Borzova M. The poetics of horror in Stephen King’s fiction

This thesis is the first attempt at a comprehensive study of Steven King’s prose in literary studies in Ukraine. Horror studies is an emerging field in Ukrainian scholarship, thus the need to bridge the gap between Ukrainian and foreign scholarships also contributes to the novelty of the research. This dissertation enriches the theorization of horror as a significant genre in contemporary literature. The analysis of poetics of horror in King’s novels and short stories draws upon the pertinent literary and interdisciplinary works most of which are new to the Ukrainian horror studies. The research aims to identify the poetics of horror in Stephen King’s novels and short stories in relation to the specific authorial model, literary tradition as well as American history and culture. The relevance of the research is determined by the need to outline the specific poetics of horror in the works of the genre’s major representative in connection with its key themes and problems, as well as to expand the literary reception of the contemporary horror genre in the Ukrainian scholarship. Over the last decade, horror as a genre of contemporary literature has gained considerable popularity among Ukrainian readers, and King’s works are particularly highly regarded. However, even in a broad literary context, the understanding of the literary phenomenon of horror requires further exploration of its complex nature and diverse interactions between the text and the reader.