Dreadful Pleasures: An Anatomy of Modern Horror [Hardcover]

James B. Twitchell (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0195035666 | ISBN-13: 978-0195035667 | Publication Date: October 31, 1985

Dreadful Pleasures offers a lively look at those stories that make our hair stand on end--their persistence in our culture, their manifestations in art, and our need for the frissons they provide. James Twitchell traces our fascination with horror from the cave paintings at Lascaux to the "slasher" movies today.
Twitchell finds that three particular stories have had a special resonance in our culture: the bloodsucker (Dracula), the deformed creature (Frankenstein), and the transformation monster (The Wolfman, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde). Why have these stories persisted to the point of becoming mythic and to the exclusion of others? Whatever happened to the Phantom of the Opera or the Hunchback of Notre Dame or the Creature from the Black Lagoon? Using a psychoanalytic approach, Twitchell argues that the stories we seek out and preserve are th ones that carry certain information as well as horror. These myths, he contends, warn their adolescent audiences of the dangers of careless sexual behavior: they seem to say--subliminally--that sex itself is not horrible, but sex with certain people is.
Whether discussing the engravings of William Hogarth or The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Twitchell is consistently insightful, provocative, and entertaining. Film buffs and scholars literary critics and devotees of the Gothic novel will all welcome this study.
About the Author:
James B. Twitchell is Professor of English at the University of Florida, Gainesville. His previous books include GThe Living Dead: The Vampire in Romantic Literature and Romantic Horizons: Aspects of the Sublime in English Poetry and Painting.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Waller, Gregory A. The Living and the Undead: fromn Stroker's ``Dracula'' to Romero's ``Dawn of the Dead.'' Univ. of Illinois Pr. Jan. 1986. c.384p. illus. index. LC 84-24027. ISBN 0-252-01208-9. $24.95. film/lit The new academic respectability of popular culture is on prominent display in these fascinating studies of 19th- and especially 20th-century horror narratives. Both writers bring an impressive array of persepectivespsychoanalytic, literary critical, anthropologicalto bear on novels and films that demonstrate our continuing fascination with abominations. Twitchell's scope is the broader one. Developing ideas about monstrosity he first suggested in the more narrowly literary The Living Dead (Duke, 1981), he attempts an anatomy of modern horror by focussing on the original appearances and subsequent reincarnations of Dracula, Frankenstein, and what he calls ``the transformation monster.'' Twitchell's anatomy is ultimately psychoanalytic: we create and re-create these monsters to remind us all of the dangers of incestan argument which is not fully convincing, but always stimulating. Waller confines himself to variations on the vampire story (with Dracula as the model), which he defines as confrontations between the living and the undead. For him, these narratives (mostly films) can be considered together as a ``genre,'' one which constantly redefines itself both in relation to previous tellings and to the ongoing history of the culture which produces it. For Waller, vampire stories are finally about human ``survival,'' a slightly reductive conclusion to a book which frequently displays great subtlety and insight in interpreting these narratives (especially the films) both individually and as a genre. John Allen Stevenson, English Dept., Univ. of Colorado, Boulder
Copyright 1985 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"A tour de force of speculative criticism which combines scholarship with some shrewd and vivacious wit....Excellent....A fine and provocative book."--Film Criticism

"Splendid and humorously written....An insightful and adventurous interpretation of what we experience as the 'shivers.'"--Kirkus Reviews

"A provocative delight....With skill and style, Twitchell has plumbed the human psyche to discover what there is that loves to see films about vampires, werewolves, and manmade creatures."--Cineaste

"An excellent book which I would recommend for any course related to the tradition of horror in the cinema or literature."--Leger Grindon, Middlebury College

"Engaging, lively, and full of fascinating things. Twitchell wears fine scholarship lightly, and draws on aesthetics, philosophy and art as well as psychology."--Philadelphia Inquirer

"Gives a new direction and a certain critical respectability to the usually disparaging epithet, 'horror story.'"--Studies in English Literature

"Images of horror--especially those conveyed by Gothic fictions and mass-culture films--are Twitchell's concerns in this profusely--and aptly--illustrated book."--The New York Review of Books

"Lively...entertaining and frequently enlightening."--The New York Times Book Review

"An excellent study of modern horror."--Jack G. Voller, Southern Illinois University --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 360 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (October 31, 1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195035666
• ISBN-13: 978-0195035667
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,350,886 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Best intro to the horror genre that I've read., January 10, 1999

By 

Christopher Weaver "weaverc" (Wayne, NJ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dreadful Pleasures: An Anatomy of Modern Horror (Paperback)

There's a lot of horror criticism and commentary floating around out there these days, but Twitchell's book is still one of the best I've read. In fact, I wish he'd update it since it's pretty old--I think it ends with the late seventies.

Not everyone will agree with his approach which is unapologetically Freudian. He sees horror as a morality tale, instructing readers and viewers (too book looks at both films and fiction) in what sexual behavior is appropirate. While this approach may put people off, I'd urge them to keep reading. Even where you may not agree with Twitchell, his arguments are very interesting and worth considering. What's more, this is a pretty readable book, and that's refreshing in these days of "culture studies" where academics can't seen to write books without spouting jargon like "poststructuralist feminist hegemonic non-essentialism."

The book focuses mostly on kinds of monsters--particularly: the vampire, the shape-shifter, and the dead-thing brought to life (i.e., the vampire, the werewolf, and Frankenstein's creature).