Date of Award

2017

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

Submission Date

October 2026

Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]

Shamma, Yasmine

Abstract

Derek Attridge and Wolfgang Iser’s argument that fiction possesses the ability to change the reader shows that the reader is permanently altered by their exposure to the horror story. Horror texts employ both narratorial and structural devices to build tension while implementing images and tropes meant to evoke unease in the reader. By causing the reader to experience anxiety through these devices, horror novels transform the reader into a victim. This victimization of the reader is furthered through the horror novel’s ability to transcend the page and affect the reader physically. The reader’s perception of their surroundings are also affected as the story’s content layers itself upon the reader’s environment, attributing a hostility to the environment it did not previously possess. By victimizing the reader and transforming the reader’s surroundings, the horror story comes to permanently change the reader’s reality.

Comments

Includes bibliography.

Extent

49 p.

Identifier

FA00012621

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