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Horror fiction

LC control no.gf2014026373
Thesaurus/term listlcgft
Genre/Form termHorror fiction
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Variant(s)Scary fiction
Terror fiction
See alsoFiction
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Scope noteFiction that is intended to shock or frighten by inducing feelings of revulsion, terror, or loathing.
Found inCuddon, J. A dictionary of literary terms and literary theory, c1998 (Horror story: a fictional narrative which shocks or even frightens the reader, and/or perhaps induces a feeling of repulsion or loathing.)
Saricks, J. The reader's advisory guide to genre fiction, c2009 (The goal of horror fiction is to produce fear in readers, sometimes through psychology, sometimes through gory details, and its appeal occurs on a very deep emotional level. It contains a monster of some type, and supernatural elements figure prominently. Thus, horror certainly includes stories of ghosts, ghouls, werewolves, and vampires of wide variety. The genre runs the gamut from contemporary tales filled with graphic sex as well as gore, to classics such as Bram Stoker's Dracula, which creates the loathsome vampire, hunted by those who fear him. What is important is the feeling of foreboding that permeates the novels, the sense of unease as we await the unexpected.)
LC database, Nov. 12, 2002 (horror fiction; horror stories; scary stories; scary tales; stories of fantasy and horror; horror novels; tales of terror)