Mazes of the Serpent: An Anatomy of Horror Narrative

Roger B. Salomon

Published by Cornell University Press 2002

Mazes of the Serpent

An Anatomy of Horror Narrative

Roger B. Salomon

https://doi.org/10.7591/9781501718472

Overview
Contents

About this book

In a compact, readable, and accessible book, Roger B. Salomon explores the nature of horror in literature and in life. Rather than minimizing horror by narrowly associating it with psychological drives, persecution, or extremism, he approaches horror...

Author / Editor information

Roger B. Salomon is Oviatt Professor of English, Emeritus, at Case Western Reserve University. He is the author of Twain and the Image of History and Desperate Storytelling: Post-Romantic Elaborations of the Mock-Heroic Mode.

Reviews

R.W. B. Lewis, Professor Emeritus of American Studies, Yale University:

This is an event: A fascinating and chilling journey through the whole world of human horror, both in its literary representations and in historical reality. The author has really created his subject, drawing on the many various sources he has skillfully brought together. Thoroughly readable, this is a contribution of magnitude to general cultural history.

George E. Haggerty, University of California, Riverside:

Salomon brilliantly illumines the shadowy mazes of his title and uses the techniques of narratological analysis to bring together a wide range of horror fiction and fact. This is a provocative book that probes its topic deeply and leaves us more aware of what horror fiction can accomplish in contemporary culture. In attempting to 'explain the unexplainable,' Salomon takes us further than many studies of Gothic fiction have done. I recommend this book to Gothicists and other students of horror.

J. Tharp, University of Wisconsin Colleges:

Salomon (Case Western Reserve Univ.) layers the text with dense references to gothic fiction, to writers of every stripe, and to influential literary critics.... The result is a provocative, measured exploration of the elements that define horror narrative, both as literary genre and as real-life stories.... Summing up: Highly recommended.

Anne Williams, University of Georgia:

Roger B. Salomon shows that horror always challenges the fictions of order and reason that constitute 'reality' in literature and life. This book should be required reading for anyone interested in the Gothic tradition.

William Patrick Day, Oberlin College:

Mazes of the Serpent is an eminently readable book—clear, lucid, and concise. Roger B. Salomon achieves this clarity without sacrificing complexity or depth. This book will help renew interest in the poetics of horror.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Introduction: Horror Explained (Away) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
1. Alternate Worlds Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	7
2. Ghosts and Other Monsters Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	28
3. Conventions of Absence: The Style of Literary Horror Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	71
4. Beyond Realism: Horror Narrative as Parody Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	112
5. Horror and the Absence of Redemption Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	145
Works Cited Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	165
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	171

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Audience: General/trade;
Pages
- Main content: 200
Keywords: Literary Studies; American Studies

eBook

Published: July 5, 2018
ISBN: 9781501718472