Supernatural fiction is a classification of literature used to describe fiction exploiting or requiring as plot devices or themes some contradictions of the commonplace natural world and materialist assumptions about it. It includes the traditional ghost story, and was propelled to prominence in Europe by the eighteenth century explosion of popular Gothic fiction. It includes both fiction with a religious message, and some that is directed against the religious concepts of natural law by postulating anti-natural phenomena and beings. Literature is literally an acquaintance with letters as in the first sense given in the Oxford English Dictionary (from the Latin littera meaning an individual written character (letter)). The term has, however, generally come to identify a collection of texts. ... The Three Graces, here in a painting by Sandro Botticelli, were the goddesses of charm, beauty, nature, human creativity and fertility in Greek mythology. ... For alternative meanings, see nature (disambiguation). ... This article primarily focuses on the general concepts of matter and existence. ... A ghost story may be any piece of fiction, or drama, that includes a ghost, or simply takes as a premise the possibility of ghosts or the belief of some character(s) in them. ... World map showing location of Europe A satellite composite image of Europe Europe is geologically and geographically a peninsula, forming the westernmost part of Eurasia. ... (17th century - 18th century - 19th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 18th century refers to the century that lasted from 1701 through 1800. ... The gothic novel is an English literary genre, which can be said to have been born with The Castle of Otranto (1764) by Horace Walpole. ... In law, natural law is the doctrine that just laws are immanent in nature (that can be claimed as discovered but not created by such things as a bill of rights) and/or that they can emerge by natural process of resolving conflicts (as embodied by common law). ...

Most but not all supernatural fiction would be taken to be genre fiction; The Turn of the Screw by Henry James is an example of a work of literary fiction that is also largely concerned with supernatural fiction elements, making play of the possibility that they are psychological at root, but requiring the option that they are not for effect. John Banville is a contemporary writer of supernatural literary fiction. Genre fiction is a term for writings by multiple authors that are very similar in theme and style, especially where these similarities are deliberately pursued by the authors. ... The Turn of the Screw is a novella written by Henry James. ... This article is about the writer; for the politician who was almost his contemporary see Henry James, 1st Baron James of Hereford. ... Literary fiction is a somewhat uneasy term that has come into common usage since around 1970, principally to distinguish serious fiction from the many types of genre fiction and popular fiction. ... John Banville is an Irish novelist, born December 8, 1945 in Wexford. ...

While a great deal of supernatural fiction was written in the century up to 1950, the genre arguably died around then, except for stilted imitation and children's literature. The bulk of fiction dealing with the occult had been posed as supernatural, but somewhere between Arthur Machen and a writer like Dennis Wheatley the effects had become threadbare. On this argument, Charles Williams was one of the last innovators of supernatural fiction. Basic Characteristics There is some debate as to what constitutes childrens literature. ... The word occult comes from Latin occultus (hidden), referring to the knowledge of the secret or knowledge of the hidden and often meaning knowledge of the supernatural, as opposed to knowledge of the visible or knowledge of the measurable, usually referred to as science. ... Arthur Machen (March 3, 1863 - March 30, 1947) was a Welsh-born author of fantasy and horror fiction. ... Dennis Wheatley (8 January 1897-10 November 1977) was a British writer born in London. ... Charles Walter Stansby Williams (September 20, 1886 - May 15, 1945), educated at St Albans School, Hertfordshire and University College, London, he was a staff editor at the Oxford University Press, at the London offices from 1908 until 1939 and afterwards, due to World War II evacuations, at Oxford. ...

This dwindling of supernatural fiction can be attributed to a number of causes. The newer genres of horror fiction and fantasy fiction, while growing out of some of the basic propositions and generic conventions, were more energetic, attracted talented authors, and disposed gradually of the older arch style and fusty Edwardianisms. Surrealism was similarly against 'natural law', wholeheartedly, but postulated that the daily world we live in contains the very 'decadent' elements, which in the older supernatural fiction were shown as breaking through some barrier to meet us. After Sigmund Freud, and in a general realignment of thinking on mythology post-1945 (courtesy for example of Northrop Frye, Robert Graves and numerous art historians), European thought had less need to be reminded of the supernatural in the form of repressed Somethings. A genre is any of the traditional divisions of art forms from a single field of activity into various kinds according to criteria particular to that form. ... Horror fiction is, broadly, fiction intended to scare, unsettle or horrify the reader. ... For other definitions of fantasy see fantasy (psychology). ... The Edwardian period or Edwardian era in the United Kingdom is the period 1901 to 1910, the reign of King Edward VII. It is sometimes extended to include the period to the start of World War I in 1914 or even the end of the war in 1918. ... Surrealism is an artistic movement and an aesthetic philosophy that aims for the liberation of the mind by emphasizing the critical and imaginative powers of the subconscious. ... Decadence was the name given, first by hostile critics, and then triumphantly adopted by some writers themselves, to a number of late nineteenth century fin de siècle writers associated with Symbolism or the Aesthetic movement. ... Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud (May 6, 1856 - September 23, 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of the psychoanalytic school of psychology, a movement that popularized the theory that unconscious motives control much behavior. ... This article is about a system of myths. ... Herman Northrop Frye (July 14, 1912 - January 23, 1991) was a Canadian literary critic, one of the most distinguished of the 20th century. ... Portrait of Robert Graves (circa 1974) by Rab Shiell Robert von Ranke Graves (July 24, 1895–December 7, 1985) was an English scholar, best remembered for his work as a poet and novelist. ... Art history usually refers to the history of the visual arts. ...

Some examples of the genre include:

• William Hope Hodgson's Carnacki, The Ghost Finder (short stories)
• Shirley Jackson's The Haunting Of Hill House
• Richard Matheson's Hell House
• Dorothy Macardle's The Uninvited (original British title Uneasy Freehold)
• Tamara Thorne's Haunted
• Paul Gallico's Too Many Ghosts
• Barbara Michael's Stitches In Time and The Walker In Shadows
• Stephen King's Bag of Bones and The Shining
• Jennifer Gostin's Peregrine's Rest

Supernatural fiction continues to be a staple of comic book and graphic novel writing, and the basis for films. That is, it is only its purely prose expression that sagged, mid-twentieth century. William Hope Hodgson (1877–1918) was an English author of horror and fantastic fiction. ... Shirley Jackson (December 14, 1919 - August 8, 1965) was an American author who wrote short stories and novels. ... Richard Matheson (born February 20, 1926) is an American author and screenwriter, typically of fantasy, horror or science fiction. ... A hell house, also called a judgment house, is a haunted house-style attraction typically run by evangelical Christian churches or parachurch groups. ... Paul William Gallico (July 26, 1897-July 15, 1976) was a fabulously successful author of popular short stories and novels, many of which were adapted for motion pictures. ... This page is about Stephen Edwin King, the writer. ... The Shining can refer to: the Stephen King book: see The Shining (book) the Stanley Kubrick film based on the book: see The Shining (film) the ABC mini-series scripted by Stephen King: The Shining (mini-series) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that... A comic book is a magazine or book containing the art form of comics. ... A graphic novel is a long-form comic book or manga; the comics analogue to a prose novel or novella. ... Film refers to the celluloid media on which movies are printed Film — also called movies, the cinema, the silver screen, moving pictures, photoplays, picture shows, flicks, or motion pictures, — is a field that encompasses motion pictures as an art form or as part of the entertainment industry. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s The 20th century lasted from 1901 to 2000 in the Gregorian calendar (often from (1900 to 1999 in common usage). ...