House of Horrors: Familial Intimacies in Contemporary American Horror Fiction

by Agnieszka Kotwasinska

Overview

This is a study of tumultuous transformations of kinship and intimate relationships in American horror fiction over the last three decades. Twelve contemporary novels (by ten women writers and two whose work has been identified as women’s fiction) are grouped into four main thematic clusters – haunted houses; monsters; vampires; and hauntings – but it is social scripts and concerns linked directly to intimacy and family life that structure the entire volume. By drawing attention to how the most intimate of all social relationships – the family – supports and replicates social hierarchies, exclusions, and struggles for dominance, the book problematises the source of horror. The consideration of horror narratives through the lens of familial intimacies makes it possible to rethink genre boundaries, to question the efficacy of certain genre tropes, and to consider the contribution of such diverse authors as Kathe Koja, Tananarive Due, Gwendolyn Kiste, Elizabeth Engstrom, Sara Gran and Caitlín R. Kiernan.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781837720149
Publisher:	University of Wales Press
Publication date:	06/15/2023
Series:	Horror Studies
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
File size:	498 KB

About the Author

This book is predominantly aimed at academics, including from undergraduate level who are studying horror fiction, particularly American horror fiction.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments Introduction Defining Horror Horror and the Gothic Women Writers in Horror Fiction and Horror Studies Defining Intimacy Overview of Chapters Chapter 1. Uncanny in the House of Fear Introduction Uncanny Houses Void Dreams in Dead in the Water Unhomely Funhole in The Cipher The Queer (Uncanny) Desire in Drawing Blood Conclusions Chapter 2. Grotesque Monsters and Hybrid Subjectivities Introduction Grotesque Bodies Hybrid Lesbian Bodies in The Drowning Girl Male Grotesque in Sineater Monstrous Girlhood in The Rust Maidens Conclusion Chapter 3. Blood(y) Ties in Vampire Fictions Introduction Towards Abjection Gilda’s Sensual Vampires Escaping the ‘Little Wife’ in Black Ambrosia Prodigal Children (Not) Coming Home Conclusion Chapter 4. Spectral Kinship and Ghostly Selves Introduction The Ghostly Other in Horror Fiction Dangerous Dis/possessions in Come Closer The ‘Wandering Subject’ in The Between Familial Disintegration in Within These Walls Conclusion Afterword BIBLIOGRAPHY

Editorial Reviews

"Theoretically savvy and demonstrating an impressive command of Gothic Horror, Kotwasińska’s analysis of kinship, intimacy, and corporeality in women’s horror makes clear how ideas of family often act as sources of dread rather than comfort in the work of Kathe Koja, Poppy Z. Brite, Caitlín R. Kiernan, Tananarive Due and others. This is an essential contribution to the study of modern horror."

Central Michigan University Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock