Yellow Literature

Just in time for Autumn and the descent into long, dark, cold days of winter comes a series of classic gothic horror under the Penguin Reds imprint. The reference to "Reds" is in this case misleading as this series of macabre menaces uses yellow and black to tie the series together. I find the covers extremely effective. They refer to a 1950s esthetic that uses strong clean lines and leans towards silhouetted forms of solid colour. They really grabbed my eye in the store. The use of yellow for horror also harkens back to the pulps of the 30s and 40s that used this colour to signify cheap and sleazy weird publications. In Italy horror moves are called 'giallo', which translates as 'yellow' in English.



Selections that I have purchased are 'The Spook House' a collection of stories by Ambrose Bierce and The 'House on the Borderland' by William Hope Hodgson. Having purchased these two titles, it occurred to me how many of the titles refer to dwellings. Aside from 'The Spook House' and 'The House on the Borderland' there is 'The Haunted Dolls' House', 'The Haunted Hotel', and 'The Lair of the White Worm'.
There is also a collection of Edgar Allan Poe tales, 'The Masque of the Red Death', which could have readily been called 'Fall of the House of Usher', which is one of his best known and strongest stories that also conveniently fits the pattern of dwellings. The H.P. Lovecraft is represented by 'The Dunwich Horror' which does take place around a family farm but I might have chosen 'Dreams in the Witch House' to cap some other short stories of the authour's.

However, it seems that the mandate was not to prescribe to an arbitrary theme, but to re-present some classic masters of gothic horror to a new public. You can explore the collection here >>