Thursday, April 11, 2013

Elements that Make for Good Horror Fiction: The Great God Pan and The Three Strangers

A good work of repugnance fiction is something that involves not exclusively a good author, but a good reader. virtuoso put upnot go into a work of horror fiction expecting clichés and fall out of this world monsters (at least not wholly the time). A good work of horror fiction should evoke a bodily response (heart pound, hands sweat, expression of churn up on your face?) because of the content of the myth. The content and plot of the story should tonicity like you atomic number 18 riding a ringlet coaster: weeny is revealed nearly the path you argon about take, you can?t project or think straight, you can totally see the whole thing once it?s over and you can?t call for off once you made the excerption to get on. Good horror fiction depends on a good amount of detail, but not so oftentimes as to give away the surprise at the end, which should disgust us, shock us and captivate us. By the end of the get on that is a work of horror fiction, we should feel as though we were confronted with our tendings. The challenge the horror fiction author faces is to embody all of these characteristics in a short story.

Arthur Machen?s Great god Pan is perhaps one of the most horrifying stories in the Wagner- keen-sighted anthology. The story feels like a roller coaster while drill it. You get a small glimpse of what the story is about from the first few pages: evil scientist sacks a monster and it?s going to be bad. This is evident when ?Clarke felt sick and calorie-free? (p. 586) during the procedure that creates the monster. After this glimpse, we decide to get on the nonliteral roller coaster, having seen the story as a whole we straightaway become more intimate with it and all its ups and downs. The ups of the story secernate us some information about the end of the story (imagine being able to see some of the rest of the gull when you go up a hill on a roller coaster) and the downs are then us trying to make sense of the information before new information is presented. Examples of ?ups? in Machen?s story are: the child being frightened by Helen in the forest, Herbert?s story of Helen corrupting his soul, and the eerie deaths surrounding Mrs. Beaumont. The downs are therefore, right after this information is revealed. You have it was something important, but you?re not sure what yet. However, the real horror of this story is in its religious overtones. Raymond says that being an idiot is a small price to pay since bloody shame has ?seen the Great immortal Pan.? Seeing the god Pan means that one was impregnated by the Devil himself. This is absolutely horrifying to the readers, especially if they believe in the Devil and the spiritual realm. The fact that someone would force and facilitate this act is, at least to me, absolutely terrifying. While interpretation it I remember my eyes widening in suspicion of Raymond?s actions. This story brings up the very real apprehension that m all people have regarding the Devil: the shear fact that he exists and the power that he wields. He has mad Mary?s child so evil that men are committing suicide just to get away from her, to get her out of their mind. Helen kills herself at the end of the story, which is a testimony to the fact that the only way to have a chance of escaping Satan?s power is to die.

However, not all the stories in the Wagner and Wise anthology are as good as The Great divinity Pan.

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doubting Thomas Hardy?s The tierce Strangers does not use any of the aforementioned strategies or elements of good horror stories. In fact, The Three Strangers is not a horror story at all. there is nothing in the story that illegitimates any sort of fear reaction: no sweating, expression of disgust. There is no roller coaster like feel to the story. It takes a long time to get started and when the story is over, the reader feels as though it was a lavishness of time, like the end of the story was easy to figure out. It?s a disappointing read and to be included with such(prenominal) a great work as The Great God Pan is misleading and unfortunate for future readers.

unless I suppose it is true that not everyone will enjoy the kindred horror fiction, because not everyone is scared by the same things. But it is fair to say that horror fiction needs to illicit a response from it?s readers in order to be successful. The Great God Pan encompasses the elements that I believe to be a good horror story: the feeling you are on a roller coaster, bodily reactions, and a meeting of our fears. Whereas The Three Strangers does not use any of them, and is therefore done for(predicate) as a short work of horror fiction.

industrial plant CitedHardy, Thomas. ?The Three Strangers.? Great Tales of Terror and the Supernatural. eds. Herbert Wise and Phyllis Wagner. New York: haphazard House, 1994. 60 - 82.

Machen, Arthur. ?The Great God Pan.? Great Tales of Terror and the Supernatural. eds. Herbert Wise and Phyllis Wagner. New York: Random House, 1994. 579 - 632

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