This book provides a comprehensive reading of a space/place-based experience from the birth of the American horror genre (nineteenth century American Romanticism) to its rise and evolution in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Exploring a series of narratives, this study focuses on the role of space and place as key elements for successful articulation of horror. The analysis, therefore, employs different theoretical premises and concepts belonging to human geography, which, while being part of the larger discipline of geography, predominantly directs its attention towards the presence and activities of humans. By connecting such theoretical readings with the continuously evolving American horror genre, this book offers a unique insight into the academically unexplored trans-disciplinary spatially based reading of the genre.

Marko Luki¿ is Associate Professor atthe English Department at the University of Zadar, Croatia, where he teaches courses onAmerican literature, gothic and horror genre, popular culture, and cultural theory. His research interests include American popular culture, human geography and spatiality in literature and film, and the contemporary horror genre. He is the Editor in Chief of [sic] - A Journal of Literature, Culture and Literary Translation, Conference Director of the international conference Re-Thinking Humanities and Social Sciences, and the co-founder of the Centre for Research in Social Sciences and Humanities.

1. Introduction.- 2. Mapping Horror.- 3. The Frontier.- 4. Domestic Horrors.- 5. Small Town Heterotopias.- 6. Urban Nightmares.