Ebook: The Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural

More than 50 essays and 600 entries covering authors, composers, visual artists, directors, actors, and movies that are connected in some way to horror tales or the supernatural. Also defines terms used with the supernatural.

From the subtle shivers of the classic ghost story to Inner Sanctum’s creaking door, from James Whale's Frankenstein to George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead, from Hector Berlioz to Bernard Herrmann, this remarkable book celebrates the flourishing of terror in all its forms. Over fifty authorities in the field— including critics, novelists, scholars, and literary journalists—have been brought together to chronicle and comment on the endless fascination of fear, speaking in a variety of voices to the general reader, the horror enthusiast, and the serious student. Here—and only here—the reader will find Jacques Barzun on the art and appeal of the ghostly and ghastly, Ramsey Campbell on the pleasures of bad movies, E. F. Bleiler on devils and demons, Colin Wilson on poltergeists, John Crowley on Shakespeare’s ghosts, Ron Goulart on horror comics, T.E.D. Klein on the supernatural, and Douglas E. Winter on mad doctors and the contemporary scene.

With more than fifty essays and six hundred entries covering authors, composers, visual artists, directors, actors, and a generous selection of movies, The Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural is a unique reference volume.

Elegantly and richly illustrated, it is a stylish and provocative work that takes stands and makes judgments on matters ranging from the literary status of H. P. Lovecraft to the ethics of shock. It's range from high to low culture serves both to elevate the status of horror and the supernatural and to put them in their enduringly popular place, while providing every reader with hours of intellectual stimulation and sheer pleasure.

Jack Sullivan, General Editor, is the author of Elegant Nightmares: The English Ghost Story from Le Fanu to Blackwood and the editor of Lost Souls: A Collection of English Ghost Stories. Jacques Barzun, who introduces this volume, is a distinguished writer, scholar, and teacher, and the author of numerous works of intellectual history.