By Mohammad Al-Hashash
KUWAIT, May 31 (KUNA) -- Horror literature in Kuwait has become increasingly popular in recent years because of the elements of thrill, fear and excitement they subject readers to, said Kuwaiti horror novelist Majed Al-Qatami on Thursday.
In an interview with KUNA, Al-Qatami said horror literature gave readers insight on self-interaction when dealing with fear and raw emotions based on human instincts.
Throughout Kuwait's history, horror literature had always taken the form of verbal story-telling rather than written books or novels, he added.
Al-Qatami said such stories shed light on legends and myths of the past, like sailors and the dangers they encountered on their trips, as well as tales from tribal backgrounds and those involving evil encounters.
As far as horror literature in the Arab world is concerned, the novelist explained that this did not present a true "fantasia" of horror, but simply implied it.
In "fantasia" horror novels, two main themes are common, secularism and sexuality, both of which are taboo philosophies in the Arab world and are thus unaccepted, Al-Qatami said.
However, in recent years Arab horror novels have become more popular as their style of writing and technique developed, Al-Qatami noted.
The Kuwaiti novelist said such modern-day novels depended on thrill and amusement as the main theme in writings in this genre of literature.
Modernize horror themes are more effective than using old methods of writing horror novels, Al-Qatami said.
Recently Al-Qatami published a new novel entitled "Beyond Darkness" which deals with the same subject upon which was based Ahmad Tawfiq's novel "Beyond Nature".
