Conte cruel
The conte cruel (French for "cruel tale") is, as The A to Z of Fantasy Literature by Brian Stableford states, a "short-story genre that takes its name from an 1883 collection by Villiers de l'Isle-Adam, although previous examples had been provided by such writers as Edgar Allan Poe. Some critics use the label to refer only to non-supernatural horror stories, especially those that have nasty climactic twists, but it is applicable to any story whose conclusion exploits the cruel aspects of the 'irony of fate.'”[1] Contes cruels by Auguste Villiers de l'Isle-Adam is the origin of this short story genre name.[2]
Two noted writers in the conte cruel genre are Maurice Level[3] and Patricia Highsmith.[4] H.P. Lovecraft observed of Level's fiction in his essay "Supernatural Horror in Literature" (1927): "This type, however, is less a part of the weird tradition than a class peculiar to itself—the so-called conte cruel, in which the wrenching of the emotions is accomplished through dramatic tantalizations, frustrations, and gruesome physical horrors".[3]
Brian M. Stableford observed that, by the 1980s, the conte cruel was the standard narrative form of soft science fiction,[5] in particular the works of Thomas M. Disch and John Sladek.[5]
See also
[edit]- Anthology
- Conte (literature)
- Drabble
- Flash fiction (also called microfiction)
- Irish short story
- Literary journal
- Minisaga
- Sketch story
- Tall tale
- Vignette
References
[edit]- ↑ Brian Stableford (13 August 2009). The A to Z of Fantasy Literature. Scarecrow Press. pp. 85–. ISBN 978-0-8108-6345-3.
- ↑ Ben Indick, "Villiers de l'Isle-Adam, Phillipe August, Comte de", in Sullivan, Jack, (ed.) The Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural. p.442. Viking, New York. 1986. ISBN 0-670-80902-0
- 1 2 Howard Phillips Lovecraft (1964). At the Mountains of Madness. eBookIt.com. pp. 188–. ISBN 978-9949-9424-4-2.
{{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help) - ↑ François Riviere, "Patricia Highsmith a rejoint les eaux profondes" Libération, 6 February 1995. Retrieved 13 January 2018.
- 1 2 Brian M. Stableford (1 January 2004). Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction Literature. Scarecrow Press. pp. 73–. ISBN 978-0-8108-4938-9.