The New Abject: Tales of Modern Unease Matthew Holness 9781905583591

SOMETHING HAS FALLEN AWAY. We have lost a part of ourselves, our history, what we once were. That something, when we encounter it again, look it straight in the eyes, disgusts us, makes us retch. This is the horror of the abject. Following the success of Comma's award-winning New Uncanny anthology, The New Abject invites leading authors to respond to two parallel theories of the abject - Julia Kristeva's theory of the psychoanalytic, intimate abject, and Georges Bataille's societal equivalent - with visceral stories of modern unease. As we become ever-more isolated by social media bubbles, or the demands for social distancing, our moral gag-reflex is increasingly sensitised, and our ability to tolerate difference, or 'the other', atrophies. Like all good horror writing, these stories remind us that exposure to what unsettles us, even in small doses, is always better than pretending it doesn't exist. After all, we can never be wholly free of that which belongs to us.
Reviews
"This eerie, provocative anthology redefines modern horror for our era." - The Skinny; "A pleasingly diverse range of approaches to its unifying theme." - Sublime Horror; "This anthology is thoughtful, evocative, and inventive by turns, and the editors may well have picked some of the best short fiction of 2020." - Horrified Magazine



Book Information
ISBN 9781905583591
Author Matthew Holness
Format Paperback
Page Count 304
Imprint Comma Press
Publisher Comma Press
Series Comma Modern Horror