Research Catalog

Title

A dark night's dreaming : contemporary American horror fiction / edited by Tony Magistrale, Michael A. Morrison.

Publication

Columbia, S.C. : University of South Carolina Press, [1996], ©1996.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• Magistrale, Tony.
• Morrison, Michael A., 1949-

Description

xi, 141 pages; 24 cm.

Summary

• A Dark Night's Dreaming opens by defining the shape of horror fiction today, illuminating the genre's narrative themes, psychological and social contexts, and historical development. The core of the volume focuses on the lives and major works of the six who have dramatically shaped the genre: William Peter Blatty, Thomas Harris, Stephen King, Anne Rice, Peter Straub, and Whitley Strieber. A final chapter analyzes the complex relationship between horror fiction and its adaptation to film.
• Looking beyond the tormented maidens, madmen, monsters, and other archetypes of the genre, these critics differentiate contemporary Gothic fiction from that of earlier generations while demonstrating that horror remains one of the most important and consistent strains connecting the diverse elements of the American literary tradition. They comment on the genre's enormous popularity and undeniable influence in American society and scrutinize its changing representations of women, monsters, and gore.
• The volume concludes with an extensive bibliography of primary and secondary works.

Series Statement

Understanding contemporary American literature

Uniform Title

Understanding contemporary American literature.

Subject

Horror tales, American > History and criticism

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 123-135) and index.

Contents

Introduction: Tony Magistrale and Michael A. Morrison -- 1. After the Danse: Horror at the End of the Century / Michael A. Morrison -- 2. Transmogrified Gothic: The Novels of Thomas Harris / Tony Magistrale -- 3. The Art of Balance: Stephen King's Canon / Edwin F. Casebeer -- 4. Living with(out) Boundaries: The Novels of Anne Rice / Lynda Haas and Robert Haas -- 5. Mirror and Labyrinth: The Fiction of Peter Straub / Bernadette Lynn Bosky -- 6. Casting Out Demons: The Horror Fiction of William Peter Blatty / Douglas E. Winter -- 7. Adam's Dream: The Gothic Imagination of Whitley Strieber / Mary Pharr -- 8. Culture in the Hall of Mirrors: Film and Fiction and Fiction and Film / Michael J. Collins.

ISBN

1570030707

LCCN

95040646

OCLC

ocm33079336

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries