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Grotesquerie
Grotesquerie is a literary form that became a popular genre in the early 20th century. It is characterized by using the grotesque in its work (i.e., the work uses people or animal forms that are distorted or misshapen) for comedic effect or in order to repulse. It can be grouped with science fiction and horror. Authors such as Ambrose Bierce, Fritz Leiber, H.P. Lovecraft, H. Russell Wakefield, Seabury Quinn, Mary Elizabeth Counselman, Margaret St. Clair, Stanton A. Coblentz, Lee Brown Coye and Katherine Anne Porter have written books within this genre. The term has also been used to describe macabre artwork and movies, and it is used in architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building .... See also * Gothic novel References Science fiction genres Horror genres [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grotesque
Since at least the 18th century (in French and German as well as English), grotesque has come to be used as a general adjective for the strange, mysterious, magnificent, fantastic, hideous, ugly, incongruous, unpleasant, or disgusting, and thus is often used to describe weird shapes and distorted forms such as Halloween masks. In art, performance, and literature, however, ''grotesque'' may also refer to something that simultaneously invokes in an audience a feeling of uncomfortable bizarreness as well as sympathetic pity. The English word first appears in the 1560s as a noun borrowed from French, and comes originally from the Italian ''grottesca'' (literally "of a cave" from the Italian ''grotta'', 'cave'; see grotto), an extravagant style of ancient Roman decorative art rediscovered at Rome at the end of the fifteenth century and subsequently imitated. The word was first used of paintings found on the walls of basements of ruins in Rome that were called at that time ''le Gro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ambrose Bierce
Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce (June 24, 1842 – ) was an American short story writer, journalist, poet, and American Civil War veteran. His book ''The Devil's Dictionary'' was named as one of "The 100 Greatest Masterpieces of American Literature" by the American Revolution Bicentennial Administration. His story "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" has been described as "one of the most famous and frequently anthologized stories in American literature", and his book '' Tales of Soldiers and Civilians'' (also published as ''In the Midst of Life'') was named by the Grolier Club as one of the 100 most influential American books printed before 1900. A prolific and versatile writer, Bierce was regarded as one of the most influential journalists in the United States, and as a pioneering writer of realist fiction. For his horror writing, Michael Dirda ranked him alongside Edgar Allan Poe and H. P. Lovecraft. S. T. Joshi speculates that he may well be the greatest satirist America has ever pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
20th Century In Literature
Literature of the 20th century refers to world literature produced during the 20th century (1901 to 2000). In terms of the Euro-American tradition, the main periods are captured in the bipartite division, Modernist literature and Postmodern literature, flowering from roughly 1900 to 1940 and 1960 to 1990 respectively, divided, as a rule of thumb, by World War II. The somewhat malleable term "contemporary literature" is usually applied with a post-1960 cut off point. Although these terms (modern, contemporary and postmodern) are most applicable to Western literary history, the rise of the globalization has allowed European literary ideas to spread into non-Western cultures fairly rapidly, so that Asian and African literatures can be included into these divisions with only minor qualifications. And in some ways, such as in Postcolonial literature, writers from non-Western cultures were on the forefront of literary development. Technological advances during the 20th century allow ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Science Fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel universes, extraterrestrial life, sentient artificial intelligence, cybernetics, certain forms of immortality (like mind uploading), and the singularity. Science fiction predicted several existing inventions, such as the atomic bomb, robots, and borazon, whose names entirely match their fictional predecessors. In addition, science fiction might serve as an outlet to facilitate future scientific and technological innovations. Science fiction can trace its roots to ancient mythology. It is also related to fantasy, horror, and superhero fiction and contains many subgenres. Its exact definition has long been disputed among authors, critics, scholars, and readers. Science fiction, in literature, film, television, and other media, has beco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Horror Fiction
Horror is a genre of fiction which is intended to frighten, scare, or disgust. Horror is often divided into the sub-genres of psychological horror and supernatural horror, which is in the realm of speculative fiction. Literary historian J. A. Cuddon, in 1984, defined the horror story as "a piece of fiction in prose of variable length... which shocks, or even frightens the reader, or perhaps induces a feeling of repulsion or loathing". Horror intends to create an eerie and frightening atmosphere for the reader. Often the central menace of a work of horror fiction can be interpreted as a metaphor for larger fears of a society. Prevalent elements of the genre include ghosts, demons, vampires, werewolves, ghouls, the Devil, witches, monsters, extraterrestrials, dystopian and post-apocalyptic worlds, serial killers, cannibalism, cults, dark magic, satanism, the macabre, gore and torture. History Before 1000 The horror genre has ancient origins, with roots in folklore ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fritz Leiber
Fritz Reuter Leiber Jr. ( ; December 24, 1910 – September 5, 1992) was an American writer of fantasy, horror, and science fiction. He was also a poet, actor in theater and films, playwright, and chess expert. With writers such as Robert E. Howard and Michael Moorcock, Leiber is one of the fathers of sword and sorcery and coined the term. Life Fritz Leiber was born December 24, 1910, in Chicago, Illinois, to the actors Fritz Leiber and Virginia Bronson Leiber. For a time, he seemed inclined to follow in his parents' footsteps; the theater and actors feature in his fiction. He spent 1928 touring with his parents' Shakespeare company (Fritz Leiber & Co.) before entering the University of Chicago, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and received an undergraduate Ph.B. degree in psychology and physiology or biology with honors in 1932. From 1932 to 1933, he worked as a lay reader and studied as a candidate for the ministry, without taking a degree, at the General Theolog ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Seabury Quinn
Seabury Grandin Quinn (also known as Jerome Burke; December 1889 – December 24, 1969) was an American government lawyer, journalist, and pulp magazine author, most famous for his stories of the occult detective Jules de Grandin, published in ''Weird Tales''."Quinn, Seabury" by Brian Stableford in David Pringle, ''St. James Guide to Horror, Ghost & Gothic Writers''. London : St. James Press, 1998, (pp. 466-7). Biography Seabury Quinn was born and lived in Washington, D.C. in 1889. In 1910 Quinn graduated from the law school of the National University and was admitted to the District of Columbia Bar. Quinn served in the Army in World War I. After his service he became editor of a group of trade papers in New York, where he taught medical jurisprudence and wrote technical articles and pulp magazine fiction. His first published work was "The Law of the Movies", in ''The Motion Picture Magazine'', December 1917. (His story "Painted Gold" may have been written earlier.) "Demons of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mary Elizabeth Counselman
Mary Elizabeth Counselman (November 19, 1911 – November 13, 1995) was an American writer of short stories and poetry. Biography Mary Elizabeth Counselman was born on November 19, 1911, in Birmingham, Alabama. She began writing poetry as a child and sold her first poem at the age of six. She later moved to Gainesville, Georgia, where her father was a faculty member at the Riverside Military Academy. She attended the University of Alabama and Alabama College (now Montevallo University). Her first sale was to "an awful little magazine called ''Mind Magic''." Presumably, this was the short story, "The Devil Himself," which ran in the November 1931 issue of ''My Self'', the first issue of the retitled ''Mind Magic''. Counselman's work appeared in ''Weird Tales'', ''Collier's'', ''The Saturday Evening Post'', ''Good Housekeeping'', ''Ladies' Home Journal'', and other magazines. Her stories were dramatized on ''General Electric Theater'' and other national television programs ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Margaret St
Margaret is a female first name, derived via French () and Latin () from grc, μαργαρίτης () meaning "pearl". The Greek is borrowed from Persian. Margaret has been an English name since the 11th century, and remained popular throughout the Middle Ages. It became less popular between the 16th century and 18th century, but became more common again after this period, becoming the second-most popular female name in the United States in 1903. Since this time, it has become less common, but was still the ninth-most common name for women of all ages in the United States as of the 1990 census. Margaret has many diminutive forms in many different languages, including Maggie, Madge, Daisy, Margarete, Marge, Margo, Margie, Marjorie, Meg, Megan, Rita, Greta, Gretchen, and Peggy. Name variants Full name * (Irish) * (Irish) * (Dutch), (German), (Swedish) * (English) Diminutives * (English) * (English) First half * ( French) * ( Welsh) Second half * (Engli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stanton A
Stanton may refer to: Places United Kingdom ;Populated places * Stanton, Derbyshire, near Swadlincote * Stanton, Gloucestershire * Stanton, Northumberland * Stanton, Staffordshire * Stanton, Suffolk * New Stanton, Derbyshire * Stanton by Bridge, Derbyshire * Stanton by Dale, Derbyshire * Stanton Chare, Suffolk * Stanton Drew, Bristol * Stanton Fitzwarren, Wiltshire * Stanton Harcourt, Oxfordshire * Stanton Hill, Nottinghamshire * Stanton in Peak, Derbyshire * Stanton Lacy, Shropshire * Stanton Lees, Derbyshire * Stanton Long, Shropshire * Stanton Moor, Derbyshire * Stanton Prior, Somerset * Stanton St Bernard, Wiltshire * Stanton St John, Oxfordshire * Stanton St Quintin, Wiltshire * Stanton under Bardon, Leicestershire * Stanton upon Hine Heath, Shropshire * Stanton Wick, Somerset United States ;Populated places * Stanton, California * Stanton, Delaware * Stanton, Iowa * Stanton, Kansas * Stanton, Kentucky * Stanton, Michigan * Stanton, Mississippi * Stanton, Missouri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lee Brown Coye
Lee Brown Coye (July 24, 1907 – September 5, 1981) was an American artist. Coye is probably best remembered for his black-and-white illustrations for pulp magazines and horror fiction, but he produced a variety of works in other media. Biography Coye was born in Syracuse, New York, and as a young man lived in nearby Tully (town), New York, Tully. He spent his entire life in the Central New York area. He and his wife, Ruth, lived in Syracuse for many years where Coye's activities included teaching adult art classes; working under the Works Progress Administration to paint a mural in the Cazenovia High School in 1934 (since destroyed); advertising for the WSYR (AM), WSYR Broadcasting System in upstate New York, producing a variety of commissioned works. The Coyes settled in Hamilton (village), New York, Hamilton, New York, in 1959 when Lee went to work for Sculptura, a small company that reproduced antique sculptures. The move to Hamilton allowed Coye to fulfill his ambition of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Katherine Anne Porter
Katherine Anne Porter (May 15, 1890 – September 18, 1980) was an American journalist, essayist, short story writer, novelist, and political activist. Her 1962 novel ''Ship of Fools'' was the best-selling novel in America that year, but her short stories received much more critical acclaim. Biography Early life Katherine Anne Porter was born in Indian Creek, Texas as Callie Russell Porter to Harrison Boone Porter and Mary Alice (Jones) Porter. Although her father claimed maternal descent from American frontiersman Daniel Boone, Porter herself altered this alleged descent to be from Boone's brother Jonathan as "the record of his descendants was obscure, so that no-one could contradict her.” This relationship was unfounded. Porter was enthusiastic about her own genealogy and family history, and spent years constructing a "quasi-official" version of her ancestry alleging descent from a companion of William the Conqueror, although "most of the genealogical connections she boasted ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
