Tales of Dread
Vědecký článek
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Trvalý odkaz
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11956/105816Identifikátory
Kolekce
- Číslo 1 [14]
Autor
Datum vydání
2019Nakladatel
Univerzita Karlova, Filozofická fakultaZdrojový dokument
Estetika: The Central European Journal of Aesthetics (web)ISSN: 2571-0915
Rok vydání periodika: 2019
Ročník periodika: 2019
Číslo periodika: 1
Odkaz na licenční podmínky
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/Klíčová slova (anglicky)
horror, genre, narrative, Todorov T., Freud Z., Carroll N.‘Tales of dread’ is a genre that has received scant attention in aesthetics. In this paper, I aim
to elaborate an account of tales of dread which (1) effectively distinguishes these from
horror stories, and (2) helps explain the close affinity between the two, accommodating
borderline cases. I briefly consider two existing accounts of the genre – namely, those of
Noël Carroll and of Cynthia Freeland – and show why they are inadequate for my purposes.
I then develop my own account of tales of dread, drawing on two theoretical resources:
Freud’s ‘The “Uncanny”’, and Tzvetan Todorov’s The Fantastic. In particular, I draw on Freud
to help distinguish tales of dread from horror stories, and I draw on Todorov to help explain
the fluidity between the genres. I argue that both horror stories and tales of dread feature
apparent impossibilities which are threatening; but whereas in horror stories the existence
of the monster (the apparent impossibility) is confirmed, tales of dread are sustained by
the audience’s uncertainty pertaining to preternatural objects or events. Where horror
monsters pose an immediate, concrete danger to the subject’s physical well-being, these
preternatural objects or events pose a psychological threat to the subject’s grasp of reality.