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Le Horla
"The Horla" (French: "Le Horla") is an 1887 short horror story written in the style of a journal by the French writer Guy de Maupassant, after an initial (much shorter) version published in the newspaper ''Gil Blas'', October 26, 1886. The story has been cited as an inspiration for Lovecraft's "The Call of Cthulhu", which also features an extraterrestrial being who influences minds and who is destined to conquer humanity.S. T. Joshi and David E. Schultz, "Call of Cthulhu, The", ''An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia,'' p. 28. The word ''horla'' itself is not French, and is a neologism. Charlotte Mandell, who has translated "The Horla" for publisher Melville House, suggests in an afterword that the word "horla" is a portmanteau of the French words ''hors'' ("outside"), and ''là'' ("there") and that "le horla" sounds like "the Outsider, the outer, the one Out There", and can be transliterally interpreted as "the 'what's out there'". Summary In the form of a journal, the narrator ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Guy De Maupassant
Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant (, ; ; 5 August 1850 – 6 July 1893) was a 19th-century French author, celebrated as a master of the short story, as well as a representative of the naturalist school, depicting human lives, destinies and social forces in disillusioned and often pessimistic terms. Maupassant was a protégé of Gustave Flaubert and his stories are characterized by economy of style and efficient, seemingly effortless ''dénouements''. Many are set during the Franco-Prussian War of the 1870s, describing the futility of war and the innocent civilians who, caught up in events beyond their control, are permanently changed by their experiences. He wrote 300 short stories, six novels, three travel books, and one volume of verse. His first published story, " Boule de Suif" ("The Dumpling", 1880), is often considered his most famous work. Biography Henri-René-Albert-Guy de Maupassant was born on 5 August 1850 at the late 16th-century Château de Miromesnil (ne ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Wilson (short Story)
"William Wilson" is a short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe, first published in 1839 in ''The Gift'', with a setting inspired by Poe's formative years on the outskirts of London. The tale features a doppelgänger. It also appeared in the 1840 collection '' Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque'', and has been adapted several times. Plot summary The story follows a man of "a noble descent" named William Wilson. Although denouncing his profligate past, he does not accept full blame for his actions and says that "man was never thus ... tempted before". The narration then segues into a description of Wilson's boyhood, spent in a school "in a misty-looking village of England". William meets another boy in school with the same name and roughly the same appearance, and is even born on the same date (January 19, Poe's birthday). William's name (he asserts that his actual name is only similar to "William Wilson") is embarrassing because it sounds "plebeian" or common, and it i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes () is a Detective fiction, fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a "Private investigator, consulting detective" in his stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with observation, deduction, forensic science and logical reasoning that borders on the fantastic, which he employs when investigating cases for a wide variety of clients, including Scotland Yard. The character Sherlock Holmes first appeared in print in 1887's ''A Study in Scarlet''. His popularity became widespread with the first series of short stories in ''The Strand Magazine'', beginning with "A Scandal in Bohemia" in 1891; additional tales appeared from then until 1927, eventually totalling Canon of Sherlock Holmes, four novels and 56 short stories. All but one are set in the Victorian era, Victorian or Edwardian era, Edwardian eras between 1880 and 1914. Most are narrated by the character of Holmes's friend and biographer, Dr. Watson, Dr. John ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sherlock Holmes' War Of The Worlds
''Sherlock Holmes's War of the Worlds'' is a science fiction novel by American writers Manly Wade Wellman and his son Wade Wellman. A sequel to H. G. Wells's ''The War of the Worlds'', it was published in 1975. It is a pastiche crossover which combines H. G. Wells's 1897 extraterrestrial invasion story with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes and Professor Challenger characters. The book is composed of stories originally published in ''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction''. Plot The story consists of the adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson, and Professor Challenger in London during the Martian invasion as described in Wells's novel. Background The book was inspired by a viewing of '' A Study in Terror''. The underlying philosophy of the book is very different to, indeed contradictory to, the original Wells story in which the idea is repeatedly expressed of humans being completely helpless before the Martian invaders, as other creatures are before humans. Co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pastiche
A pastiche () is a work of visual art, literature, theatre, music, or architecture that imitates the style or character of the work of one or more other artists. Unlike parody, pastiche pays homage to the work it imitates, rather than mocking it. The word is the French borrowing of the Italian noun , which is a pâté or pie-filling mixed from diverse ingredients. Its first recorded use in this sense was in 1878. Metaphorically, and describe works that are either composed by several authors, or that incorporate stylistic elements of other artists' work. Pastiche is an example of eclecticism in art. Allusion is not pastiche. A literary allusion may refer to another work, but it does not reiterate it. Allusion requires the audience to share in the author's cultural knowledge. Allusion and pastiche are both mechanisms of intertextuality. By art Literature In literary usage, the term denotes a literary technique employing a generally light-hearted tongue-in-cheek imit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Extraterrestrial Life In Popular Culture
An extraterrestrial or alien is a lifeform that did not originate on Earth. (The word ''extraterrestrial'' means 'outside Earth'.) Extraterrestrials are a common theme in modern science-fiction, and also appeared in much earlier works such as the second-century parody '' True History'' by Lucian of Samosata. History Antiquity The 2nd century writer of satires, Lucian, in his '' True History'' claims to have visited the Moon when his ship was sent up by a fountain, which was peopled and at war with the people of the Sun over colonisation of the Morning Star. The way people have thought about extraterrestrials is tied to the development of actual sciences. One of the first steps in the history of astronomy was to realize that the objects seen in the night sky were not gods or lights, but physical objects like Earth. This notion was followed by the one that celestial objects should be inhabited as well. However, when people thought about such extraterrestrials, they thought ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brainwashing
Brainwashing is the controversial idea that the human mind can be altered or controlled against a person's will by manipulative psychological techniques. Brainwashing is said to reduce its subject's ability to think critically or independently, to allow the introduction of new, unwanted thoughts and ideas into their minds, as well as to change their attitudes, values, and beliefs. The term "brainwashing" was first used in English by Edward Hunter in 1950 to describe how the Chinese government appeared to make people cooperate with them during the Korean War. Research into the concept also looked at Nazi Germany and present-day North Korea, at some criminal cases in the United States, and at the actions of human traffickers. Scientific and legal debate followed, as well as media attention, about the possibility of brainwashing being a factor when lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) was used, or in the induction of people into groups which are considered to be cults. Brainwashing ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Invisibility
Invisibility is the state of an object that cannot be seen. An object in this state is said to be ''invisible'' (literally, "not visible"). The phenomenon is studied by physics and perceptual psychology. Since objects can be seen by light from a source reflecting off their surfaces and hitting the viewer's eyes, the most natural form of invisibility (whether real or fictional) is an object that neither reflects nor absorbs light (that is, it allows light to pass through it). This is known as transparency, and is seen in many naturally occurring materials (although no naturally occurring material is 100% transparent). Invisibility perception depends on several optical and visual factors. For example, invisibility depends on the eyes of the observer and/or the instruments used. Thus an object can be classified as "invisible" to a person, animal, instrument, etc. In research on sensorial perception it has been shown that invisibility is perceived in cycles. Invisibility is o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Supernatural Horror In Literature
"Supernatural Horror in Literature" is a 28,000-word essay by American writer H. P. Lovecraft, surveying the development and achievements of horror fiction as the field stood in the 1920s and 30s. The essay was researched and written between November 1925 and May 1927, first published in a small-circulation amateur magazine in August 1927, and then revised and expanded during 1933–1934. The essay Lovecraft's meticulously researched essay covers a broad spectrum, attempting to present a comprehensive historical account of horror literature, with insights into the nature, development and history of the weird tale. Beginning with the genre's alchemical and folkloric roots, it continues with tales of diabolism from the Renaissance, the birth of Gothic fiction towards the end of the 18th century and its migration to the "New World" during the 19th, and it ends with an acknowledgement of Lovecraft's most noteworthy contemporaries. As a guide to early Gothic fiction, the author reli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Uncanny Tales (Sheckley)
''Uncanny Tales'' is a collection of science fiction short stories by Robert Sheckley Robert Sheckley (July 16, 1928 – December 9, 2005) was an American writer. First published in the science-fiction magazines of the 1950s, his many quick-witted stories and novels were famously unpredictable, Absurdist fiction, absurdist, and .... It was first published in 2003 and includes an introduction and the following stories: # "A Trick Worth Two of That" (2001) # "The Mind-Slaves of Manitori" (1989) # "Pandora's Box—Open with Care" (2000) # "The Dream of Misunderstanding" (2002) # "Magic, Maples, and Maryanne" (2000) # "The New Horla" (2000) # "The City of the Dead" (1994) # "The Quijote Robot" (2001) # "Emissary from a Green and Yellow World" (1998) # "The Universal Karmic Clearing House" (1986) # "Deep Blue Sleep" (1999) # "The Day the Aliens Came" (1995) # "Dukakis and the Aliens" (1992) # "Mirror Games" (2001) # "Sightseeing, 2179" (2002) # "Agamemnon's Run" (2002) Reference ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Sheckley
Robert Sheckley (July 16, 1928 – December 9, 2005) was an American writer. First published in the science-fiction magazines of the 1950s, his many quick-witted stories and novels were famously unpredictable, Absurdist fiction, absurdist, and broadly comical. Nominated for Hugo Award, Hugo and Nebula Awards, Sheckley was named Author Emeritus by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 2001. Biography Sheckley was born to a Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York City. In 1931, the family moved to Maplewood, New Jersey. Sheckley attended Columbia High School (New Jersey), Columbia High School, where he discovered science fiction. He graduated in 1946 and hitchhiked to California the same year, where he tried numerous jobs: landscape gardener, pretzel salesman, barman, milkman, warehouseman, and general laborer "board man" in a hand-painted necktie studio. Still in 1946, he joined the United States Army, U.S. Army and was sent to Korea.Jonas, Gerald"Robert Sheckley, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Manly Wade Wellman
Manly Wade Wellman (May 21, 1903 – April 5, 1986) was an American writer. While his science fiction and fantasy stories appeared in such pulps as '' Astounding Stories'', '' Startling Stories'', ''Unknown'' and '' Strange Stories'', Wellman is best remembered as one of the most popular contributors to the legendary '' Weird Tales'' and for his fantasy and horror stories set in the Appalachian Mountains, which draw on the native folklore of that region. Karl Edward Wagner referred to him as "the dean of fantasy writers." Wellman also wrote in a wide variety of other genres, including historical fiction, detective fiction, western fiction, juvenile fiction, and non-fiction. Wellman was a long-time resident of North Carolina. Schweitzer, Darrell. "Wellman, Manly Wade", in ''St. James Guide To Fantasy Writers'', ed. David Pringle, London, St. James Press, 1996, , (p. 596-98). He received many awards, including the World Fantasy Award and Edgar Allan Poe Award. In 2013, the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
