The Usage of Convention. The Implements of Horror and their Mission in Joanna Bator’s Novel Ciemno, prawie noc

Abstract

The article is an attempt at presenting Joanna Bator’s novel Ciemno, prawie noc as a book belonging to engaged literature and using the popular convention to criticise society. The first part contains examples and theoretical considerations about the changes in the convention of the horror novel, which consists of a gothic novel with various genres such as horror, thriller and detective story. The matter of their social dimension was touched on, for instance, with reference to Noël Caroll’s theory, Scandinavian detective story or the books by Alice Munro. The second part of article is composed of the review of conventional implements used by Bator that are typical of gothic novel, detective story, horror and fairytale. The use of specific implements, their accumulation and the disturbance of the convention are interpreted as a way of getting the readers to loose the well-known schema and drawing their attention to the relevant social problems. The convention of popular literature in Ciemno, prawie noc is designed for something more than only entertainment.