Fourteenth lecture for my students in English 104A, UC Santa Barbara, spring 2012. Course website: http://patrickbrianmooney.nfshost.com/~patrick/ta/s12/index.html

1. Lecture 14: The Smallest of Small Towns
English 104A
UC Santa Barbara
Spring 2012
16 May 2012
"[I]t may be thought that the horror
novel represents something like the
underside of the Enlightenment."
— Noël Carroll, The Philosophy of
Horror (1990)

2. The Gothic, Briefly, Again
● Generally thought to originate in Horace Walpole’s
1764 The Castle of Otranto
● Common conventions we discussed last time:
● An emphasis on the grotesque, macabre, or fantastic
incidents, which may or may not be supernatural
occurrences.
● A setting that often includes old or ruined buildings,
desolate locations, etc.
● A narrative technique that “develops a brooding
atmosphere of gloom or terror,” as M.H. Abrams puts it.
● Often, plots deal with extreme emotional or
psychological states.

3. The Gothic in the United States
● In the 19th century, often takes the form of short
stories or poems, though novels are also
written in this genre.
● Edgar Allen Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman
Melville, and Henry James are notable 19th-century
practitioners.
● Two notable trends in the 20th century:
● Southern Gothic
● More generalized horror fiction
– Many subgenres

4. (Selected) perspectives on horror
Tragedy is “an imitation of a noble and
complete action, having the proper magnitude;
it employs language that has been artistically
enhanced […] it is presented in dramatic, not
narrative form, and achieves, through the
representation of pitiable and fearful incidents,
the catharsis of such pitiable and fearful
incidents.”
“tragedy is not an imitation of men, per se, but
of human action and life and happiness and
misery.”
– Aristotle, Poetics (ca. 330 BCE)

5. “[H]orror’s bite is explained as a sudden
tearing-away of the intellectual trust that stands
behind our actions. Specifically, it is a malicious
ripping-away of this intellectual trust, exposing
our vulnerabilities in relying on the world and on
other people. […] horror puts forward scenarios
that through their vivid depiction threaten our
background cognitive reliance on others and
the world around us.”
– Philip J. Nickel, “Horror and the Idea of Everyday Life”
(2010)

6. "The world is increasingly unthinkable – a world
of planetary disasters, emerging pandemics,
tectonic shifts, strange weather, oil-drenched
seascapes, and the furtive, always-looming
threat of extinction. In spite of our daily concerns,
wants, and desires, it is increasingly difficult to
comprehend the world in which we live and of
which we are a part. To confront this idea is to
confront an absolute limit to our ability to
adequately understand the world at all – an idea
that has been a central motif of the horror genre
for some time."
– Eugene Thacker, Preface to In the Dust of This Planet
(2011)

7. “Horror, in this way, shows us our inherent
skepticism about absolute progress. […]
Dracula, The Call of Cthulu, or The Island of Dr.
Moreau present a dark-regressive shadow
image of the bright and progressive veneer of
eighteenth- and nineteenth-century optimism.
The origins of modern horror provide a vivid
presentation of the inherent moral weaknesses
and often-present darkness in the human
imagination.”
– Philip Tallon, “Through a Mirror, Darkly” (2010)

8. “Horror arises not because Dracula destroys
bodies, but because he appropriates and
transforms them. Having yielded to his assault,
one literally ‘goes native’ by becoming a
vampire oneself. [Dracula’s victims] receive a
new racial identity, one that marks them as
literally ‘Other.’ Miscegenation leads, not to the
mixing of races, but to the biological and
political annihilation of the weaker race by the
stronger.”
– Stephen Arata, “The Occidental Tourist” (1990)

9. “Nighthawks has more to do with the possibility of predators
in the night than with loneliness.”
— Edward Hopper, qtd. in. Gail Levin, Edward Hopper: An
Intimate Biography (1995)
p

10. Stephen King (1947-)
● Best known for his
horror, fantasy, and sci-fi
novels.
● ’Salem’s Lot (1975) was
his second published
novel.
● Many novels are set in
southern Maine.
● Bram Stoker Award,
National Book
Foundation Award, etc.
etc. etc.

11. The town of Jerusalem’s Lot
“Demographically, the census of 1970 showed
a pattern familiar both to rural sociologists and
to the long-time resident of any small Maine
town: a lot of old folks, quite a few poor folks,
and a lot of young folks who leave the area with
their diplomas under their arms, never to return
again.” (9; prologue, sec. 3)
“small towns have long memories and pass
their horrors down ceremonially from
generation to generation.” (51; ch. 2, sec. 6)

12. “We’re living in an automobile-oriented society.”
(10; prologue, sec. 3)
“[…] the Lot’s knowledge of the country’s
torment was academic. Time went on a different
schedule here.” (44; ch. 2, sec. 4)
Larry Crockett: “If you’re fixing up to make
moonshine or LSD or explosives for some
hippie radical outfit, that’s your own lookout.”
(99; ch. 3, sec. 11)
Danny Glick: “There were preeverts
everywhere.” (119)

13. “Charles Griffen’s father had marketed his own
milk, but that was no longer practical. The
conglomerates had eaten up the last of the
independents.” (67; ch. 3, sec. 3)
“Do you suppose they’ll make a go of it?”
Clyde asked no one in particular.
“Might,” Vinnie said. “They might show up
right pert in the summertime. Hard to tell the
way things are these days.” (155; ch. 4, sec. 8)
Matt Burke: “There’s little good in sedentary small
towns. Mostly indifference spiced with an
occasional vapid evil – or worse, a conscious one.
I believe Thomas Wolfe wrote about seven pounds
of literature about that.” (192; ch. 5, sec. 6)

14. Father Callahan’s monologue on evil
“It was the ritualistic acknowledgment of evil by
a church now more concerned with social evils.
[…] But it was a mindless, moronic evil from
which there was no mercy or reprieve.” (238;
ch. 6, sec. 9)
“But there were no battles. There were only
skirmishes of vague resolution. […] In fact, he
was being forced to the conclusion that there
was no EVIL in the world but only evil – or
perhaps (evil).” (240; ch. 6, sec. 9)

15. Gossip
“In the surrounding towns the whispering
campaign that is the beginning of legend has
already begun. ’Salem’s Lot is reputed to be
haunted.” (11; prologue, sec. 3)
Parkins: “I figured I ought to come and ask a
question or two, now that you mention it.
Waited until Nolly was off somewheres. He’s a
good boy, but he likes to talk, too. Lordy, the
gossip that goes on.” (158; ch. 4, sec. 9)

16. “Most of the telephone lines were two-, four-, or
six-party connections, and so folks always had
someone to talk about.” (42; ch. 2, sec. 4)
Matt Burke: “Not all the gossip in a small town
is open gossip. There are secrets. Some of the
secret gossip in ’salem’s Lot has to do with
Hubie Marsten. It’s shared among perhaps only
a dozen or so of the older people now – Mabel
Werts is one of them. It was a long time ago,
Susan. But even so, there is no statute of
limitations on some stories.” (310; ch. 9, sec. 5)

17. Ann Norton on “they”
“there’s some that think we’ve had a little too
much excitement in ’salem’s Lot since Mr. Ben
Mears showed his face.” (293; ch. 9, sec. 1)
“they haven’t decided that yet. […] There’s
some that think he may have caught a disease
from the little Glick boy.” (294)
“They don’t give you a breathalyzer test if
you’re sober!” (295)

18. Call the roller of big cigars,
The muscular one, and bid him whip
In kitchen cups concupiscent curds.
Let the wenches dawdle in such dress
As they are used to wear, and let the boys
Bring flowers in last month's newspapers.
Let be be finale of seem.
The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream.
Take from the dresser of deal,
Lacking the three glass knobs, that sheet
On which she embroidered fantails once
And spread it so as to cover her face.
If her horny feet protrude, they come
To show how cold she is, and dumb.
Let the lamp affix its beam.
The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream.
— Wallace Stevens, “The Emperor of Ice-Cream” (1922)