{"id":6659,"date":"2010-10-22T16:47:47","date_gmt":"2010-10-22T20:47:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=6659"},"modified":"2010-10-29T16:23:24","modified_gmt":"2010-10-29T20:23:24","slug":"halloween-reads-seducing-a-writer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2010\/10\/22\/halloween-reads-seducing-a-writer\/","title":{"rendered":"Halloween Reads; Seducing a Writer"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"I recently found myself craving some terrifying literature\u2014the idea of reading something frightening feels so seasonally appropriate. That said, I\u2019d like to avoid fiction that panders to generic tropes and also isn\u2019t by Irving or Poe. Could you recommend a work of genuine literary merit that\u2019s also disturbing and Halloween-ish?<\/em> \u2014Ryan Sheldon<\/p>\n

Two spooky writers spring immediately to mind: Shirley Jackson and Angela Carter. Jackson is the more Hallowe\u2019eny of the two. You might begin with her last novel, first published in 1962 (and reissued last year), We Have Always Lived in the Castle<\/a><\/em>. I\u2019m not sure what you mean about generic tropes: This is absolutely pure New England Gothic, but there is no pandering in it. I think the literature of the uncanny depends on genre conventions\u2014and, at its most uncanny, plays with them, so the spooky and the banal get mixed up together.<\/p>\n

Readers of The Daily have seen me recommend Angela Carter\u2019s stories, collected in Burning Your Boats<\/a><\/em>. They are favorites of mine. (Burning Your Boats<\/em> came to me, originally, as a present from kid-lit expert Laura Miller<\/a>. It is one of those favorite books that I lent out years ago and never got back<\/a>.) When Carter rewrites a fairytale, she doesn\u2019t make light of it, she finds what is really and truly disturbing in the original and burnishes that until it shines. If you like Bruno Bettelheim<\/a>, you\u2019ll love<\/em> Angela Carter.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m trying to impress\u2014okay, maybe seduce\u2014an author. I could flatter him with extravagant praise for his books, but that seems too obvious. Might I be able to snag him with an obscure book recommendation, or am I better off just wearing something appealing?<\/em> \u2014F. B.<\/p>\n

It is never wrong to wear something appealing\u2014and there\u2019s no such thing as too-obvious praise!<\/p>\n

Have a question for <\/em>The Paris Review? E-mail<\/a> us.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I recently found myself craving some terrifying literature\u2014the idea of reading something frightening feels so seasonally appropriate. That said, I\u2019d like to avoid fiction that panders to generic tropes and also isn\u2019t by Irving or Poe. Could you recommend a work of genuine literary merit that\u2019s also disturbing and Halloween-ish? \u2014Ryan Sheldon Two spooky writers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[1147,1146,1149,456,1150,665,1148],"class_list":["post-6659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ask-the-paris-review","tag-angela-carter","tag-halloween","tag-laura-miller","tag-lorin-stein","tag-praise","tag-seduction","tag-shirley-jackson"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHalloween Reads; Seducing a Writer by Lorin Stein<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"October 22, 2010 \u2013 I recently found myself craving some terrifying literature\u2014the idea of reading something frightening feels so seasonally appropriate. 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