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2 - Capitalism

from Part I - Histories

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 July 2022

Stephen Shapiro
Affiliation:
University of Warwick
Mark Storey
Affiliation:
University of Warwick
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Summary

This chapter demonstrates the critical synonymy of horror and capitalism in American literary narrative. Beginning with colonization before accelerating into the period of exponential growth from around the Civil War through the Great Depression, the chapter looks to scenes of indigenous dispossession, resource extraction, urban industrialization, unemployed immiseration, and finally to the reactionary suppression with which capital protects its interests. The guiding hypothesis is that horror obtains into all of these crucial areas of the economy because capitalist accumulation is, in all of its forms, a catastrophically exploitative relationship between humans that depends on sensuous creation and so requires the productive grist of blood, brains, and bodies.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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References

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  • Capitalism
  • Edited by Stephen Shapiro, University of Warwick, Mark Storey, University of Warwick
  • Book: The Cambridge Companion to American Horror
  • Online publication: 21 July 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009071550.004
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  • Capitalism
  • Edited by Stephen Shapiro, University of Warwick, Mark Storey, University of Warwick
  • Book: The Cambridge Companion to American Horror
  • Online publication: 21 July 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009071550.004
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Capitalism
  • Edited by Stephen Shapiro, University of Warwick, Mark Storey, University of Warwick
  • Book: The Cambridge Companion to American Horror
  • Online publication: 21 July 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009071550.004
Available formats
×