The horror is in me.
Horror literature teaches one of the most important lessons of life.
Gothic literature changes us from the inside, out.
Watch our two minute video to find out why (full text below).
Just imagine if we let the horror change us.
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from Comenius (here). Mark is President of The Comenius Institute (website). Dr. Eckel spends time with Christian young people in public university (1 minute video), hosts a weekly radio program with diverse groups of guests (1 minute video), and interprets culture from a Christian vantage point (1 minute video). Consider becoming a Comenius patron (here).
Picture Credit: Luke Renoe, Snappy Goat
FULL TEXT:
Gothic Horror Literature is a course I have taught over the past few years to high school seniors. We study books like Dracula, Frankenstein, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. At the end of our class, I ask our seniors to address the question, “How did reading this literature affect my person, my understanding about myself?” So each teenager began to explain what they had learned. To a person, all said the same thing. “After reading Gothic horror I came to realize that the real horror is inside me.”
In education we refer to this as affective change. I am changed from the inside, out. The story speaks to the power of literature to change lives. The story reiterates Jesus’ statement that “It’s what comes from within a person that makes them the real horror.” Literature can move us to change. Imagine if teenagers would come to the place early in their lives to understand that they first bore responsibility for evil in themselves. Self-restraint would replace state-regulation. Internal compulsion would eliminate external controls. Or said simply, if you control yourself, no one else will have to. Whenever I talk about this class, I tell that story. That story where every student came to the same conclusion at the same time is testimony to the truth that the real horror is in me.
You see, Gothic horror stories are morality plays. Human nature is best understood when we consider why Dr. Moreau thought he could remake animals in his image. We understand our true nature when we identify with the decaying portrait of Dorian Gray. And we begin to realize the tension between our dignity and depravity when reading about Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
There is nothing scary about Gothic horror literature, except to know the horror is in me.
For Truth in Two, this is Dr. Mark Eckel, president of the Comenius Institute, personally seeking truth wherever it’s found.