Clive Barker Research Paper

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Recommended: Edgar Allan Poe or Charles Dickinson

Clive Barker - An Industry unto Himself
Clive Barker stated: “Horror fiction shows us that the control we believe we have is purely illusory, and that every moment we teeter on chaos and oblivion.” With his numerous bestsellers, graphic novels, and hit movies like the Hellraiser films, Clive Barker has become an industry unto himself that rivals the dark masterpieces of Edgar Allan Poe.
Clive Barker was born on October 5, 1952, to a working-class family in Liverpool, England. His father, Leonard, was a shipping clerk. Barker’s mother, Joan, was a housewife and a lively storyteller. To help pay the bills, Barker’s parents ran a boarding house. Many of the boarders were actors, who encouraged Barker’s early interest in theater (Winter). When he was just four years old, Barker witnessed a man fall from a plane to his death during an air show. Forced to look away, he developed a growing fascination with the morbid, forbidden sights. As a teen, Barker became an enthusiastic reader of horror fiction, particularly the work of Edgar Allan Poe (Winter). This preoccupation with the macabre would influence his creative work in the years to come.
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Many of his books are illustrated with cover art based on his paintings, with pencil sketches of various characters throughout. These include his famous Books of Blood series, as well as his children’s novel The Thief of Time (The Official). This artwork renders with expressionist fervor some of our most primal passions, from the graphically terrifying to the ecstatically sensual (Visions). His visual art has been released in two collections, which today are sought after by collectors (Illustrator). Barker makes a large variety of his artwork, including oil paintings and sketches, available for you to view on his website (The

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