AMERICAN SCARY

A scholarly study of the horror genre’s cultural roots and meanings.

One might expect a book about the history of horror stories in America to be a romp through scares and dares. However, Dauber, a professor of Jewish literature at Columbia and the author of American Comics and Jewish Comedy, takes his subject very seriously, emphasizing the psychological and cultural issues that underlie the genre. The author notes that the first European settlers of America brought their taste for Gothic horror with them, and the aesthetic was easily integrated into the shadowy forests of New England. As Dauber chronicles, macabre tales played a role in the Salem witch trials and, later, the fear of slave uprisings. The author examines the work of authors like Lovecraft, Bierce, and Poe, seeing themes that still echo in today’s writers. When cinema appeared, horror movies abounded, a trend Dauber connects to the alienation associated with industrial capitalism. He follows this idea to the popular taste for the fantastic, including stories about vampires, zombies, and aliens. At the same time, there was a rise in the horror of reality: serial murders, random killings, and psychopaths on the run. In recent times, the emergence of the splatterpunk subgenre has meant an avalanche of special effects gore. Dauber sees all this as driven by—and reflected in—the nature of American society, which he depicts as endlessly oppressive and malevolent, featuring strong elements of racism and misogyny. That last part is hard to argue, but his overlong critique eventually becomes tiresome. Moreover, Dauber’s writing style is dense and often convoluted. Ultimately, this book is more for dedicated cultural analysts than readers who simply like the occasional dose of frightening and/or violent creative catharsis.

Dauber’s knowledge is unquestionably extensive, but his psychohistorical approach means that his audience will be limited.