Genres

Horror Fiction

Citation Formats

General Reference

Literature Atlas. "Horror Fiction." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://literature.interactiveatlas.org/genres/horror-fiction.

APA Style

Literature Atlas. (n.d.). Horror Fiction. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://literature.interactiveatlas.org/genres/horror-fiction

BibTeX

@misc{literatureatlas-horror-fiction,
  author = {Literature Atlas},
  title = {Horror Fiction},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://literature.interactiveatlas.org/genres/horror-fiction},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

A genre of fiction intended to disturb, unsettle or frighten its reader. The literary historian J.A. Cuddon defined a horror story as prose fiction "which shocks, or even frightens the reader," and H.P. Lovecraft held that fear of the unknown is the oldest and strongest fear available to a writer. The modern genre grew out of eighteenth century Gothic fiction, beginning with Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto (1764), and its nineteenth century classics, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1818), the tales of Edgar Allan Poe and Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897) among them, still supply its most recognizable figures.

Facts

Place of Origin

England; grew out of eighteenth-century Gothic fiction, beginning with Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto (1764). 1

Notable Example

Mary Shelley, Frankenstein (1818); Edgar Allan Poe's tales; Bram Stoker, Dracula (1897). 1

Defining Trait

Fiction intended to disturb, unsettle or frighten its reader; the literary historian J.A. Cuddon defined a horror story as prose fiction which shocks, or even frightens, the reader. 1

Cross-Tradition Connections