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International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts

CfP: The Handbook to Horror Literature – select chapters needed!

By In CFP On April 18, 2017


The Handbook to Horror Literature – select chapters needed!

Most handbooks on the subject of horror focus specifically on film, whereas books on the literary manifestations of horror tend to be bound to the idea of the “Gothic.” The current field of Gothic studies grows out of the study of Romanticism, and refers specifically to a late eighteenth-century genre, but has also come to denote a critical approach to literature, film, and culture, drawing on psychoanalysis, post structural criticism, feminist and queer theory. These perspectives are all to be included here, but the book responds to a growing sense that “horror” is itself a worthwhile focus of analysis. This handbook will focus very strongly on literature, giving it specific value on established English literature University courses worldwide, and allowing for an exploration of horror that looks further back than the Gothic. It also takes an international approach. Each chapter will achieve a balance between a useful overview or context of the selected topic as well as posing an original argument.

We have collected several chapters for this handbook and are looking to fill some gaps. These include:
-Horror in Early Modern Europe
-Horror in Renaissance Drama (such as revenge tragedy)
-The Twentieth and/or Twenty First-Century Horror Novel
-Zombie Fiction
-Vampire Fiction
-Serial Killer Fiction
-Real-life Horror Stories
-Horror in Fairytales
-Horror and Censorship
-Transgressive Horror and Politics
-Horror and/or Beyond Psychoanalysis
-Other Theoretical Approaches to Horror (feminism, queer theory…)

Entries can be either longer (around 6000 words) or shorter (around 3000 words). Please specify which word count you would be interested in providing. Please send a 350-word abstract for one of these specific chapters to Kevin Corstorphine (k.corstorphine@hull.ac.uk) and Laura Kremmel (LauraRKremmel@gmail.com) by April 30th. Full articles will be due by June 30th.