CONTENTS

Acknowledgments...............................................................................................................................iv
Introduction ..........................................................................................................................................1
Chapter 1: Witnessing the Kingdom of Death: Visions of Horror in the Works of
Thomas Pynchon..................................................................................................................20
1.1. Adventurers and Scientists: Historical Hauntings in Mason & Dixon
and Against the Day........................................................................................................26
1.2. V. and Gravitys Rainbow ............................................................................................52
1.3. The Crying of Lot 49 and Vineland............................................................................74
Chapter 2: Now Its Dark: Staging Terror in the Films of David Lynch.................................86
2.1. History ............................................................................................................................91
2.2. Eraserhead and The Elephant Man: Marginal(ized) Monsters...............................94
2.3. Blue Velvet: Now Its Dark ...................................................................................... 104
2.4. Twin Peaks and Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me: Corrupting the
Local ............................................................................................................................ 110
2.5. Wild At Heart: And Weird On Top ........................................................................ 135
2.6. Lost Highway (1996): Dick Laurent is Dead.......................................................... 142
2.7. Mulholland Drive (2001): Silencio........................................................................... 150
2.8. Its Like the Babies Were Hiding: INLAND EMPIRE (2006)....................... 156
2.9. Conclusions................................................................................................................. 172
Chapter 3: Prophecies of the Apocalypse: Steve Ericksons Nocturnal America ................. 176
3.1. Ericksons Los Angeles ............................................................................................. 180
3.2. Days Between Stations .............................................................................................. 184
3.3. Rubicon Beach............................................................................................................ 193
3.4. Tours of the Black Clock (1989).............................................................................. 200
3.5. Arc DX (1993)........................................................................................................... 208
3.6. The Sea Came In At Midnight (2000) and Our Ecstatic Days (2005)......................... 226
Bibliography ..................................................................................................................................... 239

iii