‘Tales of dread’ is a genre that has received scant attention in aesthetics. In this paper, I aim to elaborate an account of tales of dread which (1) effectively distinguishes these from horror stories, and (2) helps explain the close affinity between the two, accommodating borderline cases. I briefly consider two existing accounts of the genre – namely, those of Noel Carroll and of Cynthia Freeland – and show why they are inadequate for my purposes. I then develop my own account of tales of dread, drawing on two theoretical resources: Freud’s ‘The “Uncanny”’, and Tzvetan Todorov’s The Fantastic. In particular, I draw on Freud to help distinguish tales of dread from horror stories, and I draw on Todorov to help explain the fluidity between the genres. I argue that both horror stories and tales of dread feature apparent impossibilities which are threatening; but whereas in horror stories the existence of the monster (the apparent impossibility) is confirmed, tales of dread are sustained by the audience’s uncertainty pertaining to preternatural objects or events. Where horror monsters pose an immediate, concrete danger to the subject’s physical well-being, these preternatural objects or events pose a psychological threat to the subject’s grasp of reality.

中文翻译：

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恐惧故事

“恐怖故事”是一种在美学上很少受到关注的流派。在本文中，我打算详细说明一个恐怖故事，该故事（1）有效地将其与恐怖故事区分开来，并且（2）帮助解释两者之间的紧密联系，以适应边界事件。我简要地考虑了两种现有的流派，即Noel Carroll和Cynthia Freeland的流派，并说明了为什么它们不足以达到我的目的。然后，我利用两个理论资源来阐述自己关于恐怖的故事：弗洛伊德（Freud）的“ The Uncanny”和Tzvetan Todorov的The Fantastic。特别是，我利用弗洛伊德（Freud）来帮助将恐怖故事与恐怖故事区分开，并且我利用Todorov来帮助解释流派之间的流动性。我认为，恐怖故事和恐怖故事都具有明显的可能性，这是有威胁的。但是，尽管在恐怖故事中，怪物的存在（表面上不可能）被证实，但恐惧的故事却是由听众关于超自然物体或事件的不确定性所支撑。在恐怖怪物对受试者的身体健康造成直接而具体的威胁的地方，这些超自然的物体或事件对受试者对现实的掌握构成了心理威胁。