The Philosophy of Horror
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £9.25
Get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade in The Philosophy of Horror: Or, Paradoxes of the Heart for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £9.25, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
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?
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
First Sentence
For over a decade and a half, perhaps especially in the United States, horror has flourished as a major source of mass aesthetic stimulation. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
For over a decade and a half, perhaps especially in the United States, horror has flourished as a major source of mass aesthetic stimulation. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I did some research on Horror for my degree and can honestly say that this was the most informative book on the subject that I have read. Covers narrative plotting, a very interesting theory on art-horror, art-suspense as opposed to the ordinary horror, suspense we feel in everyday lives.
Clear, precise and persuasive from beginning to end. I put it right up there with Mamet's 'On Directing Film'.
If you`re looking into horror, get it. You certainly won`t be disappointed.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I warmly recommend this book to anyone who is looking for some theoretical insight into the horror genre. I did my Master's thesis on supernatural horror in literature and film and this is by far the best book I have found on the subject. Carroll's unobtrusive style and genuine interest in popular culture make his book a very pleasant read, yet I have found The Philosophy of Horror to be much superior to the writings of Freud, Todorov, or Kristeva on related topics. A must.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4 reviews
20 of 22 people found the following review helpful
Dense and Stuffy Reading
4 Jun 2007
Format:Paperback
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 14 people found the following review helpful
Connoisseur of the Macabre
20 April 2001
Format:Paperback
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 14 people found the following review helpful
A excellent academic analysis of various elements in horror.
11 Aug 1998
Format:Paperback
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.
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Art, Architecture & Photography
- Books > History > Cultural History
- Books > Music, Stage & Screen > Film > Criticism & Theory
- Books > Music, Stage & Screen > Film > Film Genres > Horror
- Books > Poetry, Drama & Criticism > History & Criticism
- Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Academic Philosophy
- Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Philosophy
- Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Social Sciences > Communication Studies
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
