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The Horror Theory Reader

The Horror Theory Reader

Edited by Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock

Published by: University Of Minnesota Press

Imprint: Univ Of Minnesota Press

528 Pages, 178.00 × 254.00 mm, 19 black and white illustrations and 2 tables

Paperback
9781517917821
Published: January 2026

£26.99

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Hardcover
9781517917814
Published: January 2026

£112.00

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Description
Contents
Authors

A comprehensive guide to the timeless, paradoxical appeal of horror

Why do we enjoy horror? The emotional responses the genre provokes—fear, dread, and disgust—are ones we typically seek to avoid, so what is the appeal of narratives and artistic representations that seek to scare, startle, shock, and repulse? In The Horror Theory Reader, Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock assembles theorizations of the genre’s appeal from antiquity to the present day to explore the “paradox of horror” that has for millennia preoccupied theorists and consumers alike.

Beginning with an introduction situating the history of horror in the context of moral panics, this carefully curated volume then is organized into three sections that introduce early attempts to explain horror’s fascination; present perspectives from horror writers, filmmakers, and scholars; and offer nuanced considerations of horror’s intersections with disability, queerness, race, and gender. Featuring classic commentaries on the genre by H. P. Lovecraft, Alfred Hitchcock, and Stephen King alongside incisive essays by philosophers, literary and film scholars, cultural critics, and others, The Horror Theory Reader is indispensable for scholars and will be of interest to anyone curious about our paradoxical enjoyment of appalling and fearsome things.

Contributions by: Joseph Addison; Aristotle; Anna Letitia Barbauld; Dani Bethea; Edmund Burke; NoËl Carroll, CUNY Graduate Center; Brigid Cherry; Mathias Clasen, Aarhus U; Douglas E. Cowan, Renison U College; Meghan Downes, Monash U; Berys Gaut, U of St. Andrews; Julian Hanich, U of Groningen; Sheri-Marie Harrison, U of Missouri; Matt Hills, U of Huddersfield; Alfred Hitchcock; David Hume; Mark Jancovich, U of East Anglia; Stephen King; Petra Kuppers, U of Michigan; H. P. Lovecraft; G. Neil Martin, Regent’s U London; John Morreall, College of William and Mary; Monika Negra; Nina Nesseth; Anne Radcliffe; Fredrich Schiller; Walter Scott; Tim Snelson, U of East Anglia; Christopher St. John Sprigg; Susan Stryker, U of Arizona; S. Trimble, U of Toronto; Kendall Walton, U of Michigan; Linda Williams, UC Berkeley; Robin Wood.

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Contents

Introduction. "Won't Someone Please Think of the Children?!" Thinking Horror Through the Lens of Moral Panic

Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock

Part I. Early Inquiries and Quick Takes

1. From Poetics

Aristotle

2. Of Tragedy

David Hume

3. On the Reason We Take Pleasure in Tragic Subjects

Friedrich Schiller, translated by George W. Gregory

4. From A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and the Beautiful

Edmund Burke

5. From "Why Terrour and Grief Are Pleasing to the Mind When Excited by Descriptions"

Joseph Addison

6. On the Pleasure Derived from Objects of Terror

Anna Laetitia Barbauld

7. On the Supernatural in Poetry

Ann Radcliffe

8. On the Supernatural in Fictitious Composition; and Particularly on the Works of Ernest Theodore William Hoffman

Walter Scott

9. Introduction to Supernatural Horror in Literature

H. P. Lovecraft

10. Introduction to Uncanny Stories

Christopher St. John Sprigg

11. The Enjoyment of Fear

Alfred Hitchcock

12. From Danse Macabre

Stephen King

Part II. The Paradox of Horror

13. Fearing Fictions

Kendall Walton

14. The Paradox of Horror

Berys Gaut

15. From The Philosophy of Horror; or, Paradoxes of the Heart

Noël Carroll

16. Enjoying Negative Emotions in Fictions

John Morreall

17. Fear for Your Life: The Appeals, Functions, and Effects of Horror

Mathias Clasen

18. An Introduction to the American Horror Film

Robin Wood

19. From Sacred Terror: Religion and Horror on the Silver Screen

Douglas E. Cowan

20. From "Discipline and Distraction: Psycho, Visual Culture, and Postmodern Cinema"

Linda Williams

21. Frightening Fascination: A Phenomenology of Direct Horror

Julian Hanich

22. (Why) Do You Like Scary Movies? A Review of the Empirical Research on Psychological Responses to Horror Films

G. Neil Martin

23. Horror's Long-Lasting Appeal

Nina Nesseth

Part III. Different Voices

24. Displaying Connoisseurship, Recognizing Craftsmanship

Matt Hills

25. My Words to Victor Frankenstein Above the Village of Chamounix: Performing Transgender Rage

Susan Stryker

26. Refusing to Refuse to Look: Female Viewers of the Horror Film

Brigid Cherry

27. From "Horror at the Crossroads: Class, Gender, and Taste at the Rialto"

Mark Jancovich and Tim Snelson

28. Critical Pleasures: Reflections on the Indonesian Horror Genre and Its Anti-Fans

Meghan Downes

29. New Black Gothic

Sheri-Marie Harrison

30. Black Horror Beyond the White Gaze: A Conversation

Dani Bethea and Monika Negra

31. Contemporary Horror and Disability: Adaptations and Active Readers

Petra Kuppers

32. A Demon-Girl's Guide to Life

S. Trimble

Publication History

Contributors

Index