The Philosophy of Horror
Douban
or Paradoxes of the Heart
Carroll, Noel
overview
Noel Carroll, film scholar and philosopher, offers the first serious look at the aesthetics of horror. In this book he discusses the nature and narrative structures of the genre, dealing with horror as a "transmedia" phenomenon. A fan and serious student of the horror genre, Carroll brings to bear his comprehensive knowledge of obscure and forgotten works, as well as of the horror masterpieces. Working from a philosophical perspective, he tries to account for how people can find pleasure in having their wits scared out of them. What, after all, are those "paradoxes of the heart" that make us want to be horrified?
contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
1 The Nature of Horror 12
The Definition of Horror 12
Fantastic Biologies and the Structures of Horrific Imagery 42
Summary and Conclusion 52
2 Metaphysics and Horror, or Relating to Fictions 59
Fearing Fictions 60
Character-Identification? 88
3 Plotting Horror 97
Some Characteristic Horror Plots 97
Horror and Suspense 128
The Fantastic 144
4 Why Horror? 158
The Paradox of Horror 159
Horror and Ideology 195
Horror Today 206
Notes 215
Index 251