Defeating the Dragon: In Defense of Reading Neil Gaiman's The Ocean at the End of the Lane as a Work of Children's Gothic Horror

UNCA Author/Contributor (non-UNCA co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Alexandra Helms (Creator)
Institution
University of North Carolina Asheville (UNCA )
Web Site: http://library.unca.edu/
Advisor
Anne Jansen

Abstract: Horror has been a part of children's literature since the advent of the fairy tale, and Neil Gaiman is a contemporary author of children's gothic horror who uses fear as a tool of empowerment.Curiously, despite its gothic horror themes and parallels to Gaiman's earlier novel Coraline, his 2013 novel The Ocean at the End of the Lane is not being marketed as a work of children's gothic horror, or children's literature at all, with many believing Ocean is too frightening or mature for young readers. In this paper, the author aims to defend Ocean as a work of children's gothic horror and argues that reading The Ocean at the End of the Lane as a work of children's gothic horror is not only plausible, it is necessary

Additional Information

Publication
Other
Language: English
Date: 2016
Keywords
Neil Gaiman, children's literature, gothic horror

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