What Is The Horror Genre

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What is the Horror

Genre?
Literary Criticism by Sharon A. Russell
What is a literary criticism?
Literary criticism (or literary studies) is the
study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature.
Sharon A. Russell was the first person to write a
book for the general public analyzing Stephen King’s
work. She uses her expertise in the field to
analyze how the horror genre works and what makes
a good horror story.
Setting a Purpose:
As you read, pay attention to the points the
author makes about horror stories. Do her ideas
make you think about horror stories in new ways?
What is the author’s purpose?
Look at the title of the essay - what can you infer the
author’s purpose is based on it?
To inform the reader about the horror genre
Sometimes, telling what something IS NOT is as important
as telling what it IS. Examples: “Not all horror deals with
monsters”. Why does she begin the essay this way?
Because the horror genre deals with more than
just monsters.
Why is this idea important to the idea of
literary criticism?
She brings up this idea so that
there is not confusion when she
defines what the horror genre is
to her.
Let’s reread lines 51-63 together. Can you identify two
types of horror stories?
Why does she describe Stories that deal with parallel
worlds, events that seems to be
these two types of
supernatural but have natural
stories? explanations
To support the central idea of
defining what the horror genre
is to her.
Look at the personal pronoun usage in lines 65-67.

This is the 1st time the word “I” has been used
in the essay. Why is it important?

It makes the text more personal by showing the


author is a fan of the horror genre as well as
someone who studies and writes about it.
Let’s reread lines 72-83 together. Can you identify two ways
a person in a horror story may become a source of horror?
Something goes wrong inside, and a person turns into a monster.
An outside force may invade the character, and forces the evil
out again.

What is Russell’s purpose for describing the source of horror


in stories?
It connects to the central idea by helping to define the
characteristics of horror genre.

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