Scan barcode
A review by beholderess
The Philosophy of Horror: Or, Paradoxes of the Heart by Noël Carroll
2.0
The subject of the book is interesting to me, however, the author's style is difficult to read. It does feel like a scientific monograph that does not have any reader in mind sometimes.
Also, the author is keen to push his own understanding of what counts as "horror", to define it as something that a) features monsters b) those monsters are repulsive, which leaves quite a lot of fiction typically understood as "horror" unaccounted for. He does notice that, and delegates such fiction to "thriller" or "doom" category, but I still think that it should have been seen as an integral part of horror, as it elicits pretty much the same reaction in people, usually placed on the same place in stores, and people seek it out for the same reasons.
Yet the whole thesis of the author hinges on defining horror as featuring "repulsive monsters", which allows him to use Purity and Danger-inspired framework for analysis.
Also, the author is keen to push his own understanding of what counts as "horror", to define it as something that a) features monsters b) those monsters are repulsive, which leaves quite a lot of fiction typically understood as "horror" unaccounted for. He does notice that, and delegates such fiction to "thriller" or "doom" category, but I still think that it should have been seen as an integral part of horror, as it elicits pretty much the same reaction in people, usually placed on the same place in stores, and people seek it out for the same reasons.
Yet the whole thesis of the author hinges on defining horror as featuring "repulsive monsters", which allows him to use Purity and Danger-inspired framework for analysis.