From the Master of Horror to the "King" of Horror

Nowadays the horror stories and the horror genre itself are very popular, and Hollywood is deluging us with horror films that frighten us. According to the definition of the Schrimer Encyclopedia of Film defines horror works “aim to elicit responses of fear or revulsion from their audience, whether through suggestion and the creation of mood or by graphic representation”(368). They make it possible for the readers and the spectators to enter a world that most of them would take pains to avoid in real life, and “to walk away from the world with none of its traumatic or fatal consequences”(399). The genre is very popular around the world, I have to mention that in the United States Edgar Allan Poe was one of the first who dealt with the horror genres, and his works had a great influence on the later generations that have produced horror works, more or less successfully. Poe has inspired many writers and readers, who are attracted to the horror genre, so maybe it is not a big surprise that my thesis on horror genre partly concentrates on him. The other writer whom I intend to focus on in my thesis is Stephen King, who is considered to be “the king of horror” nowadays. He has written 63 books, most of which are counted as horror novels. His name has also become a trademark of this genre, and a promise that we will be thrilled and shudder, while reading his stories.Mscamerikanisztik