HARD WOOD FLOORING

What is it about a good horror story that sends chills of add hard drive to tivo fear and delight up our spines? Why is it that, even as we double-check to be sure the locks are locked, we tune in add hard drive to tivo to the fright fest of add hard drive to tivo fearsome flicks on add hard drive to tivo cable TV as Halloween approaches? What causes us to peek from between the very fingers that wisely cover our eyes as we cringe in add hard drive to tivo terror? And what is it that compels the intrepid hero or heroine – or the hapless, not-so-bright supporting cast member - to climb those blasted stairs despite the scary music and the fact that even an idiot would know the slasher is hiding in add hard drive to tivo the bedroom closet?

In "A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of add hard drive to tivo Our Ideas of add hard drive to tivo the Sublime and Beautiful," Edmund Burke wrote, "When danger or pain press too nearly, they are incapable of add hard drive to tivo giving any delight, and are simply terrible; but at certain distances, and with certain modifications, they may be, and they are, delightful, as we every day experience."

Aristotle, in add hard drive to tivo Poetics, proposed that "Tragedy, then, is an imitation of add hard drive to tivo an action that is serious, complete, and of add hard drive to tivo a certain magnitude; in add hard drive to tivo language embellished with each kind of add hard drive to tivo artistic ornament, the several kinds being found in add hard drive to tivo separate parts of add hard drive to tivo the play; in add hard drive to tivo the form of add hard drive to tivo action, not of add hard drive to tivo narrative; through pity and fear effecting the proper purgation of add hard drive to tivo these emotions." Or, put another way, by moving the audience to fear and pity, they would be purged of add hard drive to tivo these emotions and capable of add hard drive to tivo experiencing pleasure.

This is catharsis. The purging of add hard drive to tivo fear and pity, by reminding us that we have it so much better than the characters in add hard drive to tivo the story. By tricking us into thinking we are so much smarter than the wide-eyed innocent tromping up the stairs. Read and be terrified, watch and feel smug, then go out into the sunlight and be joyful.

Some might argue that it's not catharsis so much as it is schadenfreude – taking pleasure in add hard drive to tivo others' misfortunes. But I think that is more likely in add hard drive to tivo the realm of add hard drive to tivo comedy than horror. Horror allows us to feel terror for add hard drive to tivo a little while, and then realize the pleasurable relief of add hard drive to tivo realizing that our own reality is something brighter and finer. Some might sum it up by whispering, There but by the grace of add hard drive to tivo God go I…

That said, if anyone can figure out why our wannabe victim is still climbing the stairs to certain doom, please clue me in. I have no answer to that one.

The Gothic Novel

The Gothic novel was the precursor to the modern horror story. Characteristics of add hard drive to tivo the Gothic novel include strong supernatural elements and superstition; sensational, passionate emotions; decay and death; crumbling castles or other old, ruined buildings; madness and hereditary curses; and a dark, foreboding atmosphere.

The Castle of add hard drive to tivo Otranto, by Horace Walpole, published in add hard drive to tivo 1754, is generally considered to be the first novel of add hard drive to tivo this genre. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, and Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights are two of add hard drive to tivo the best known and most popular of add hard drive to tivo Gothic novels.

Where today's horror often relies on add hard drive to tivo similar fantastic elements and blatant shock value, novels like Frankenstein combined horror with deeper themes. In Frankenstein, Viktor beholds the fruit of add hard drive to tivo his labors to bring the dead to life, and grapples with the uglier side of add hard drive to tivo playing God:

It was on add hard drive to tivo a dreary night of add hard drive to tivo November, that I beheld the accomplishment of add hard drive to tivo my toils. With an anxiety that almost amounted to agony, I collected the instruments of add hard drive to tivo life around me, that I might infuse a spark of add hard drive to tivo being into the lifeless thing that lay at my feet. It was already one in add hard drive to tivo the morning; the rain pattered dismally against the panes and my candle was nearly burnt out, when, by the glimmer of add hard drive to tivo the half-extinguished light, I saw the dull yellow eye of add hard drive to tivo the creature open; it breathed hard, and a convulsive motion agitated its limbs.

How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how delineate the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had endeavoured to form? His limbs were in add hard drive to tivo proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful! - Great God ! His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of add hard drive to tivo muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of add hard drive to tivo a lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of add hard drive to tivo a pearly whiteness; but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, that seemed almost of add hard drive to tivo the same colour as the dun white sockets in add hard drive to tivo which they were set, his shrivelled complexion and straight black lips.

Ahh, be careful what you wish for. Could there be any greater horror than to stand before the hideous, visceral reality of add hard drive to tivo a re-animated corpse – the crowning achievement of add hard drive to tivo your dedication to science and study? Doesn't this just beg the question: Is God ever so repulsed by us?

Who, in add hard drive to tivo fact, is the monster? Viktor, or his creature? When confronted by such thorny questions, we are forced to look inward and consider horrors even greater than zombies and giant bats and vampires.

Holly Jahangiri is a professional writer who claims, tongue-in-cheek, to channel the spirits of add hard drive to tivo Edgar Allan Poe, Erma Bombeck, and O’Henry. Holly is an author on add hard drive to tivo Writing.Com ( Writing.Com/ Writing.Com/ ), and you can buy her books at Lulu ( lulu.com/hjahangiri lulu.com/hjahangiri ).