A Little Fright Reading

Chris writes…

We are living in fear inducing times.  The pandemic we are suffering through likely has many of us feeling more frightened than we have experienced before.  Some may find horror to be the wrong genre to explore presently, but for me it has been a source of refuge. Monsters, ghouls, and evil humans offer a type of fear we can easily accept and understand.  Particularly when compared to a virus we know little about and which we have received contradictory information about. I happily embrace the boogeyman over a fear I have little control over.  

The horror genre has many short stories.  Short stories have been appealing because presently my body is flooded with stress hormones which has left me with a decreased attention span.  After finishing a short story I am left with the same feeling of accomplishment from reading a full length novel, but have a much smaller level of commitment I must dedicate.  Despite the length, these tales pack quite a punch. Think of Edgar Allen Poe for example; he has very few lengthy works, but provides a concise and powerful explanation of civilization, human motivations, and the fears which drive each of us (no matter how much we attempt to repress them.) 

Fear isn’t going to leave us, even after the pandemic subsides.  Fear is ingrained in humanity. It is a core emotion; fear is a survival mechanism.  Fear is uncomfortable, it is overwhelming, it changes the ‘us’ we understand ourselves to be.  Fear is powerful, but it is not negative. Fear changes how we see and understand the world around us, and facilitates ways in which we can respond differently.  Being frightened forces us to think outside the box, to search for new solutions, and encourages us to find out how we can become the heroine of our life story.

To be a hero we need a monster to scare us.  

Horror is a powerful genre! It teaches ways to cope with fear, and how to adapt when the world becomes frightening.  Through literature we can experience a controlled fear, and a fear we can control will help us learn how to manage fear in situations we have little control over.  Literature lets us practice fear in safe settings. Scare yourself a little with a frightening tale, so the world doesn’t do it for you. No matter what story you pick I am certain you will find parallels to what you are experiencing now.