supernatural in literature

"From essays about the Salem witch trials to literary uses of ghosts by Twain, Wharton, and Bierce to the cinematic blockbuster "The Sixth Sense", this book is the first to survey the importance of ghosts and hauntings in American culture across time. From the Puritans' conviction that a thousand preternatural beings appear every day before our eyes, to today's resurgence of spirits in fiction and film, the culture of the United States has been obsessed with ghosts. this book asserts that ghosts, whether in oral tradition, literature, or such modern forms as cinema have always been constructions embedded in specific historical ontexts and invoked for explicit purposes, often poitical in nature"--Adapted from publisher description.

Lists 500 paperback books for teens, younger teens, and adults. Includes annotations.

Presents a republication of author H.P. Lovecraft's 1927 essay in which he examines the history of supernatural horror in literature, discussing terror literature in ancient, medieval, and renaissance culture, and providing a critical survey of horror fiction since the eighteenth century.

When Dryer and Danforth set out to explore the Antarctic continent, they encounter a strange civilization that traveled to Earth from the far regions of space millions of years ago, and now Dryer and Danforth are sent to be Earth's ambassadors to space.

Contains alphabetically arranged entries that provide biographical information and critical assessments of 116 contemporary writers of supernatural fiction who have made a significant impact on the field, each with a selected bibliography. Includes a cumulative index.