Mazes of the Serpent: An Anatomy of Horror Narrative - Tapa dura

"This is an event: A fascinating and chilling journey through the whole world of human horror, both in its literary representations and in historical reality. The author has really created his subject, drawing on the many various sources he has skillfully brought together. Thoroughly readable, this is a contribution of magnitude to general cultural history." -- R.W. B. Lewis, Professor Emeritus of American Studies, Yale University "Salomon brilliantly illumines the shadowy mazes of his title and uses the techniques of narratological analysis to bring together a wide range of horror fiction and fact. This is a provocative book that probes its topic deeply and leaves us more aware of what horror fiction can accomplish in contemporary culture. In attempting to 'explain the unexplainable,' Salomon takes us further than many studies of Gothic fiction have done. I recommend this book to Gothicists and other students of horror." -- George E. Haggerty, University of California, Riverside "Salomon (Case Western Reserve Univ.) layers the text with dense references to gothic fiction, to writers of every stripe, and to influential literary critics.... The result is a provocative, measured exploration of the elements that define horror narrative, both as literary genre and as real-life stories.... Summing up: Highly recommended." -- J. Tharp, University of Wisconsin Colleges * Choice * "Roger B. Salomon shows that horror always challenges the fictions of order and reason that constitute 'reality' in literature and life. This book should be required reading for anyone interested in the Gothic tradition." -- Anne Williams, University of Georgia "Mazes of the Serpent is an eminently readable book-clear, lucid, and concise. Roger B. Salomon achieves this clarity without sacrificing complexity or depth. This book will help renew interest in the poetics of horror." -- William Patrick Day, Oberlin College

In a compact, readable, and accessible book, Roger B. Salomon explores the nature of horror in literature and in life. Rather than minimizing horror by narrowly associating it with psychological drives, persecution, or extremism, he approaches horror through the medium of narrative as a significant and enduring physical and metaphysical reality. Salomon focuses on fictions of horror, including eighteenth-century Gothic and nineteenth-century ghost stories. He does not, however, isolate literary examples from more general human issues, including religious belief. Mazes of the Serpent takes up examples of horror from historical and personal narratives-including battle memoirs and Holocaust testimonies-as Salomon identifies certain common themes and qualities that cross the boundary between fiction and actual human experience.