Would you consider someone sick who writes short stories about violence/insanity/rape and other dark themes?

Question

Would you consider someone sick who writes short stories about violence/insanity/rape and other dark themes?

Answer 1

Heck no! Where would the gothic genre have gone without each of those things? Those themes, whether most people want to admit them or not, are all part of life as well. More so than vampires. Therefore, we need literature about that side of life just as much as we need inspiration, in my opinion.

Answer 2

no  some people like that

Answer 3

Well, I suppose that not all stories can be about care bears holding hands as they cross the rainbow of joy to feed their unicorns. Sometimes the care bears also have to take part in orgies and commit multiple homicides.

I personally would rather read about the mean care bears. I don't know about you.

Answer 4

Who's to say who is "sick" or what is "normal"?  I do not believe that it is unhealthy to explore the darker side of human nature in a story.  It helps to understand it, maybe even control it.

I think that people who catagorically reject dark writings as "sick" do so because they are in denial of the darkness in themselves.  People fear that which they do not, or simply refuse to, understand.

Answer 5

Absolutely not. In fact, I think it is vital to give these topics life in literature. Vladmir Nabokov was a master at this, and he is beloved still to this day.

Answer 6

If you do, you condemn a huge chunk of world literature.  Stories are full of dark themes, from the Greek myths to Shakespeare (I rate macBeth as the greatest horror story ever written) to nursery rhymes.

Yes, nursery rhymes.  Little Red Riding Hood's granny gets eaten by a wolf; Hansel and Gretel cook a witch in her own oven; Snow White eats a poisoned apple etc - and these are stories considered fit for the youngest children.

And remember that for every author who writes dark tales, there are thousands that read them for enjoyment.