Atmosphere!
DiscussionsThing(amabrarian)s That Go Bump in the Night
Rejoignez LibraryThing pour poster.
Ce sujet est actuellement indiqué comme "en sommeil"—le dernier message date de plus de 90 jours. Vous pouvez le réveiller en postant une réponse.
1Phlox72
That's an integral part of a scary book in my opinion. Without the right atmosphere, a scary story just doesn't chill your bones. I like to be transported to somewhere much less safe than the cosy room in which I'm reading, I like to feel the spookiness and unease in the air. Too few modern scary stories generate such atmosphere in my opinion. But those who feel as I do would love recommendations I'm sure. Some examples I can offer are: Pet Sematary, The Monstrumologist, The Woman in Black, and though a bit more challenging and probably not to everyone's taste, but exceptionally good at creating a unique and haunting atmosphere - The Wasp Factory.
2BruceCoulson
Shirley Jackson - The Haunting of Hill House, We have Always Lived in the Castle, The Sundial
William Sloane - The Edge of Running Water, To Walk the Night
Almost anything by Algernon Blackwood
The Runestone by Mark Rogers (might be hard to find)
Arthur Machen is another author to look for.
William Sloane - The Edge of Running Water, To Walk the Night
Almost anything by Algernon Blackwood
The Runestone by Mark Rogers (might be hard to find)
Arthur Machen is another author to look for.
3Moomin_Mama
The Wasp Factory isn't one that would have sprung to my mind but you're absolutely right, although the atmosphere that's set is the mindset of the young protagonist, which is completely convincing even though it's so strange and twisted.
The Wasp Factory puts me in mind of The Cement Garden. The atmosphere isn't as gleefully manic or psychological but both books are by British authors, written around the same time, and could be seen as about the breakdown of the traditional family. The atmosphere is more ordinary and grey, slowly turning more sickly as each moral boundary is breached, and as a reader you are more of an observer, where in The Wasp Factory you are sharing Frank's mad world all the way.
If we're sticking with psychologically atmospheric - Let's Go Play at the Adams'. Five kids decide to kidnap the babysitter, with awful results. It's atmosphere comes from the psychology of all involved, and makes the story believable (and all the more disturbing for that).
Both Henry James and M. R. James write short stories which rely atmosphere. Another short story writer who struck me as very atmospheric, though this time in an eerie way if not especially scary, is Vernon Lee.
The Wasp Factory puts me in mind of The Cement Garden. The atmosphere isn't as gleefully manic or psychological but both books are by British authors, written around the same time, and could be seen as about the breakdown of the traditional family. The atmosphere is more ordinary and grey, slowly turning more sickly as each moral boundary is breached, and as a reader you are more of an observer, where in The Wasp Factory you are sharing Frank's mad world all the way.
If we're sticking with psychologically atmospheric - Let's Go Play at the Adams'. Five kids decide to kidnap the babysitter, with awful results. It's atmosphere comes from the psychology of all involved, and makes the story believable (and all the more disturbing for that).
Both Henry James and M. R. James write short stories which rely atmosphere. Another short story writer who struck me as very atmospheric, though this time in an eerie way if not especially scary, is Vernon Lee.
