Give Us This Day Our Daily Dread: A Tour of Life Events via Horror Fiction

We’re born, we grow, we go to school, we go to work, we pair off, we might marry, we grow old, we die. Most of these transitions are inevitable–we cannot choose to remain young, after all–but even though the ones encouraged by society (school, work, relationships) are choices, they might too seem inevitable. Expectations around behavior create a quandary: do you as an individual want to go through courtship, relationships, and marriage, and raise children, or are you following the expected path of life? And if it’s the latter…how dark, dreary, mundane, and banal that can be. This talk will explore that horrific banality, the dreary darkness, the terrifying mundanity of everyday life through examining four pieces of horror fiction: the films “The Menu” (2022); “Men” (2021); “mother!” (2017); and the book “House of Leaves” (2000).

Bio:

Rebecca Gibson’s published works include “Desire in the Age of Robots and AI: An Investigation in Science Fiction and Fact” (Palgrave Macmillan 2019), “The Corseted Skeleton: A Bioarchaeology of Binding” (Palgrave Macmillan 2020), and “Gender, Supernatural Beings, and the Liminality of Death: Monstrous Males/Fatal Females” (Lexington Books 2021). She holds a Ph.D. in Anthropology from American University, and when not writing or teaching can be found reading mystery novels amidst a pile of stuffed animals.

don’t worry if you miss it – we will send you a recording valid for two weeks the next day