恐怖故事和持久力——塔姆克教授对一部儿童恐怖经典进行了惊悚的解读
第1部分 恐怖故事系列
对我们很多人来说, 我们童年的一个仪式就是从阿尔文·施瓦茨的《皇冠体育365》系列中挑选一本书. 令人毛骨悚然的故事和斯蒂芬·甘梅尔的恐怖插图让我们中的许多人夜不能寐. 正因为如此, “Scary Stories” have been among the most challenged children's books, resulting in many bans from schools and libraries. Yet, the series has been loved and cherished for over 40 years. 我们要问的问题是:“为什么?“为什么几十年来的孩子们会珍爱一本大人担心会给他们留下终生伤疤的书??
Dr. 丽贝卡罗, a 儿童文学 学者和教授 文学与语言学系 在一个&移动商务提供了一些见解. 罗研究了禁书和社会试图保护儿童免受某些书籍主题的影响. Naturally, her research has included 看ing into Schwartz's “Scary Stories” series.
“恐怖故事”回顾
为背景, the “Scary Stories” series was originally published in the early 1980s, 根据 好莱坞记者，销量超过700万册. In 2018, 一部关于这个系列的纪录片被制作出来了, 论其文化意义, 2019年, 这些书被改编成一部恐怖片(似乎是针对那些喜欢这个系列并被怀旧所吸引的90后孩子们)。.
回顾原文, it's hard to deny that they are not just spooky—they are genuinely horrific. 这本书的特点是《皇冠体育365》(Harold)等故事(讲的是一个稻草人活了过来，剥了一个人的皮，作为向他扔东西的报复)。, 《皇冠体育365》(讲的是一个小女孩脸上的一个小疙瘩越来越大，原来是蜘蛛卵的窝), 或者《皇冠体育365》(Just Delicious)(讲的是一个女人用死去邻居的肝脏喂她丈夫的故事).
Gammell's illustrations are just as frightening as the stories, if not more. Thirty years after their original publication, 《皇冠体育365》的出版商从学术换成了Harper Collins，并有了新的插画师, 布雷特Helquist, 减轻家长的担忧. 但许多小时候读过《皇冠体育365》的人都对失去了原著的惊悚元素感到悲伤和沮丧, saying the books aren't the same without the grim and unnerving illustrations.
罗承认她实际上从来没有 读 小时候读书. “I'm a huge scaredy-cat,” she said, chuckling. 事实上, she never picked up the books until she was in graduate school, studying 儿童文学 and researching banned books. 尽管如此，《皇冠体育365赌博》在罗的童年时代仍然是一个隐约可见的形象.
“我想我大概在三四年级，”她回忆说，“我认识的每个人都在读这本书. 就像，到了他们 背诵 it. It was a huge part of my childhood, even though I never 读 it. I heard all the stories because kids were telling them all the time.”
作为一个成年人, the memory of hearing classmates recount “Scary Stories” has remained with her, as the stories have remained with so many of us. Rowe explained that the series has “staying power” for several reasons.
“恐怖故事”的持久力
1. 这些故事是永恒的.
Although Schwartz is often considered the author of “Scary Stories,“他更像是一个编辑和编译者, collecting folklore and legends and assembling them together. 根据罗的说法, 施瓦茨从民间传说中选择了一些实际上不会变老的故事，因为它们都反映了人类最基本的恐惧.
“A lot of the stories fall under what's called ‘uncanny valley,' which is this concept of things that are 几乎 human but aren't quite, and it freaks our brains out,” she explained. “It's something that's 几乎 hardwired in our brains as humans, 跨越文化和时间:我们讲述这些故事，是因为我们试图处理当某些东西不完全是人类(或至少以我们定义的方式是人类)时意味着什么。.”
Basically, fear ages well because, in a way, it doesn't age at all. 不管你是12岁还是112岁, 生活在20世纪80年代或2020年代, the idea of a spider laying eggs in your face is terrifying!
2. 它们是一种共同的体验.
就像许多传说和民间故事一样, “Scary Stories” are meant to be experienced with other humans. 在文章中，有提示读者和指导与听众互动.
例如, 在“大脚趾”这个故事中,” a young boy finds a human big toe in the ground, 把它拉起来, 把它带回家给他的父母当晚餐吃(因为谁不会看着一个被砍掉的大脚趾，心里想着“好吃”呢?)?). That night, the boy hears an eerie voice calling, “我的牙齿在哪里?” The boy tries to hide, knowing the toe's owner is coming after him. In the text, Schwartz writes in parenthesis to the 读er: “At this point, pause. Then jump at the person next to you and shout: 你说对了!” 在书的其他部分, Schwartz tells the storyteller to turn off the lights, whisper and scream to startle the listeners. 罗解释说:“这些都是故事. They are intended to draw people together around the campfire. 好几代的孩子都在互相讲这些故事，试图吓唬对方, 所以我认为这是这些游戏经久不衰的另一个原因——它们不应该独自体验.”
3. 他们把孩子视为有阅读能力的人.
“Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” is truly scary. 可怕的. Nightmare-inducing. So, it can be surprising that children love them. 罗解释说，这与我们的社会观念相反，儿童是脆弱的，容易受到惊吓, kids truly like being spooked 几乎 as much as adults.
“We like to pretend children need to be protected, but kids really enjoy the feeling of being scared, 尤其是当他们能控制它的时候. 他们能读懂, 体验它, 如果太吓人了, 他们可以选择放下书.”
Children's horror is an entire genre within itself, 这种类型的一个共同特点是，它像对待其他读者一样对待儿童，并没有试图“降低”恐惧因素.
“施瓦茨做得非常好，”罗说. “He didn't bring ‘Scary Stories' down to a level for children. He was just like, ‘Here's a scary story; you deal with it, goodbye.我说这些是最好的，因为他们承认孩子们有智慧和能力，可以处理这些事情.”
4. 他们是视觉驱动的.
前面已经提到，Gammell的原始插图是标志性的恐怖. 罗解释说，作为一个孩子，她愿意听这些故事，但坚决拒绝 看 在书里. 图片和插图影响着我们，因为我们是(而且一直是)一个非常视觉化的文化.
Rowe laughed as she said, “I mean, in current days, we're communicating with emojis. Like, we've essentially gone back to hieroglyphs!”
因为我们的视觉文化, 图像意义重大, especially when they have a distinct or easily recognizable style like Gammell's. 罗还表示，读者对插图的改变感到非常不安，因为它改变了整本书的观点.
“这些插图是为了吓唬你而设计的，而新的插图则试图让你小心翼翼. It goes back to acknowledging children as capable 读ers. 当你试图给它装上儿童安全锁时，它失去了一些力量，这感觉是不对的.”
《皇冠体育365》:令人愉快的恐怖
尽管她觉得自己很害怕，而且小时候从未真正看过这本书, Rowe could name her favorite story from Schwartz's collection. 它叫“鬼屋”,罗总结得很好:“讲的是牧师去闹鬼的房子，一个鬼魂出现了，他说。, ‘Take my finger bone and put it in the offering plate, 杀我的人就会暴露.“我喜欢这张照片，这个故事是这个系列中最令人毛骨悚然的照片之一.”
当被问及是否看过2019年由这些书改编的电影时，罗断然回答说:“没有! But I have heard it's delightfully terrifying.”
这句话, “很可怕,这句话很好地说明了为什么《皇冠体育365》在这么长时间里如此重要. Because regardless of our age, we love to be spooked. 我们吓得跳起来，高兴地笑. We cringe at the horror and lean in to hear more. When compiling stories and creating the series, Schwartz knew that love of fear was in all of us, 无论是儿童还是成人. He and Gammell tapped into that, creating something with “staying power.”
阿尔文·施瓦茨于1992年去世, but through “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark,“几十年来，他的声音一直在对我们说话. And perhaps, whenever a child eerily asks their friend, “我的牙在哪里?” and then pounces to scare them, his ghost gets a little chuckle.
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Did you know you can study fun and interesting things like this in college? Dr. 罗教授本科生和研究生许多儿童文学课程. A&移动商务还提供 毕业证书 in children's and adolescent literature for master's and Ph.D. 学生.
Don't miss out on the rest of our Spooky Stories in October!
Top photo: The Covers of All Three “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” series, 由Stephen Gammell绘制, 学术.
