The tropes of fear, horror and terror have come to play a dominant role the analysis of contemporary social life. The predominance of fear, as the frame through which we narrativize experience, can be perceived readily echoing across various fields from theoretical research, to the mass media, to the quotidian. Despite the commonly held view that fear is a primitive and universal affect, its definition, potential value, and perceived effects vary wildly in each instance. From literary theory to psychoanalysis to politics to philosophy, this collection of research attempts to both flesh-out these tropes and to complexify them. Individually, the essays reflect a diversity of approaches to the constellation: fear, horror and terror. Taken as a whole, they produce the ground for an analysis of the dominance of fear. |