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The Hook
The Hook, or the Hookman, is an urban legend about a killer with a pirate-like hook for a hand attacking a couple in a parked car. In many versions of the story, the killer is typically portrayed as a faceless, silhouetted old man wearing a raincoat and rain hat that conceals most of his features, especially his face. The story is thought to date from at least the mid-1950s, and gained significant attention when it was reprinted in the advice column '' Dear Abby'' in 1960. It has since become a morality archetype in popular culture, and has been referenced in various horror films. Legend The basic premise involves a young couple cuddling in a car with the radio playing. Suddenly, a news bulletin reports that a serial killer with a hook has just escaped from a nearby institution. For varying reasons, they decide to leave quickly. In the end, once they get back to the woman's house, the killer's hook is either found hanging from the door handle or embedded into the door itself ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Hook Illustration
''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the most frequently used word in the English language; studies and analyses of texts have found it to account for seven percent of all printed English-language words. It is derived from gendered articles in Old English which combined in Middle English and now has a single form used with nouns of any gender. The word can be used with both singular and plural nouns, and with a noun that starts with any letter. This is different from many other languages, which have different forms of the definite article for different genders or numbers. Pronunciation In most dialects, "the" is pronounced as (with the voiced dental fricative followed by a schwa) when followed by a consonant sound, and as (homophone of the archaic pronoun ''thee' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Victorian Literature
Victorian era, Victorian literature is English literature during the reign of Queen Victoria (1837–1901). In the Victorian era, the novel became the leading literary genre in English. English writing from this era reflects the major transformations in most aspects of English life, from scientific, economic, and technological advances to changes in class structures and the role of religion in society. The number of new novels published each year increased from 100 at the start of the period to 1000 by the end of it. Famous novelists from this period include Charles Dickens, William Makepeace Thackeray, the three Brontë family, Brontë sisters, Elizabeth Gaskell, George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans), Thomas Hardy, and Rudyard Kipling. The Romanticism, Romantic period was a time of abstract expression and inward focus; during the Victorian era, writers focused on social issues. Writers such as Thomas Carlyle called attention to the dehumanizing effects of the Industrial Revolution and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Children's Literature
Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. In addition to conventional literary genres, modern children's literature is classified by the intended age of the reader, ranging from picture books for the very young to young adult fiction for those nearing maturity. Children's literature can be traced to traditional stories like fairy tales, which have only been identified as children's literature since the eighteenth century, and songs, part of a wider oral tradition, which adults shared with children before publishing existed. The development of early children's literature, before printing was invented, is difficult to trace. Even after printing became widespread, many classic "children's" tales were originally created for adults and later adapted for a younger audience. Since the fifteenth century much literature has been aimed specifically at children, often with a moral or religious message. Childr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Horror Fiction
Horror is a genre of speculative fiction that is intended to disturb, frighten, or scare an audience. Horror is often divided into the sub-genres of psychological horror and supernatural horror. Literary historian J. A. Cuddon, in 1984, defined the horror story as "a piece of fiction in prose of variable length... which shocks, or even frightens the reader, or perhaps induces a feeling of repulsion or loathing". Horror intends to create an eerie and frightening atmosphere for the reader. Often the central menace of a work of horror fiction can be interpreted as a metaphor for larger fears of a society. History Before 1000 The horror genre has ancient origins, with roots in folklore and religious traditions focusing on death, the afterlife, evil, the demonic, and the principle of the thing embodied in the person. These manifested in stories of beings such as demons, witches, vampires, werewolves, and ghosts. Some early European horror-fiction were the Ancient Greeks and Ancie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Short Stories
A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest types of literature and has existed in the form of legends, mythic tales, folk tales, fairy tales, tall tales, fables, and anecdotes in various ancient communities around the world. The modern short story developed in the early 19th century. Definition The short story is a crafted form in its own right. Short stories make use of plot, resonance and other dynamic components as in a novel, but typically to a lesser degree. While the short story is largely distinct from the novel or novella/short novel, authors generally draw from a common pool of literary techniques. The short story is sometimes referred to as a genre. Determining what exactly defines a short story remains problematic. A classic definition of a short story is that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alvin Schwartz (children's Author)
Alvin Schwartz (April 25, 1927 – March 14, 1992) was an American author and journalist who wrote more than fifty books dedicated to and dealing with topics such as folklore and word play, many of which were intended for young readers. Life and career Schwartz was born the son of Gussie and Harry Schwartz, a taxi driver. After a stint in the Navy, Schwartz became interested in writing. He received his bachelor's degree from Colby College and a master's degree in journalism from Northwestern University. He reported for The Binghamton Press from 1951 to 1955. During his professional writing career his work had been published by a variety of firms, including Lippincott, Bantam Books, Farrar Straus, and HarperCollins. A series of his books on folklore for children were illustrated by Glen Rounds and each featured a type of folklore: the first, ''A Twister of Twists, a Tangler of Tongues'', was published in 1972. Others in this series included ''Tomfoolery'', which featured wordp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Libido
In psychology, libido (; ) is psychic drive or energy, usually conceived of as sexual in nature, but sometimes conceived of as including other forms of desire. The term ''libido'' was originally developed by Sigmund Freud, the pioneering originator of psychoanalysis. With direct reference to Plato's Eros, the term initially referred only to specific sexual desire, later expanded to the concept of a universal psychic energy that drives all instincts and whose '' great reservoir is the id''. The libido partly according to its synthesising, partly to its analytical aspect called ''life-'' and ''death-drive'' - thus becomes the source of all natural forms of expression: the behaviour of sexuality as well as striving for social commitment (''maternal love instinct'' etc.), skin pleasure, food, knowledge and victory in the areas of species- and self-preservation. In common or colloquial usage, a person's overall sexual drive is often referred to as that person's "libido". In this sen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bengt Af Klintberg
Bengt af Klintberg (Bengt Knut Erik af Klintberg; born 25 December 1938 in Stockholm) is a Swedish folklorist, ethnologist, and artist who is known for his work on modern urban legends. His work reached a large audience with such books as ''Råttan i pizzan'' (''The Rat in the Pizza''), published in 1986, and ''Den stulna njuren'' (''The Stolen Kidney'') published in 1994. Klintberg is so widely known for his work on urban legends that the common Swedish word for urban legend for a while was the eponymous "klintbergare" ("klintbergers"). Klintberg was co-host of ''Folkminnen'' (''Folk Memories''), a long-running radio show on Swedish national public radio channel P1, together with Christina Mattsson, at that time the director of the Nordic Museum. The program invited listeners to write letters describing local legends, games, customs or other folklore traditions, as well as encouraging them to ask questions about their origin or significance. After 750 weekly installations, t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Castration
Castration is any action, surgery, surgical, chemical substance, chemical, or otherwise, by which a male loses use of the testicles: the male gonad. Surgical castration is bilateral orchiectomy (excision of both testicles), while chemical castration uses pharmaceutical drugs to deactivate the testes. Some forms of castration cause sterilization (medicine), sterilization (permanently preventing the castrated person or animal from reproduction, reproducing); it also greatly reduces the production of hormones, such as testosterone and estrogen. Surgical castration in animals is often called neutering. #Other animals, Castration of animals is intended to favor a desired development of the animal or of its habits, as an anaphrodisiac or to prevent overpopulation. The parallel of castration for female animals is spaying. Castration may also refer medically to oophorectomy in female humans and animals. The term ''castration'' may also be sometimes used to refer to emasculation where ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phallus
A phallus (: phalli or phalluses) is a penis (especially when erect), an object that resembles a penis, or a mimetic image of an erect penis. In art history, a figure with an erect penis is described as ''ithyphallic''. Any object that symbolically—or, more precisely, iconically—resembles a penis may also be referred to as a phallus; however, such objects are more often referred to as being phallic (as in "phallic symbol"). Such symbols often represent fertility and cultural implications that are associated with the male sexual organ, as well as the male orgasm. Etymology The term is a loanword from Latin ''phallus'', itself borrowed from Greek (''phallos''), which is ultimately a derivation from the Proto-Indo-European root *''bʰel''- "to inflate, swell". Compare with Old Norse (and modern Icelandic) ''boli'', "bull", Old English ''bulluc'', "bullock", Greek , "whale". Archaeology The Hohle phallus, a 28,000-year-old siltstone phallus discovered in the Hohle Fels ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alan Dundes
Alan Dundes (September 8, 1934 – March 30, 2005) was an American folklorist. He spent much of his career as a professional academic at the University of California, Berkeley and published his ideas in a wide range of books and articles. He has been hailed as "the most renowned Folklorist of his time". Career Dundes attended Yale University, where he studied English. Sure that he would be drafted upon completion of his studies, Dundes joined the Reserve Officers' Training Corps and trained to become a naval communications officer. When it turned out that the ship he was to be posted to, stationed in the Bay of Naples, already had a communications officer, Dundes asked what else that ship might need, not wanting to give up such a choice assignment. He then spent two years maintaining artillery on a ship in the Mediterranean. Upon completion of his service, Dundes attended Indiana University Bloomington to pursue a Ph.D in folklore. At Indiana, he studied under the folklorist, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Consumer Culture
Consumer culture describes a lifestyle hyper-focused on spending money to buy material or goods. Consumer culture became prominent in the United States during the rapid economic growth of the Roaring Twenties following the end of World War I. Industrial Revolution Before the Industrial Revolution, the home was a place where men and women produced, consumed, and worked. The men were highly valued workers, such as barbers, butchers, farmers, and lumbermen who brought income into the house. The wives of these men completed various tasks to save money which included, churning butter, fixing clothes, and tending the garden. This system created an equal value for all of the jobs and tasks in a community. Once the Industrial Revolution began, there was no such thing as equal and high valued work in a mass production industry. The only value these workers had were the wage they made. That meant the wives lost their value at home and had to start working for a living. This new sy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
