SUSPENSE Conceptualizations, Theoretical Analyses, and Empirical Explorations 2 Lea's Communication Series Jennings Bryant/Dolf Zillmann, General Editors Selected titles include: Biocca/Levy • Communication in the Age of Virtual Reality Cissna • Applied Communication in the 21st Century Dholakia/Mundorf/Dholakia • New Infotainment Technologies in the Home: Demand-Side Perspectives Harris • Health and the New Media: Technologies Transforming Personal and Public Health Nussbaum/Coupland • Handbook of Communication and Aging Research For a complete list of other titles in LEA's Communication Series, please contact Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers. 3 4 Suspense Conceptualizations, Theoretical Analyses, and Empirical Explorations Edited by Peter Vorderer University of Music and Theater, Hannover Hans J. Wulff Mike Friedrichsen Free University of Berlin 5 6 Copyright © 1996, by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by photostat, microfilm, retrieval system, or any other means, without the prior written permission of the publisher. First published by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., Publishers 10 Industrial Avenue Mahwah, New Jersey 07430 Transferred to Digital Printing 2009 by Routledge Routledge Taylor & Francis Group 270 Madison Avenue New York, NY 10016 Routledge Taylor & Francis Group 2 Park Square Milton Park, Abingdon Oxon OX14 4RN Cover design by Gail Silverman Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Suspense: conceptualizations, theoretical analyses, and empirical explorations / edited by Peter Vorderer, Hans Jürgen Wulff, Mike Friedrichsen. p. cm. 7 Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8058-1965-7 (cloth). — ISBN 0-8058-1966-5 (paper) 1. Suspense in motion pictures. 2. Suspense in literature. I. Vorderer, Peter. II. Wulff, Hans Jürgen. III. Friedrichsen, Mike. PN1995.9.S87S87 1996 791.43'653—dc20 95-39720 CIP 8 9 Contents Preface Suspense and the Influence of Cataphora on Viewers' 1 Expectations Hans J. Wulff Keeping Our Selves in Suspense: The Imagined Gaze and 2Fictional Constructions of the Self in Alfred Hitchcock and Edgar Allan Poe Garry Leonard 3The Experience of Suspense: Between Fear and Pleasure Lothar Mikos 4Narrative Tension in Antonioni Peter Wuss 5The Paradox of Suspense Noël Carroll 6The Resiliency of Suspense Richard J. Gerrig The Nature of Narrative Suspense and the Problem of 7 Rereading William F. Brewer Cognitive Modeling of Suspense-Inducing Structures in 8 Narrative Films Peter Ohler and Gerhild Nieding Suspense, Predictive Inference, and Emotion in Film 9 Viewing Ed Tan and Gijsbert Diteweg 10