The Biology of Horror: Gothic Literature and Film

8vo, br. ed. used, a few pencil underlinings. Unearthing the fearful flesh and sinful skins at the heart of gothic horror, Jack Morgan rends the genreís biological core from its oft-discussed psychological elements and argues for a more transhistorical conception of the gothic, one negatively related to comedy. The Biology of Horror: Gothic Literature and Film dissects popular examples from the gothic literary and cinematic canon, exposing the inverted comic paradigm within each text. Morganís study begins with an extensive treatment of comedy as theoretically conceived by Suzanne Langer, C. L. Barber, and Mikhail Bakhtin. Then, Morgan analyzes the physical and mythological nature of horror in inverted comic terms, identifying a biologically grounded mythos of horror. Motifs such as sinister loci, languishment, masquerade, and subversion of sensual perception are contextualized here as embedded in an organic reality, resonating with biological motives and consequences. Morgan also devotes a chapter to the migration of the gothic tradition into American horror, emphasizing the body as horrorís essential place in American gothic. The bulk of Morganís study is applied to popular gothic literature and films ranging from high gothic classics like Matthew Lewisís The Monk, Ann Radcliffeís The Mysteries of Udolpho, Charles Maturinís Melmoth the Wanderer, and Mary Shelleyís Frankenstein, to later literary works such as Poeís macabre tales, Melvilleís ìBenito Cereno,î J.S. Le Fanuís Uncle Silas, H.P. Lovecraftís ìThe Shadow over Innsmouth,î Shirley Jacksonís The Haunting of Hillhouse, Stephen Kingís Salemís Lot, and Clive Barkerís The Damnation Game. Considered films include Nosferatu, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Friday the 13th, Halloween, Night of the Living Dead, Angel Heart, The Stand, and The Shining. Morganconcludes his physical examination of the Gothic reality with a consideration born of Julia Kristevaís theoretical rubric which addresses horrorís existential and cultural significance, its lasting fascination, and its uncanny positive?and often therapeutic?direction in literature and film.