Barker, Clive (1952—)
For much of the 1980s, it was impossible to pick up any of Clive Barker's books without encountering on the cover this blurb from fright-master Stephen King: ...
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"Renaissance man" is a tag often associated with Clive Barker, and for good reason. Since exploding into the publishing scene in the mid-1980s with six volumes of horror short stories known as the "Bo...
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Clive Barker was born on 5 October 1952 in Liverpool, England. His father, Len Barker, was in industrial relations; his mother, Joan Barker, was a teacher, and both were amateur artists. As a schoolbo...
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In the following review, Harley characterizes Incarnations as “hasty sketches … for completists only.”
Clive Barker is an erratic talent. He has produced work that has redefine...
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In the following interview, Barker discusses The Book of Hours (which was published as Abarat), his prior work, and his private life.
Winding up the sinuous streets of Beverly Hills, one wonders wh...
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In the following review, Gates praises The Essential Clive Barker and details the history of Barker's novels and short fiction.
Clive Barker is a sham, a charlatan, and a thief. There, I...
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In the following excerpt, Joshi contends there are conceptual flaws in Barker's short stories and novels.
Clive Barker: Sex, Death, and Fantasy
When Clive Barker's Books of Blood were...
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In the following excerpt, Wells presents highlights from his conversations with Barker in which the author summarizes his literary preoccupations.
Clive Barker, novelist, artist, writer and directo...
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In the following essay, McDonagh discusses Barker's foray into filmmaking, drawing parallels between Barker's career and that of cyberpunk writer William Gibson.
The Greenhouse Effect...
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In the following essay, Tuttle examines the connection between horror and fantasy in Barker's work, relating a conversation she had with the author just prior to the publication of Cabal.
Co...
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In the following essay, Burns explores the power of women and the dynamic between the sexes in Barker's stories “Rawhead Rex” and “The Madonna.”
Until recently, t...
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In the following essay, Epel presents Barker's thoughts on dreams and their importance to the artistic process.
When I asked a friend to characterize the work of Clive Barker he replied, ...
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In the following essay, Barker recalls the feelings of purity with which he created two short films—Salomé and The Forbidden—early in his career.
Like a psychic's produc...
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In the following essay, Barker outlines the three plays—Colossus, Frankenstein in Love, and The History of the Devil—which comprise Incarnations.
The dictionary defines incarnation va...
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In the following review, Gleick observes that the stories included in In the Flesh are ingenious and intelligent, and effectively play upon unconscious human terrors.
Those staples of recent Americ...
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In the following review, Coven praises the stories of In the Flesh as grotesque, graphic, and disturbing.
The four tales of horror in Clive Barker's In the Flesh are not made for fireside re...
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In the following review, D'Ammassa asserts that the title story of In the Flesh is the best of those included in this volume.
Clive Barker provides four more novelets of the supernatural in ...
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In the following essay, Burns examines images of powerful females in Barker's short fiction, particularly the stories “Raw Head Rex” and “The Madonna.”
Until rece...
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In the following essay, Hoppenstand offers an overview of the major thematic concerns of Barker's short fiction.
“lost Souls”
“Lost Souls” is the second Clive Bar...
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In the following excerpt, Badley applies contemporary cultural theory, including feminist theory, to an analysis of representations of women in Barker's fiction.
With Books of Blood, an obsc...
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In the following review of the first three Books of Blood and The Inhuman Condition, Winter asserts that Barker is the most important horror fiction writer of the 1980s.
During a 1983 visit with Br...
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In the following review, Tucker praises the stories in The Inhuman Condition, which he contends effectively “create an atmosphere of dread and foreboding.”
Clive Barker is a young Eng...
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In the following review, Morrison asserts that the stories in The Inhuman Condition are adventurous but pale in comparison to the first Books of Blood trilogy.
The Inhuman Condition is aptly named....
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In the following review, D'Ammassa offers a brief description of some of the stories in The Inhuman Condition.
This collection of five stories [The Inhuman Condition] was originally publishe...
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News from the virtual world:_NOT AN ADDICT: We've heard the stories about people who got addicted to video games _ the "World of Warcraft" player who didn't bathe for a week, the Korean who died af...
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Today is Friday, Oct. 5, the 278th day of 2007. There are 87 days left in the year.Today's Highlight in History:On Oct. 5, 1947, President Truman delivered the first televised White House address. ...
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