Author:
Fabio Genovesi
Publishing house:
Einaudi
Date of publication:
29-10-2019
Who doesn’t know fear? Every era has its nightmares, but every nightmare-for those who live it-is the most frightening of all. Terror stories are whispered in the dark, where imagination reigns unquestioned with all its mysteries. That is why Fabio Genovesi plunged into the most fertile period for horror literature-when electric light did not yet threaten the power of darkness-and emerged with seventeen stories to read with breath caught in your throat. This anthology will appeal to anyone who, at least once in their life, has been afraid to discover what lurks in the dark. Outside and inside.
Since time immemorial, human beings have had an uninterrupted discourse with the thrill. Whether we shun it or pursue it, whether we court it or ignore it, fear is part of us. And is there a stronger fear than that of darkness? Only when day gives way to night can a scarecrow planted in a field suddenly come to life, a simple train ride turn into an encounter with the devil, and a voice coming from a boat in the middle of the Pacific send a quiver down the listener’s spine… Artificial light has chased the world of darkness into deserted alleys, deep into the attics and the most hidden cellars of our existence. We chase it away as we do the wolf when it tries to invade spaces that have actually always been his. It has happened as with the stars: the colossal signs of cities shine so brightly that they cover and hide the celestial vault. Yet the stars are still up there, no one could ever doubt their existence. Then it is possible that the same happens with the creatures of darkness: perhaps the light dazzles us so much that it hides their magical and mysterious world, which continues to dance around us, unseen. Certainly in this book-a nightmarish journey among authors who have made fright an art-found room for ghosts, vampires, horrifying monsters and enchanting crea-tures, dead people who come back or who do not want to leave. But also unhappy loves that last beyond the grave, curses that are unforgiving. From the masters of the genre – Poe, Lovecraft and Stoker – to authors less known to the Italian public, Fabio Genovesi takes the reader by the hand and rushes him where he would never have ventured on his own. Stories that are truly scary, to be read aloud in the long hours after dark, with the dark ocean of darkness teeming with mystery all around.