While at first glance it may seem strange that so many films portray children as monstrous characters, the essays in this collection begin by recognizing the pervasive popularity, and the wide variety, of such characterizations. Perhaps because of the wisdom received from our Romantic forebears about the purity of the child, fictional imaginings of children as monsters exercise a tremendous fascination for film audiences, and have for several decades. These opposing, and yet co-dependent, tendencies are reflected in the modern connotations of the phrases child-like (innocent) and childish...

H.P. Lovecraft, one of the twentieth century's most important writers in the genre of horror fiction, famously referred to Edgar Allan Poe as both his -model- and his -God of Fiction.- While scholars and readers of Poe's and Lovecraft's work have long recognized the connection between these authors, this collection of essays is the first in-depth study to explore the complex literary relationship between Lovecraft and Poe from a variety of critical perspectives. Of the thirteen essays included in this book, some consider how Poe's work influenced Lovecraft in important ways. Other essays...

These essays investigate the meaning of cosmic horror before and after Lovecraft, explore his critical relevance to contemporary social science, feminist and queer readings of his work, and ultimately reveal Lovecraft's importance for contemporary speculative philosophy, film and literature.