Chapter 1

LEXICAL AND SEMANTIC FEATURES IN ENGLISH AND UKRAINIAN

1.1 Groups of horror literature.

If you’re looking for books that create atmosphere, grab people’s attention and generate emotional responses, then it’s hard to go past horror stories. Love them or hate them, most people harbour a sort of morbid fascination of horror stories. In fact, horror is such a high interest genre that it is often used to tempt reluctant readers into developing an interest in books and reading. And it is no accident that Stephen King is the most popular living author.

The Appeal of Horror Stories

Strange as it may seem, man actually enjoys being scared. Before the development of horror stories as a literary genre, this desire to be frightened was fed by all the ghost stories in folklore, told and retold over the centuries. From the publication of the first “horror story” by Stine ‘Monster Blood For Breakfast!and many works, horror fiction has simply continued to grow in popularity.

Aristotle believed that part of the appeal of horror stories lay in the cathartic effect it had on the reader – that is, the person purposely reads about a situation that makes him/her uncomfortable or afraid but because it is fictional, it allows him/her to deal with those issues vicariously and therefore purge those negative emotions. Freud had a similar theory in which he believed that people repressed their dark impulses and ideas and then expunged them through a safe and proper outlet, such as through enjoying reading about the gruesome and the grotesque. Ultimately, both Aristotle and Freud believed that it was the emotion that people craved from horror stories more than anything else.

It’s interesting to note that horror fiction has identified and exploited most of the deepest and most abiding of human fears, such as the fear of being buried alive, the fear of losing your personal identity either through insanity or being transformed into another being (e.g.. vampires, werewolves) a well as the fear of death and the unknown.

Horror Stories and Reading Groups

Because they deal with themes and issues that we can all identify with, especially with regards to our deepest fears, horror stories can make very good subjects for book club discussion. They can be particularly good choices for if you’re planning a themed night – you can decorate to create atmosphere, do some “spooky” live readings, followed perhaps by a film adaptation of the horror story and a discussion about the two different interpretations, their effectiveness and so on.

Topics for discussion could include:

• The criteria for a good horror story – each member’s opinions

• What is it about the story that makes it feel scary? (e.g.. setting, descriptions, pace, suspense)

• How is this story different from any other horror stories read in the past?

• What was the scariest part of the story?

• What did each member like about the story?

• What did each member dislike about the story?

• If each member had to write a horror story, what types of things would they include?

• Was this story believable? If so, how did the author make it believable?

• What was the main point of the story?

During the reading group discussion, it is useful to keep in mind the elements that make up a good horror story and which help a skilled author to really involve and “scare” the reader: setting, suspense, believable characters (if you don’t care about them, it is no longer as scary), balance in gory details (less is more and the imagination is more powerful than any written text) and of course, a satisfying ending.

2.  A biography of Robert Lawrence Stine.

Robert Lawrence Stine born October 8, 1943), known as R. L. Stine, and Jovial Bob Stine, is an American writer and producer. Stine, who is called the "Stephen King of children's literature," is the author of hundreds of horror fiction novels, including the books in the Fear Street,Goosebumps, Rotten School, Mostly Ghostly, and The Nightmare Room series. Some of his other works include a Space Cadets trilogy, two Harkgamebooks, and dozens of joke books. R. L. Stine's books have sold over 400 million copies as of 2008.

Early life

Stine was born in Columbus, Ohio on October 8, 1943, to Jewish parents, Anne (née Feinstein), a homemaker, and Lewis Stine, a shipping clerk. He began writing at age nine when he found a typewriter in his attic, subsequently beginning to type stories and joke books. He graduated from The Ohio State University (OSU) in 1965 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English.

While at OSU, R. L. Stine edited the OSU humor magazine, The Sundial, for three out of his four years there. He later moved to New York City to pursue his career as a writer.

Career

He wrote dozens of humor books for kids under the pen name Jovial Bob Stine and created the humor magazine Bananas. Bananas was for teenagers published by Scholastic Press for 72 issues between 1975 and 1984, plus various "Yearbooks" and paperback books. Stine was editor and responsible for much of the writing (other contributors included writers Robert Leighton, Suzanne Lord and Jane Samuels and artists Sam Viviano, Samuel B. Whitehead, Bob K. Taylor, Bryan Hendrix, Bill Basso, and Howard Cruse). Recurring features included "Hey – Lighten Up!", "It Never Fails!", "Phone Calls", "Joe" (a comic strip by John Holmstrom), "Phil Fly", "Don't You Wish...", "Doctor Duck", "The Teens of Ferret High", "First Date" (a comic strip by Alyse Newman), and "Ask Doctor Si N. Tific".

In 1986, Stine wrote his first horror novel, called Blind Date. He followed with many other novels, including The Babysitter, Beach House, Hit and Run, and The Girlfriend. He was also the co-creator and head writer for the Nickelodeon Network children's television show Eureeka's Castle,^] original episodes of which aired as part of the Nick Jr. programming block during the 1989 to 1995 seasons.

In 1989, Stine started writing Fear Street books. Before launching the Goosebumps series, Stine authored three humorous science fiction books in the Space Cadets series titled Jerks in Training, Bozos on Patrol, and Losers in Space.^[11] In 1992, Stine and Parachute went on to launch Goosebumps.^[4]

Also produced was a Goosebumps TV series that ran for four seasons from 1995–1998 and three video games; Escape from HorrorLand, Attack of the Mutant and Goosebumps HorrorLand.  In 1995, Stine's first novel targeted at adults, called Superstitious, was published. He has since published three other adult-oriented novels; The Sitter, Eye Candy,  and Red Rain.

In the first decade of the 21st century, Stine has worked on installments of five different book series, Mostly Ghostly, Rotten School, Fear Street, The Nightmare Room, Goosebumps Horrorlandand the stand-alone novels Dangerous Girls (2003) and The Taste of Night (2004). Also, a direct-to-DVD movie The Haunting Hour Volume One: Don't Think About It, starring Emily Osment was released by Universal Home Entertainment on September 4, 2007.