Horror and the Holy Wisdom-Teachings of the Monster Tale

by Schneider, Kirk

• ISBN13: 9780812692242
• ISBN10: 0812692241
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1999-12-06
• Publisher: Open Court

Summary

Throughout history, human beings have been strangely fascinated by the monstrous and the macabre. In Horror and the Holy, a study of the classic horror story, Kirk Schneider explains the compelling power of such tales as a result of our thirst for the sacred, and identifies elements of the holy in familiar blood-curdling yarns.

True horror arises when the mundane becomes unexpected and when the contained breaks free of its confining chains to become unlimited. Anything boundless tends to become terrifying, argues Schneider. It is infinitude, which draws us to the unsavory, infinitude that lurks behind dread. Sheer bliss, paradise, or Nirvana therefore always has the potential to turn into horror, as limits fall away and the boundless expanses of infinity open up. While ecstasy is a glimpse of the infinite, terror is full disclosure.

Drawing upon a detailed and telling analysis of eleven well-known horror stories, Dr. Schneider finds that a spiritual understanding of life can be attained through horror. Classic horror steers a middle path between fanaticism and despair: the path of wonderment. Horror teaches us that human personality is paradoxical; that revulsion and disgust are the obverse of excitement and freedom, and that both poles are vital to individual, social, and ecological well-being.

Author Biography

Kirk J. Schneider is a licensed psychologist at the Center for Existential Therapy, San Francisco, adjunct faculty member of the California School of Professional Psychology, Berkeley, and offsite clinical supervisor at the California Institute of Integral Studies

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	p. ix
Preface	p. xi
Acknowledgments	p. xiii
Introduction--Ecstasy, Terror, and Infinity	p. 1
The Structure of Horror: Chaos and Obliteration	p. 5
Freudian and Jungian Perspectives	p. 9
Wisdom-Horror: Dracula and Frankenstein	p. 13
Dracula: A Study in Hyperconstriction	p. 17
Frankenstein: A Study in Hyperexpansion	p. 33
Further Inquiries into Wisdom-Horror	p. 43
Further Studies in Hyperconstriction	p. 45
The Phantom of the Opera	p. 45
"The Fall of the House of Usher"	p. 50
The Invisible Man	p. 55
The Incredible Shrinking Man	p. 58
Further Studies in Hyperexpansion	p. 65
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde	p. 65
The Birds	p. 70
Forbidden Planet	p. 77
Studies in Bipolar Horror	p. 85
Vertigo	p. 85
Alien	p. 93
Horror as a Worldview	p. 99
Between Fanaticism and Despair: Toward a Worldview of Wonderment	p. 101
Wonderment in Psychology	p. 103
Wonderment in Science	p. 115
Wonderment in Religion	p. 121
Epilogue: A Comment on Evil	p. 129
Notes	p. 133
Bibliography	p. 139
Filmography	p. 143
Index	p. 147
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