioned every day, Matheson’s work is more relevant than ever. Richard Matheson’s Monsters will be of interest to scholars of literature, film, and television, as well those interested in gender and masculinity studies.
Download or read book The Gothic Probing the Boundaries written by Eoghain Hamilton and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2020-04-14 with total page 197 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume was first published by Interdisciplinary Press in 2012. The Gothic lives! From The Castle of Otranto to today’s Let Me In, the Gothic continues to be part of popular consciousness. Yet, even as it has adapted to fit changing times and technologies, it has retained both its essence and its hold on our imagination. What defines the Gothic? What are its parameters? This collection of essays, the work of scholars who met at the first-ever global conference on the Gothic, looks at the Gothic today—in print and other media including cinema, in music, in fashion, and in the popular culture of countries around the world. This volume of essays is another step in the process of understanding a genre that stretches the boundaries of definition and continues to make its way, adapting and changing along the way, into new aspects of modern culture.
Download or read book Mind Style and Cognitive Grammar written by Louise Nuttall and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2018-09-06 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mind Style and Cognitive Grammar advances our understanding of mind style: the experience of other minds, or worldviews, through language in literature. This book is the first to set out a detailed, unified framework for the analysis of mind style using the account of language and cognition set out in cognitive grammar. Drawing on insights from cognitive linguistics, Louise Nuttall aims to explain how character and narrator minds are created linguistically, with a focus on the strange minds encountered in the genre of speculative fiction. Previous analyses of mind style are reconsidered using cognitive grammar, alongside original analyses of four novels by Margaret Atwood, Kazuo Ishiguro, Richard Matheson and J.G. Ballard. Responses to the texts in online forums and literary critical studies ground the analyses in the experiences of readers, and support an investigation of this effect as an embodied experience cued by the language of a text. Mind Style and Cognitive Grammar advances both stylistics and cognitive linguistics, whilst offering new insights for research in speculative fiction.
Download or read book Gothic Writers written by Douglass H. Thomson and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2001-11-30 with total page 543 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With its roots in Romanticism, antiquarianism, and the primacy of the imagination, the Gothic genre originated in the 18th century, flourished in the 19th, and continues to thrive today. This reference is designed to accommodate the critical and bibliographical needs of a broad spectrum of users, from scholars seeking critical assistance to general readers wanting an introduction to the Gothic, its abundant criticism, and the present state of Gothic Studies. The volume includes alphabetically arranged entries on more than 50 Gothic writers from Horace Walpole to Stephen King. Entries for Russian, Japanese, French, and German writers give an international scope to the book, while the focus on English and American literature shows the dynamic nature of Gothicism today. Each of the entries is devoted to a particular author or group of authors whose works exhibit Gothic elements, beginning with a primary bibliography of works by the writer, including modern editions. This section is followed by a critical essay, which examines the author's use of Gothic themes, the author's place in the Gothic tradition, and the critical reception of the author's works. The entries close with selected, annotated bibliographies of scholarly studies. The volume concludes with a timeline and a bibliography of the most important broad scholarly works on the Gothic.
Download or read book Gothic Transgressions written by Ellen Redling and published by LIT Verlag Münster. This book was released on 2015 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The articles in this volume discuss specific ways in which the Gothic transgresses boundaries, be they historical, spatial, national, aesthetic, generic, modal, medial, or sexual. Offering a wide range in every respect - from 'Proto' to 'Post-Gothic, ' from mythical to digital, from national to 'Globalgothic, ' from metropolitan to 'EcoGothic, ' from traditional to 'Candygothic, ' from novel to film and from Shakespeare to Steampunk - this collection aims to enrich as well as extend the scholarly debate on the Gothic as a multi-faceted mode of expression that goes beyond limits and, much like a vampire, constantly refreshes itself by feeding on the lifeblood of topical issues. (Series: Culture: Research and Science / Kultur: Forschung und Wissenschaft - Vol. 19) [Subject: Popular Culture, Literary Critic
Download or read book The Literary Haunted House written by Rebecca Janicker and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2015-01-09 with total page 332 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The haunted house of American fiction is an iconic union of setting and theme with an enduring presence in popular culture that traces its lineage to the early English Gothic novels. Blurring the boundaries between past and present, the living and the dead, the haunted house--synonymous with the dark side of domesticity--challenges accepted notions of reality and wields a special power over the reader's imagination. Focusing on the work of H. P. Lovecraft, Richard Matheson and Stephen King, this critical work offers a fresh perspective on one of the most popular motifs in American fiction. Case studies demonstrate how these authors have kept the past alive while highlighting the complexities of modern society, using their ghostly tales to celebrate and challenge 20th century American history and culture.
Download or read book A Companion to Twentieth Century United States Fiction written by David Seed and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2010-01-21 with total page 608 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Through a wide-ranging series of essays and relevant readings, A Companion to Twentieth-Century United States Fiction presents an overview of American fiction published since the conclusion of the First World War. Features a wide-ranging series of essays by American, British, and European specialists in a variety of literary fields Written in an approachable and accessible style Covers both classic literary figures and contemporary novelists Provides extensive suggestions for further reading at the end of each essay
