American Nightmares: The Haunted House Formula in American Popular Fiction

by Dale Bailey

Overview

When Edgar Allan Poe set down the tale of the accursed House of Usher in 1839, he also laid the foundation for a literary tradition that has assumed a lasting role in American culture. "The House of Usher" and its literary progeny have not lacked for tenants in the century and a half since: writers from Nathaniel Hawthorne to Stephen King have taken rooms in the haunted houses of American fiction. Dale Bailey traces the haunted house tale from its origins in English gothic fiction to the paperback potboilers of the present, highlighting the unique significance of the house in the domestic, economic, and social ideologies of our nation. The author concludes that the haunted house has become a powerful and profoundly subversive symbol of everything that has gone nightmarishly awry in the American Dream.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780879727901
Publisher:	University of Wisconsin Press
Publication date:	12/31/1999
Edition description:	1
Pages:	156
Sales rank:	670,477
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.40(d)

Editorial Reviews

Scholar and fantasy writer Bailey traces the motive from English gothic fiction through such luminaries as Poe and Hawthorne to Steven King and paperback potboilers of the present. After exploring the domestic, economic, and social significance of houses, he finds that in good hands, the haunted house becomes a subversive symbol of everything that has turned nightmare in the American Dream. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknew.com)

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