"Insights" brings contemporary criticism on neglected literary and cultural areas. Each contribution concentrates on a study of a particular work, author or genre in its artistic, historical and cultural context. This criticism on American horror fiction 1798-1983 offers critical and theoretical perspectives. Each essay deals with a major figure in the genre from Gothic to modern feminist reworkings and aim to illustrate the fact that modern theory can usefully be applied to any text or genre. The essays discuss the work of Charles Brockden Brown, Edgar Allan Poe, H.P.Lovecraft, William Faulkner, Robert Bloch, Patricia Highsmith, Shirley Jackson, Stephen King and S.M.Charnas.