The Horror Genre August 2013

2. The Horror GenreAugust 2013 Paul Macdonald M Ed B Ed The Children’s Bookshop Beecroft staff@thechildrensbookshop.com.au

3. “Reading for pleasure is the most important way to advance literacy attainment in children.” National Literacy Trust UK 2006

4. Rate the Genres • Romance • Dystopian • Horror • Action • Paranormal

5. What should the students be reading?

6. Following last week's top 100 books guide, I'd like to relieve you of some literary pressure and reveal the titles life's just far too short to waste time on. 1: Eucalyptus by Murray Bail2: Ulysses by James Joyce3: Cloudstreetby Tim Winton4: The Dice Man by Luke Rhineheart5: Catch 22 by Joseph Heller6: To The Lighthouse by Virginia Wolf7: The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas8: Twilight by Stephenie Meyer9: On the Road by Jack Kerouac10: The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka11: Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie12: Oscar &Lucinda by Peter Carey13: My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult14: Sons and Lovers by D.H. Lawrence15: We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver16: 50 Shades of Grey by E.L. James17: Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky18: Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert19: Shantaramby Gregory David Roberts20: Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy21: Charlie and The Great Glass Elevator by Roald Dahl22: Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden23: The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger24: The Secret by Rhonda Byrne25: The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield Should Nots… Telegraph 27/7/13

7. The Shoulds … and Should Nots….

8. Thrillers/ Horror/ Romance The Genre for 2013 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzHbtK2ZbP8

9. Genre Genre…”These conventions, always fluid, are usually implicit, but sometimes are made into explicit requirements by publishers of fiction as a guide to authors seeking publication… Reflect public tastes” Wikipedia Books as windows and mirrors.. A two way process. There is always room for groundbreakers that tap into an otherwise unidentified taste and desire in books.

11. “(Dystopian Fiction) offers young readers the chance to think about what kind of world they would create for themselves if they could forge everything again. There are things they would save and other things that they would lose. Taken together, that gives young readers a way of thinking about what most needs preserving. Breaking and making is at the heart of a great many stories; the devastation of the old highlights the importance of the new when it is rediscovered or reinvented. In addition, stories such as these empower children by trusting them with roles far beyond reality. Typically, the destruction wipes out "good" adult rulers; children step into the breach.” http://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2013/jul/08/book-doctor-teens-like-dystopian-fiction

12. What is horror fiction? Webster's Collegiate Dictionary gives the primary definition of horror as "a painful and intense fear, dread, or dismay." It stands to reason then that "horror fiction" is fiction that elicits those emotions in the reader.

13. Why Horror? The horror genre is quite popular because of the thrill and reaction it evokes from those who watch it. Some scenes give one an adrenalin rush in responding to the horror. And…..

14. "Jones' thesis shouldn't be all that surprising. Scholars and critics have acknowledged that horror is an artistic representation of our fears and anxieties. Jones' contribution is to tell readers that we are afraid and anxious because we know that our morality not only doesn't work, but it's also the source of evil and suffering. Since, like Mary Shelley, we can't or won't acknowledge that fact, the monster will be here to stay, and investigating strange noises will remain a bad idea." Roberto Rivera

15. Horror and Sex… Jones traces the rise of modern horror to the Enlightenment’s "[tearing down] of those institutions that has regulated human behavior." In their place, the Enlightenment substituted human reason — a reason that, as Jones writes, "could do nothing to prevent [itself] from disintegrating into and justifying pure desire, even destructive desire." In other words, without Christianity, there was nothing to keep Western man from acting on his worst impulses, and what’s more, rationalizing those impulses. Thus, as Jones contends, personal liberation, among the notables of the Enlightenment, was understood in largely sexual terms."

16. When Horror? During Times of Economic Crisis and Social Change.

17. Gender Differences?Both read horror though some feel girls need to be discriminating and on the lookout for stereotypical representations.

18. Gender Preference?

19. Value of Horror? • Great uses of language TRUE! --nervous --very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses --not destroyed --not dulled them. Above all was the sense of hearing acute. I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell. How, then, am I mad? Hearken! and observe how healthily --how calmly I can tell you the whole story.

20. Primary Horror

21. Top 10 for Primary

22. Secondary Reads

23. Classics

24. My Top Horror Reads

25. Teen Fiction

26. Graphic Novels/ Manga

27. Looking Ahead? • Bubblegum Gothic? • New Adult

30. Paul Macdonald M Ed B Ed The Children’s Bookshop Beecroft staff@thechildrensbookshop.com.au