"When we read a horror novel, it activates the brain's fear response, releasing adrenaline and other stress hormones that put us on high alert, allowing us to experience a thrill without being in real danger. Known as benign masochism, reading can provide a safe way to satisfy our curiosity about the more disturbing aspects of human nature (Yang & Zhang, 2021)."
"Author Quan Barry's latest, The Unveiling, is a literary horror novel following a group of tourists-turned-disaster survivors on an Antarctica cruise over Christmas Eve, exploring themes of abandonment, guilt, and survival in the shadow of America's racial legacy. Barry shared her perspective on how books like The Unveiling can act as a mirror for the human psyche, and a way to live vicariously through the characters' harrowing experiences."
Horror reading activates the brain's fear response, releasing adrenaline and stress hormones that heighten alertness without physical danger. Known as benign masochism, such reading provides a safe outlet for curiosity about disturbing aspects of human nature. A literary horror narrative follows tourists-turned-disaster survivors on an Antarctica cruise over Christmas Eve, probing abandonment, guilt, and survival within the shadow of America's racial legacy. The narrative treats extreme experience as a way to reveal deep-seated truths about characters and to enable vicarious encounters with harrowing events. Travel to Antarctica aboard the Akademik Iofee in 2004 informed the landscape and setting during a twelve-day Antarctic Peninsula trip.
Read at Psychology Today
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