Horror fiction is as popular now as it was when Edgar Allen Poe reinvented the gothic genre in the 1840s, and in the late twentieth century Stephen King is the most read American author ever. This anthology presents classic and contemporary accounts of modern gothic horror writing from Edgar Allen Poe, H. P. Lovecraft, Robert Bloch, Stephen King, Barker and many other authors, as well as essays from current literary scholars, providing an essential guide to the genre and the variety of approaches possible when discussing the literature of terror.

This anthology presents classic and contemporary accounts of modern gothic horror writing from Edgar Allan Poe, H.P. Lovecraft, Robert Bloch, Stephen King, Clive Barker and many other authors, as well as essays from current literary scholars, providing an essential guide to the genre and the variety of approaches possible when discussing the literature of terror. The whole volume is introduced by Clive Bloom, who offers an outline of the genre and situates it in its social and cultural context.