Tag: Disturbing

The "memetic contagion" in the metropolitan folklore of Danilo Arona

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A multifaceted author whose interests range from film criticism to fiction to non-fiction dedicated to alternative realities, Danilo Arona has become the singer of a particular and very personal declination of horror and weird that has its roots in the Italian context. In his essay "Media Possession", Arona wonders if it is possible that certain media, especially audiovisual ones, are capable of provoking in predisposed subjects a temporary cancellation of conscience whose place is taken by "something else", in a nutshell what in other places, times and cultures would have been called possession.

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Arthur Machen and the panic charm of the uncanny

Published on: Last updated on: Written by: Categorized into: Esotericism, folklore, Italian Literature, Mito, Characters, Publications

The new special issue of zothique, magazine of fantastic and "weird" literature published by Dagon Press, in its over 230 pages allows us to retrace the life and work of Arthur Machen, a Welsh writer who between the end of the XNUMXth century and the beginning of the XNUMXth was able to look beyond the "veil of reality" and reveal the essence of "Great God Panβ€œ, Establishing himself as one of the greatest authors of supernatural fiction of his time.

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Reality, illusion, magic and witchcraft: the "uncanny" in ETA Hoffmann's "Nocturnes" (II)

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After the analysis of "The Sandman", the treatment of the second part of our essay on ETA Hoffmann focuses on other "Nocturnes" in which the previously anticipated 'disturbing' themes are treated, and also other more specifically 'demonic-witches' themes.

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Eyes, puppets and doppelgΓ€nger: the "uncanny" in "Der Sandmann" by ETA Hoffmann (I)

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Two centuries after its publication, ETA Hoffmann's "Man of the Sand" is still today one of the literary works indispensable for understanding the poetics of the "uncanny", destined to influence the psychoanalytic theories of Freud and Jentsch, the works of Hesse and Machen, the films of Lynch and Polanski.

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Rudyard Kipling's India between folklore, terror and wonder

Published on: Last updated on: Written by: Categorized into: folklore, Italian Literature, Characters, Guests Book

In the "Anglo-Indian Tales of Mystery and Horror", Kipling places himself in the position of Western observer and narrator of an 'other' and atavistic culture such as the Indian one, which if necessaryΒ reveals itself to his eyesΒ as a mirror of ours.

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