[Ads-l] horror novel

[Jonathan Lighter]

Those attribs. might better be moved to the subentries "horror movie,"
etc., since these have become such very important modern genres.

Jon

On Tue, Oct 20, 2026 at 10:30 AM Jesse Sheidlower <jester at panix.com> wrote:

> OED does have _horror_ attrib. in reference to films or plays, but not
> novels; first quote from 1929.
>
> HDSF has _horror_ in reference to genre from 1898 (cite found by Bill
> Mullins); I've added yours and given you credit:
>
> https://sfdictionary.com/view/1533/horror
>
> Jesse Sheidlower
>
> On Tue, Oct 20, 2026 at 09:23:10AM -0400, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> > Not in OED
> >
> > 1892  Times-Picayune (N.O.)  (Apr. 10) 15:  THE PEER AND THE WOMAN, by E.
> > Phillips Oppenheim. One of the horror novels this, that tries to heap
> > horror on horror, suicides, mysteries, secrets, but somehow one's hair
> > refuses to stand on end,...the frightened chill won't crawl down his
> back,
> > and he puts it down in disappointed disgust.
> >
> > Evidently the genre was already full-blown, but this is the earliest
> > "horror novel" I've seen.
> >
> > JL
> >
> >
> > --
> > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> truth."
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org