Między horrorem a kryminałem. Katarzyna Puzyńska i Wojciech Chmielarz
Between horror story and detective novel. Katarzyna Puzyńska and Wojciech Chmielarz

Summary/Abstract: We can see many changes in so-called formula stories in last decades. One of them is the change of typical monsters from horror stories. They not only became “less dangerous” and “more human” (especially in texts for younger readers). The characters cease to be associated with the horror at all. They can be placed in detective novel, for example. The author of te essay concentrates on novels by two contemporary Polish writers: Wampir (Vampire), Wilkołak (Werewolf) and Zombie by Wojciech Chmielarz as well as Czarne narcyzy (Black daffodils), Martwiec (untranslantable – it is one of the Slavic words for vampire), Rodzanice and Utopce (local names, meaning also “ghosts or deities of fate” and “kelpies”) by Katarzyna Puzyńska. In all novels malefactors are real people. In the books by Wojciech Chmielarz monsters’ names are metaphors for human evil. Katarzyna Puzyńska, on the other hand, chooses small, partially depopulated villages as the place of action. In such places some people still believe in ghosts, vampires, werewolves, haunted houses and so on. But the killers are human too. The author shows what even policemen are afraid of as well as the truth, that people are sometimes much worse than the monsters from literary fiction.

• Details
• Contents