This collection of essays examines the legacy of H.P. Lovecraft's most important critical work, Supernatural Horror in Literature. Each chapter illuminates a crucial aspect of Lovecraft's criticism, from its aesthetic, philosophical and literary sources, to its psychobiological underpinnings, to its pervasive influence on the conception and course of horror and weird literature through the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. These essays investigate the meaning of cosmic horror before and after Lovecraft, explore his critical relevance to contemporary social science, feminist and queer readings of his work, and ultimately reveal Lovecraft's importance for contemporary speculative philosophy, film and literature.

While at first glance it may seem strange that so many films portray children as monstrous characters, the essays in this collection begin by recognizing the pervasive popularity, and the wide variety, of such characterizations. Perhaps because of the wisdom received from our Romantic forebears about the purity of the child, fictional imaginings of children as monsters exercise a tremendous fascination for film audiences, and have for several decades. These opposing, and yet co-dependent, tendencies are reflected in the modern connotations of the phrases child-like (innocent) and childish (selfish, perhaps even evil.) Yet unlike most previous scholarly work on this cultural phenomenon, the essays in this collection do not remain arrested by this reductive binary, but strive to unearth the many possibilities, meanings and forms that are hidden by the two-faced mask our imaginings of children all too often wear.

H.P. Lovecraft, one of the twentieth century's most important writers in the genre of horror fiction, famously referred to Edgar Allan Poe as both his "model" and his "God of Fiction." While scholars and readers of Poe's and Lovecraft's work have long recognized the connection between these authors, this collection of essays is the first in-depth study to explore the complex literary relationship between Lovecraft and Poe from a variety of critical perspectives. Of the thirteen essays included in this book, some consider how Poe's work influenced Lovecraft in important ways. Other essays explore how Lovecraft's fictional, critical, and poetic reception of Poe irrevocably changed how Poe's work has been understood by subsequent generations of readers and interpreters. Addressing a variety of topics ranging from the psychology of influence to racial and sexual politics, the essays in this book also consider how Lovecraft's interpretations of Poe have informed later adaptations of both writers' works in films by Roger Corman and fiction by Stephen King, Thomas Ligotti, and Caitlin R. Kiernan. This collection is an indispensable resource not only for those who are interested in Poe's and Lovecraft's work specifically, but also for readers who wish to learn more about the modern history and evolution of Gothic, horror, and weird fiction.

This groundbreaking collection of all new essays presents critical reflections on teaching horror film and fiction in many different ways and in a number of different academic settings--from cultural theory to film studies; from women's and gender studies to postcolonialism; from critical thinking seminars on the paranormal to the timeless classics of English horror literature. Together, the essays show readers how the pedagogy of horror can galvanize, unsettle and transform classrooms, giving us powerful tools with which to consider interwoven issues of identity, culture, monstrosity, the relationship between the real and the fictional, normativity and adaptation. Includes a foreword by celebrated horror writer Glen Hirshberg.

This collection of essays examines the legacy of H.P. Lovecraft's most important critical work, Supernatural Horror in Literature. Each chapter illuminates a crucial aspect of Lovecraft's criticism, from its aesthetic, philosophical and literary sources, to its psychobiological underpinnings, to its pervasive influence on the conception and course of horror and weird literature through the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. These essays investigate the meaning of cosmic horror before and after Lovecraft, explore his critical relevance to contemporary social science, feminist and queer readings of his work, and ultimately reveal Lovecraft's importance for contemporary speculative philosophy, film and literature.

H.P. Lovecraft, one of the twentieth century's most important writers in the genre of horror fiction, famously referred to Edgar Allan Poe as both his "model" and his "God of Fiction." While scholars and readers of Poe's and Lovecraft's work have long recognized the connection between these authors, this collection of essays is the first in-depth study to explore the complex literary relationship between Lovecraft and Poe from a variety of critical perspectives. Of the thirteen essays included in this book, some consider how Poe's work influenced Lovecraft in important ways. Other essays explore how Lovecraft's fictional, critical, and poetic reception of Poe irrevocably changed how Poe's work has been understood by subsequent generations of readers and interpreters. Addressing a variety of topics ranging from the psychology of influence to racial and sexual politics, the essays in this book also consider how Lovecraft's interpretations of Poe have informed later adaptations of both writers' works in films by Roger Corman and fiction by Stephen King, Thomas Ligotti, and Caitlin R. Kiernan. This collection is an indispensable resource not only for those who are interested in Poe's and Lovecraft's work specifically, but also for readers who wish to learn more about the modern history and evolution of Gothic, horror, and weird fiction.