The Philosophy of Horror: Or, Paradoxes of the Heart (Paperback)

~ (Author) "For over a decade and a half, perhaps especially in the United States, horror has flourished as a major source of mass aesthetic stimulation..." (more)
Key Phrases: Green Slime, Stephen King, Clive Barker (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

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?

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (January 19, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415902169
• ISBN-13: 978-0415902168
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 3.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #72,380 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Dense and Stuffy Reading, June 4, 2007

By	9 2 5... (elevated plane of awareness) - See all my reviews

The book is an excellent resource for people who love the horror genre. It analyzes the elements of "art horror," in a step-by-step approach. The author strives to explore two questions- 1. why that which we know is not real still frightens us, and 2. why we like to be terrified. The author gives a history of art horror and focuses mainly on the classics (like Frakenstein, Nosferatu, The Shining, etc.) She writes an incredibly in depth primer discussing a very wide range of topics, all in great detail. My main problem with the text is that at times, it is way too in depth, and many times this drudgery is on irrelevant topics. For example, the author spends an entire chapter (80 pages) devoted solely to the purpose of defining horror. From a scholarly perspective, this explanation is great because it defines the art horror genre while leaving no stone unturned, and no gray areas about it. For the casual reader, the text can become dull and redundant. The book was created specially for the education of film students, so I would not recomend it for someone on the lookout for a vibrant and engrossing read.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Connoisseur of the Macabre, April 20, 2001

By	Meri (New York, USA) - See all my reviews

This is a philosophical and psychological look at why people love to experience the horror film (and novel). It teaches people how to understand the dynamics of film making and how simple techniques are used to fool our conscious (and unconscious) mind.

9 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A excellent academic analysis of various elements in horror., August 10, 1998

By A Customer

This essay attempts and succeeds at explaining why horror literature fascinates our culture. I myself had wondered why people write in this genre,and why is that we can enjoy a seemingly strange area of fiction.

I espically recommend this book to any person who is new to horror,and would like to learn about it. Even thought this book is written in a scholarly manner I think the language is down to earth for most any person to read.