This two-volume set sets itself apart from its predecessors by the breadth of its scope, from the “Ancient World” through the twenty-first century (The timeline begins with the Epic of Gilgamesh and runs through 2016). Horror as a genre can be difficult to define, as it touches on theories of psychology, aesthetics, sociology and cultural studies. Cardin defines horror as “not a genre but a mode that can be employed in any form or genre” (p. xxxi), and therefore argues that it exists throughout space and time, with the possibility of acting as a sort of catharsis for readers, as defined by Aristotle (p. xxxii). Horror Literature through History appears to be strongly influenced by S.T. Joshi (who writes on Lovecraft), as Joshi is given an entry, where, if critics are to be included, one might expect to read about the contributions of Freud or Kristeva, for example.
The work is divided into three distinct parts: Horror through History; Themes, Topics and Genres; and Reference Entries. The table of contents is followed by a Guide to Related Topics, preface and introduction. Horror through History offers eight essays in chronological order, treating horror literature over time. The Themes, Topics and Genres section consists of 23 essays on a variety of topics, including Horror Video Games and small press publishing. The essays are arranged alphabetically by title; however, the initial words in the titles are not always reflective of the topic, for example, The Legacy of Frankenstein […] or Page to Screen: The Influence of Literary Horror on Film and Television, which makes the table of contents essential.
The Reference Entries are close to 400 alphabetically arranged, signed, entries on authors, works and topics. The editor has included over 100 sidebars with information about media adaptations, excerpts from reviews, timelines and trivia. There are multiple see also references and timely bibliographies following the articles. The Guide to Related Topics appears to be an attempt to group together the topics from Themes, Topics and Genres and those from the Reference Entries into categories such as Monsters, Creatures, Threats and Villains; however, without any notation as to where one finds any one of the topics there listed. As a result, one has a list of Monsters […] or a fairly inchoate list of Topical Studies but no direction as to what the next step is supposed to be.
The indexing is problematic. For example, as “film” (or “movies” or other synonyms) is not represented in the index, someone looking for information on the topic is unlikely to find the topical essay without careful perusal of the table of contents and will completely miss other references. Moreover, The Legacy of Frankenstein […] essay is not represented in the index under the heading for Frankenstein, which would make it very easy to overlook. Similar errors in indexing are repeated throughout, in which an article, such as Page to Screen […] is indexed down to the various works appearing in the article, e.g., sub-headings of “Dracula (1897), Dracula (1931), Dracula (1958), Dracula (made-for-television adaptation), Drakula, Russian, Drakula halala (Dracula’s Death), Hungarian” but the main entry for Dracula does not have sub-headings for “Dracula (1897),” etc. nor to any part of the Page to Screen… article in which those references occur. In addition to the flaws in the index, there is no cross reference to the treatment of Dracula on film in the Page to Screen […] article at the end of the article on Dracula; the same is true for Frankenstein.
Similar reference works in this vein are the Encyclopedia of Fantasy and Horror Fiction (D’Ammassa, 2006) (RR 2007/024) and Fantasy and Horror (Barron, 1999), as well as any number of reference works specifically on authors, such as the St. James Guide to Horror, Ghost and Gothic Writers (Pringle, 1998), or uniquely focused on the Gothic. Horror Literature through History distinguishes itself from the Encyclopedia of Fantasy and Horror Fiction and Fantasy and Horror by the academic tenor of the articles, even as it addresses fewer topics. Approximately a dozen entries are for non-Anglophone authors, including Borges, Kafka and Quiroga. Non-Anglophone authors and stories are referenced frequently in the essays.
This title aims itself at a broad audience, including those teaching or learning the Common Core and the general reader. It succeeds in providing an overview of the Western, generally Anglophone, canon, and to provide articles that serve as good jumping-off points for more focused research.
The reviewer had difficulty using the electronic version of the book as planned and relied instead on the print version for this review.
