There are many different types of narrative in this genre, however there are two main ones.
One in which the narrator is the one deeply involved in the horror, and someone who has alone found it and/or the horror is linked to him individually in greater degree than anyone else.
And another where the narrator is only someone who has been introduced to the horror by some other character.
A good example of the first kind of narrative is De Maupassant's 'the Horla', or "He', since in both of these stories the narrator is writing about something particular to him. In the Horla it is about an invisible entity which positions itself infront of him and the mirror, so that he ends up seing a kind of haze where his image should have been. In 'He' the narrator has been of the view that an old firend of his has come to visit him, since he could clearly see his legs on the chair next to him, but when he tries to touch him the entire image dissappears.
An example of the second kind, which is a bit more common, can be found in many stories by Lovecraft (eg the music of Erich Zann, the colour out of space, the call of Cthulhu, the Danwich horror etc). There the narrator is only someone who has happened to meet people who were deeply related to the object of horror.
The plot is very dependable on this distinction in types of connection between the narrator and the object of horror, since whereas the second type of connection allows for a distancing from the object of horror by means of distancing from the primary character relative to it, the second type of connection ussually forces the story to end on a more desperate note.
However the type of connection between the narrator and the object of horror is of more importance to the story. While the first type of connection causes the reader to find himself in the position where the narrator is found in the second type of connection (since now the reader is someone reading of the horror that the narrator has lived) the second type of narrative ussually forces the reader to identify with the narrator more, since he can function as a representative of him to some degree. While this creates the issue of distancing between the reader and his representative in the story (the narrator) it can potentially provoke a greater interest in the story under some circumstances (one case for such being for example that the reader has reasons to feel that the narrator represents him adequately). In the first type of narrative the reader has to identify himself as the one having the position the narrator has in the second type, so such distancing cannot happen (the story of course can still fail to provoke emotions, for other reasons, but not due to this).
-What is your favourite type of narrative of these two?
One in which the narrator is the one deeply involved in the horror, and someone who has alone found it and/or the horror is linked to him individually in greater degree than anyone else.
And another where the narrator is only someone who has been introduced to the horror by some other character.
A good example of the first kind of narrative is De Maupassant's 'the Horla', or "He', since in both of these stories the narrator is writing about something particular to him. In the Horla it is about an invisible entity which positions itself infront of him and the mirror, so that he ends up seing a kind of haze where his image should have been. In 'He' the narrator has been of the view that an old firend of his has come to visit him, since he could clearly see his legs on the chair next to him, but when he tries to touch him the entire image dissappears.
An example of the second kind, which is a bit more common, can be found in many stories by Lovecraft (eg the music of Erich Zann, the colour out of space, the call of Cthulhu, the Danwich horror etc). There the narrator is only someone who has happened to meet people who were deeply related to the object of horror.
The plot is very dependable on this distinction in types of connection between the narrator and the object of horror, since whereas the second type of connection allows for a distancing from the object of horror by means of distancing from the primary character relative to it, the second type of connection ussually forces the story to end on a more desperate note.
However the type of connection between the narrator and the object of horror is of more importance to the story. While the first type of connection causes the reader to find himself in the position where the narrator is found in the second type of connection (since now the reader is someone reading of the horror that the narrator has lived) the second type of narrative ussually forces the reader to identify with the narrator more, since he can function as a representative of him to some degree. While this creates the issue of distancing between the reader and his representative in the story (the narrator) it can potentially provoke a greater interest in the story under some circumstances (one case for such being for example that the reader has reasons to feel that the narrator represents him adequately). In the first type of narrative the reader has to identify himself as the one having the position the narrator has in the second type, so such distancing cannot happen (the story of course can still fail to provoke emotions, for other reasons, but not due to this).
-What is your favourite type of narrative of these two?
