Horror: Cross-Cultural Perspectives

Joel and Lynn GAzis-SAx (gazissax@shell1.best.com)
Tue, 03 Oct 95 18:03:09 GMT

I edit an online horror magazine. Time and time again, I am struck by the
extreme Euro-Centrism of both my writers and even more of my readers. Here
are a few questions which I would like answers to:

* Is "horror" a strictly European concept? How, then, do we define it?

* What horrifies people? Is there a universal sense of horror or, like
kinship and the incest taboo, are there variations on what people consider
horrible?

* Do ghosts and such exist in other cultures? Are there cultures which refuse
to acknowledge that they exist?

* Has the destruction of tribal cultures throughout the world had any effect
on the above?

Thanks for your input!

Sincerely,

Joel GAzis-SAx

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Joel and Lynn GAzis-SAx Main email: gazissax@best.com
lynn@elan.com Visit Alsirat, the horror magazine
gazissax@netcom.com http://www.best.com/~gazissax/alsirat.html
jsax@igc.apc.org http://www.best.com/~gazissax/gazissax.html
The Marx Brothers@Darkweb (Joel) Whoopi@Darkweb (Lynn)
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