
How Horror Works in Books and Film
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Narrated by:
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Shannon Scott
About this listen
Why are we scared of ghosts, zombies, vampires, demons, and monsters, when we know they are not real? Why do dark attics give us the creeps? How do writers and directors know exactly what anxieties to tap into, so that we break out in goosebumps, cover our eyes, and cringe?
Shannon Scott invites you into the spooky, creepy, and sometimes surprising world of the horror genre to examine how popular scary movies and books manipulate our collective and individual fears—not only to frighten us, but also to address taboo subjects, and to reflect and comment on the state of our society. More important, she examines what lessons we can learn from these fears.
Throughout this series, she will introduce you to the many facets of fear—the traditional monsters you are familiar with, as well as examples of apocalyptic and social horror, psychological horror, and ecohorror. Using well-known characters and settings, Shannon will show you how each case can—and does—reveal a lot about our personal fears and our cultural anxieties.
The things that go bump in the night are not always in your head, but it’s your head that makes you afraid of them.
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Overall
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Through these 10 lectures, you will delve into the darkness of Poe’s most nightmarish stories, including “The Tell-Tale Heart”, “The Pit and the Pendulum”, and “The Fall of the House of Usher”. You’ll also learn how he invented the detective story and explored themes of love and loss in such poems as “Ulalume” and “Annabel Lee”. And you’ll discover how Poe employed symbolism, imagery, rhythm and rhyme, irony and paradox, repetition, simile, and foreshadowing to create a unique body of work.
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Interesting but not what I was expecting
- By Red-Haired Ash on 03-24-21
By: Mark Canada, and others
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The Science of Sci-Fi
- From Warp Speed to Interstellar Travel
- By: Erin Macdonald, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Erin Macdonald
- Length: 3 hrs and 59 mins
- Original Recording
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Science fiction allows us to go places we can only dream of seeing - other worlds, distant stars, entirely different galaxies. While not every story is concerned with the hard science behind space travel and other futuristic ventures, fiction can give us amazing insight into what we could be capable of and what we dream of doing. In these 10 lectures, Professor Erin Macdonald interweaves real science and the achievements of the imagination to reveal the truth that underlies our favorite stories and sheds light on what the future may hold.
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surfing the surface
- By scarlet on 01-13-20
By: Erin Macdonald, and others
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The Mysterious Case of Agatha Christie
- By: Maureen Corrigan, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Maureen Corrigan
- Length: 5 hrs and 43 mins
- Original Recording
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Meet Agatha Christie, the best-selling novelist in human history. Her writing career spanned six decades, during which time she wrote 66 crime novels, 6 non-crime novels (including romances), and over 150 short stories. Not only was she a phenomenally successful novelist, but she is also the most successful female playwright of all time - her play “The Mousetrap” is the longest-running show in history. As you learn about Christie’s experiences and her storied career, you will better understand how the circumstances of her life shaped her work and vice versa.
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So excellent!!!
- By linsyh on 08-24-21
By: Maureen Corrigan, and others
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Writing the Bible: Origins of the Old Testament
- By: Martien Halvorson-Taylor, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Martien Halvorson-Taylor
- Length: 5 hrs and 9 mins
- Original Recording
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Who wrote Great Expectations? That’s easy: Charles Dickens. Who’s the author of Beloved? Toni Morrison, of course. Now how about the Old Testament? You’d think for a book as widely known, studied, and distributed as the Bible, the question of authorship would have been sorted out by now. But the question is more complex (and fascinating) than it seems. Why? Because asking it is to challenge everything we might assume about the Bible’s identity as a book, about what “writing” and “authorship” really mean, and about how a written text could become sacred.
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What a Great Courses Book Is Meant to Be
- By Gilbert M. Stack on 12-16-21
By: Martien Halvorson-Taylor, and others
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TV's New Golden Age
- By: Eric R. Williams, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Eric R. Williams
- Length: 5 hrs
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In the 10 lessons of TV's New Golden Age, Professor Eric R. Williams will take you on a tour of this high watermark period in television history, sometimes known as the "Third Golden Age of Television", or G3. Along the way, you will consider some of the best and the worst that television has to offer, not just in G3, but throughout the history of the medium.
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mile wide, inch deep
- By J. Pulton on 03-23-21
By: Eric R. Williams, and others
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How 1954 Changed History
- By: Michael Flamm, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Michael Flamm
- Length: 5 hrs and 5 mins
- Original Recording
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Every year has its share of notable events, but some years seem to capture the essence of a decade in a handful of months. The year 1954 is one such year. It began in January with a celebrity marriage heard round the world and then progressed through a series of major political, social, and cultural milestones that would echo through the next several decades. The years following World War II were a time of increased wealth and confidence, years that saw the rise of a solid, increasingly powerful middle class in America.
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Fascinating history
- By TPM on 04-19-20
By: Michael Flamm, and others
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Powerful Women Who Ruled the Ancient World
- By: Kara Cooney, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Kara Cooney
- Length: 5 hrs and 45 mins
- Original Recording
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What is power and who is allowed to wield it? Why is female power so rare and, often, so feared? What can the women who gained power in the ancient world teach us about the contemporary world and our modern ideas of gender, authority, and equality? Listeners will explore these and other questions as you travel back to the ancient world and uncover the stories of remarkable women who overcame a host of barriers to wield power in a male-dominated world.
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Informative
- By Red-Haired Ash on 05-02-20
By: Kara Cooney, and others
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The Hidden History of Holidays
- By: Hannah Harvey, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Hannah Harvey
- Length: 8 hrs and 3 mins
- Original Recording
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From Halloween costumes to patriotic parades to belly-busting meals, every holiday tradition tells a unique story—one encoded in symbols and layered meanings that stretch back over the centuries. In 19 lectures, professional storyteller Dr. Hannah B. Harvey takes listeners through the seasons and investigates the surprising stories behind seemingly odd holiday traditions.
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An enjoyable listen, but a few inaccuracies
- By Kristopher willis on 12-17-19
By: Hannah Harvey, and others
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The Life and Legacy of Muhammad
- By: Maria Dakake, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Maria Dakake
- Length: 4 hrs and 57 mins
- Original Recording
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New religious movements aren’t earthquakes - they’re not generated by blind natural forces, and they’re not inevitable. Social and spiritual change requires a catalyst to set it in motion. And in the case of Islam, that catalyst has a name: Muhammad. He was a charismatic individual, born of the existing culture of sixth-century Arabia and yet somehow alienated from it. He drew on existing religious ideas in radically new ways that would change his world - and ours - forever. Join Maria Dakake of George Mason University for a riveting exploration of Islam’s founding prophet.
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A Lot of Detail Enriches this Book
- By Gilbert M. Stack on 03-29-22
By: Maria Dakake, and others
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The Hidden History of the Boston Tea Party
- By: Adam Jortner, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Adam Jortner
- Length: 2 hrs and 56 mins
- Original Recording
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The history of the Boston Tea Party is a hidden one. Why? Since it was a clandestine operation, all sorts of rumors and legends grew up around the event—many collected decades after the American Revolution had ended. At its core, however, the night of December 16, 1773, when colonials dumped tea from British ships into Boston Harbor, was more than a fight over tea and taxes. It was a struggle over the very nature of democracy and self-governance.
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How nuanced this event actually was
- By Cody T. on 12-17-23
By: Adam Jortner, and others
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The Joy of Numbers
- By: Dr. Arthur Benjamin, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Art Benjamin
- Length: 5 hrs and 2 mins
- Original Recording
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Numbers. Like the alphabet, they’re one of the most elementary of concepts learned and memorized at a young age; but outside of figuring out tips and taxes, you probably haven’t given much thought to them since then. To a mathematician, every number has its own unique properties and personality - and when studied, played with, and manipulated, numbers can actually be tons of fun.
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Very entertaining
- By Mariam on 03-19-22
By: Dr. Arthur Benjamin, and others
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Rise and Fall of the Borgias
- By: William Landon, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: William Landon
- Length: 4 hrs and 58 mins
- Original Recording
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Since its rise to the highest ranks of power in Renaissance Europe, the Borgia family has developed a scandalous reputation. While they were indeed ostentatious, calculating, worldly, cruel - and even, occasionally, murderous - you may be surprised to find that the Borgias were not terribly different from other powerful and ambitious families of their day. So why has history set them apart as one of the most corrupt and reviled families in history?
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A remarkable history of a maligned family
- By Happy Customer on 12-03-19
By: William Landon, and others
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10 Women Who Ruled the Renaissance
- By: Joyce Salisbury, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Joyce Salisbury
- Length: 4 hrs and 59 mins
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The 16th century was a time of immense change across the globe. For many historians, it marks a massive shift in the way the world operated; it is often considered the beginning of modernity. We may regard the 16th century as the time of Shakespeare and the conquistadors, but women also played a powerful role in many of the major events around the world. In 10 Women Who Ruled the Renaissance, you will explore the lives of 10 extraordinary women who exemplified the spirit of the 1500s - an era dominated by adventure, discovery, and cross-cultural exchange.
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Fills Gaps in History
- By Amanda on 01-22-21
By: Joyce Salisbury, and others
What listeners say about How Horror Works in Books and Film
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- Matt J
- 03-19-25
How to suck all the fun out of horror
This dissects all horror as just metaphors for social ills and political problems. Tedious and sucks the fun out of some films that are just fun, good scares. Ok, if you view everything through a lens of social justice, then you might like this. But if you enjoy horror as an entertaining art form, then skip this one.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Bryan Anthony
- 06-01-23
Great
Very insightful, a must read for any fan of horror or sci-fi. Highly recommend
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1 person found this helpful
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- james petz
- 10-18-22
Excellent!
I really enjoyed this audiobook, learning about the dynamics of Horror really gave me a great insight into a wonderful and mesmerizing genre! The narration was excellent, she had a very pleasant and lucid tone. Plus, this wonderful gem was free and that never hurt!
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2 people found this helpful
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- Noda RN
- 11-05-22
Scary fun
Very interesting insightful. Never dull. Ideas I had never considered. Makes me want to see many of these movies again
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2 people found this helpful
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- AGB
- 06-17-23
Outstanding lecture on horror
If you are a purveyor of horror movies and literature, you will deeply enjoy this well-researched, comprehensive course on the genre. It is outstanding!
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1 person found this helpful
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- Steve and/or Jodene
- 11-12-22
Too much plot summaries for my taste
I enjoyed it, but not as much as I'd hoped I would. Too much of it was "Here's a category, and now here are plot summaries of some books and movies that fit that category."
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2 people found this helpful
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- I. Smith
- 02-19-23
Disappointed
Not an evaluation of how horror works, but more of a synopsis of various horror movies and novels. To make it worse, the lecturer drops spoilers left and right for those movies and books I was interested in. Thanks…
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4 people found this helpful
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- Mary K.
- 10-19-22
Horror Convert
Honestly, Steven Spielberg’s Poltergeist is as scary as I ever got. But Shannon Scott’s funny and knowledgeable lecture series held my hand while I ventured into darkness and discovered that I, too, had an appetite for fear. Five stars for this ghoulish gal!
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2 people found this helpful
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- Daniel
- 11-30-22
Pretty entertaining
Great little lecture series. Short into the point. Lots of insight and thoughts on horror, movies.
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1 person found this helpful
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Left wanting more
The amount of content left me slightly disappointed. The material mostly summarized and categorized a series of books and movies, yet it could have been much more. I would have wanted it to go deeper and more thorough into more content. Such as an entire chapter on beam Stoker’s Dracula and the questions redeeming a unbalanced or adulterous relationship. Commentary and analysis on more classics such as the alien series and more than just one slasher. It felt more like a fun high school course than a serious exploration one would expect at the university level. Nothing bad about what was there, just not enough of it.
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