![]() In its very first line, LaValle’s new novel, The Changeling-which borrows its title (and little else) from a novel Oe published in 2000-explicitly calls itself a fairy tale. In a conversation for this series, LaValle explained what a novella by the Nobel Prize winner Kenzaburo Oe taught him about writing horror: Dark material hits hardest when it’s balanced out with wonder, and ballasted by serious ethical concerns. ![]() ![]() But as much as he borrows from the horror genre, LaValle probably owes more to the fairy tales of Grimm, Charles Perrault, and Angela Carter-stories that feature brutality and inspire dread, but are nonetheless suffused with a sense of magic and possibility. His books tend to feature characters in extreme, terrifying situations-stalked by a fanged monster ( The Devil in Silver), caught up in a sinister cult ( Big Machine), watching a world-ending storm build off the coast of New York ( The Ballad of Black Tom). Victor LaValle wants to scare you, let’s be clear. ![]()
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