Thomas Fahy – författare

Sitting on pins and needles, anxiously waiting to see what will happen next, horror audiences crave the fear and exhilaration generated by a terrifying story; their anticipation is palpable. But they also breathe a sigh of relief when the action is over, when they are able to close their books or leave the movie theater. Whether serious, kitschy, frightening, or ridiculous, horror not only arouses the senses but also raises profound questions about fear, safety, justice, and suffering.

From literature and urban legends to film and television, horror''s ability to thrill has made it an integral part of modern entertainment. Thomas Fahy and twelve other scholars reveal the underlying themes of the genre in The Philosophy of Horror. Examining the evolving role of horror, the contributing authors investigate works such as Mary Shelley''s Frankenstein (1818), horror films of the 1930s, Stephen King''s novels, Stanley Kubrick''s adaptation of The Shining (1980), and Alfred Hitchcock''s Psycho (1960). Also examined are works that have largely been ignored in philosophical circles, including Truman Capote''s In Cold Blood (1965), Patrick Süskind''s Perfume (1985), and James Purdy''s Narrow Rooms (2005). The analysis also extends to contemporary forms of popular horror and "torture-horror" films of the last decade, including Saw (2004), Hostel (2005), The Devil''s Rejects (2005), and The Hills Have Eyes (2006), as well as the ongoing popularity of horror on the small screen.

The Philosophy of Horror celebrates the strange, compelling, and disturbing elements of horror, drawing on interpretive approaches such as feminist, postcolonial, Marxist, and psychoanalytic criticism. The book invites readers to consider horror''s various manifestations and transformations since the late 1700s, probing its social, cultural, and political functions in today''s media-hungry society.

Sitting on pins and needles, anxiously waiting to see what will happen next, horror audiences crave the fear and exhilaration generated by a terrifying story; their anticipation is palpable. But they also breathe a sigh of relief when the action is over, when they are able to close their books or leave the movie theater. Whether serious, kitschy, frightening, or ridiculous, horror not only arouses the senses but also raises profound questions about fear, safety, justice, and suffering.

From literature and urban legends to film and television, horror''s ability to thrill has made it an integral part of modern entertainment. Thomas Fahy and twelve other scholars reveal the underlying themes of the genre in The Philosophy of Horror. Examining the evolving role of horror, the contributing authors investigate works such as Mary Shelley''s Frankenstein (1818), horror films of the 1930s, Stephen King''s novels, Stanley Kubrick''s adaptation of The Shining (1980), and Alfred Hitchcock''s Psycho (1960). Also examined are works that have largely been ignored in philosophical circles, including Truman Capote''s In Cold Blood (1965), Patrick Süskind''s Perfume (1985), and James Purdy''s Narrow Rooms (2005). The analysis also extends to contemporary forms of popular horror and "torture-horror" films of the last decade, including Saw (2004), Hostel (2005), The Devil''s Rejects (2005), and The Hills Have Eyes (2006), as well as the ongoing popularity of horror on the small screen.

The Philosophy of Horror celebrates the strange, compelling, and disturbing elements of horror, drawing on interpretive approaches such as feminist, postcolonial, Marxist, and psychoanalytic criticism. The book invites readers to consider horror''s various manifestations and transformations since the late 1700s, probing its social, cultural, and political functions in today''s media-hungry society.

“Does an admirable job of examining Capote as a writer whose work reflects America of the late 1940s and 1950s more deeply than previously thought.” —Ralph F. Voss, author of Truman Capote and the Legacy of “In Cold Blood”   Truman Capote—and his most famous works, In Cold Blood and Breakfast at Tiffany’s—continue to have a powerful hold over the American popular imagination, along with his glamorous lifestyle, which included hobnobbing with the rich and famous and frequenting the most elite nightclubs in Manhattan. In Understanding Truman Capote, Thomas Fahy offers a way to reconsider the author’s place in literary criticism, the canon, and the classroom.   By reading Capote’s work in its historical context, Fahy reveals the politics shaping his writing and refutes any notion of Capote as disconnected from the political. Instead this study positions him as a writer deeply engaged with the social anxieties of the postwar years. It also applies a highly interdisciplinary framework to the author’s writing that includes discussions of McCarthyism, the Lavender Scare, automobile culture, juvenile delinquency, suburbia, Beat culture, the early civil rights movement, female sexuality as embodied by celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe, and atomic age anxieties. This new approach to studying Capote will be of interest in the fields of literature, history, film, suburban studies, sociology, gender/sexuality studies, African American literary studies, and American and cultural studies.   Capote’s writing captures the isolation, marginalization, and persecution of those who deviated from or failed to achieve white middle-class ideals and highlights the artificiality of mainstream idealizations about American culture. His work reveals the deleterious consequences of nostalgia, the insidious impact of suppression, the dangers of Cold War propaganda, and the importance of equal rights. Ultimately, Capote’s writing reflects a critical engagement with American culture that challenges us to rethink our understanding of the 1940s and 1950s.