Project Director

Jaynes, Michael

Department Examiner

Guy, Matthew

Department

Dept. of English

Publisher

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Place of Publication

Chattanooga (Tenn.)

Abstract

The literary genre of horror fiction is uniquely capable of presenting its readers with the horrific, terrifying, and repulsive while remaining an acceptable and sought-after genre. Moreover, the horror genre is also often able to serve as a type of lens through which readers can recognize socio-historical and cultural fears. Within the many subgenres of horror, cosmic and weird horror continue in this ability, but are able to present their readers with more abstract, existential fears. This research is an exploration and analysis of the ability of cosmic and weird horror to reveal the real, personal existential fears of their readers, and why these two subgenres of horror fiction specifically are acceptable and oftentimes desired ways to confront those fears.

Acknowledgments

Thank you to Dr. Jaynes and Dr. Guy for their endless support and aid in this research paper.

Degree

B. A.; An honors thesis submitted to the faculty of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Bachelor of Arts.

Date

5-2021

Subject

Existentialism in literature; Horror stories

Keyword

horror; horror fiction; weird horror; cosmic horror; existential fears; existentialism

Discipline

English Language and Literature

Document Type

Theses

Extent

[i], 31 leaves

DCMI Type

Text

Language

English

Rights

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

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