The shape of fear
Subtitle: horror and the fin de siècle culture of decadence
By: Susan J. Navarette.
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
Published: 1998
Place of publication: Lexington
Language: eng
Number of pages: 314
Subjects: Conrad, Joseph, 1857-1924; James, Henry, 1843-1916; English fiction -- 19th century -- History and criticism; Horror tales, English -- History and criticism; Literature and science -- Great Britain -- History -- 19th century; Decadence (Literary movement) -- England; Degeneration in literature; Body, Human, in literature; Fear in literature
Description: Susan J. Navarette examines the ways in which scientific and cultural concerns of late nineteenth-century England are coded in the horror literature of the period. By contextualizing the structural, stylistic, and thematic systems developed by writers seeking to reenact textually the entropic forces they perceived in the natural world, Navarette reconstructs the late Victorian mentalite.

She analyzes aesthetic responses to trends in contemporary science and explores horror writers' use of scientific methodologies to support their perception that a long-awaited period of cultural decline had begun.

In her analysis of the classics Turn of the Screw and Heart of Darkness, Navarette shows how James and Conrad made artistic use of earlier "scientific" readings of the body. She also considers works by lesser-known authors Walter de la Mare, Vernon Lee, and Arthur Machen, who produced fin de siecle stories that took the form of "hybrid literary monstrosities."
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [278]-298) and index.