Maps of Heaven, Maps of Hell: Religious Terror as Memory from the Puritans to Stephen KingIngebretsen (English, Georgetown U.) poses an interesting question in his introduction, "Why does Milton's Satan have all the best lines?" A glance at the bestsellers list shows that king of horror Stephen King tops the charts with five books. Americans obviously love to be scared out of their wits because, the author argues, our puritanical theology demands fear to attain conversion, and the writings of Cotton Mather, Hawthorne, Frost, and King are the relics of this collective memory. Tracing themes of captivity, expiation, self-loss, and possession, the volume provides an entertaining analysis of American literature and cultural identity. Paper edition (unseen), $19.95. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR |
Contents
Holy Ghosts | 1 |
The American Rite of Deviancy | 39 |
CHAPTER THREE | 77 |
Robert Frost and H P Lovecraft | 117 |
CHAPTER FIVE | 154 |
Toward the American Gothic | 191 |
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allegory American Horror American Literature Anne Hutchinson anxiety apocalypse argues Armitage awe-ful becomes Blatty's body politic Calvin Christian cited civic Cotton Mather course culture dark death demonic discourse dispossession Divine Dunwich Horror early Edwards's Emerson England entertainment Essays example Exorcist expiation fantasy fear genre God's Gothic Fiction H. P. Lovecraft Hawthorne Heimert Hell Holy horrific Horror Fiction Horror Film human images imagination Jonathan Edwards King's language literary metaphor metaphysical moral Mountains of Madness myth narrator nightmare nonetheless novel perhaps Poe's poem poetry Puritan reflects religion religious repudiated revelation rhetoric ritual Robert Frost S. T. Joshi Salem Salem's Lot Satan secret sense sermon sexual Sinners social order society soul speak spiritual Stephen King story Supernatural symbolic tale terror texts theological things tion tradition transcendent transgression Twain University Press unspeakable vampire Winthrop witch witch-hunts witchcraft Wonders words writes York