5/20/2023 0 Comments Beloved 1987That feels like a strange and dorky thing for me to say, but it's how I felt. I'm sure there's a better, fancier way to talk about what I mean, which is books that are so specifically about "The American Experience" that being an American reading them feels very special and intimate, as if it's a book about my own family. I don't think in these terms too often, but it does seem like there's such a thing as national novels. Beloved did that! It worked as horror! And then also, even more, it worked as great American literature. To me, great horror has the scary element (e.g., a ghost) and then, lurking behind it, something so vast and evil that trying to think about it can make you go insane. Sorry Stephen King: evil clowns and alcoholic would-be writers are pretty creepy, but they just got nothing on the terrifying specter of American slavery! I literally got chills - physical chills - over and over while reading this book. Beloved is the Great American Horror Novel.
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