Monsters

Emerging from depths comes a series of papers dealing with one of the most significant creations that reflects on and critiques human existence. Both a warning and a demonstration, the monster as myth and metaphor provides an articulation of human imagination that toys with the permissible and impermissible. Monsters from zombies to cuddly cartoon characters, emerging from sewers, from pages of literature, propaganda posters, movies and heavy metal, all are covered in this challenging, scholarly collection. This volume the third in the series presents a marvellous collection of studies on the metaphor of the monster in literature, cinema, music, culture, philosophy, history and politics. Both historical reflection and concerns of our time are addressed with clarity and written in an accessible manner providing appeal for the scholar and lay reader alike. This eclectic collection will be of interest to academics and students working in a range of disciplines, such as cultural studies, film studies, political theory, philosophy and literature studies.

Contains alphabetically arranged entries that describe the imaginary creatures found in legends, religions, folklore, oral history, and theologies around the world.

The aim of this book is to explore the realm of the imaginary world of Greek mythology and present the reader with a categorization of monstrosity, referring to some of the most noted examples in each category.

Hailed as "a feast" (Washington Post) and "a modern-day bestiary" (The New Yorker), Stephen Asma's On Monsters is a wide-ranging cultural and conceptual history of monsters--how they have evolved over time, what functions they have served for us, and what shapes they are likely to take in the future. Beginning at the time of Alexander the Great, the monsters come fast and furious--Behemoth and Leviathan, Gog and Magog, Satan and his demons, Grendel and Frankenstein, circus freaks and headless children, right up to the serial killers and terrorists of today and the post-human cyborgs of tomorrow. Monsters embody our deepest anxieties and vulnerabilities, Asma argues, but they also symbolize the mysterious and incoherent territory beyond the safe enclosures of rational thought. Exploring sources as diverse as philosophical treatises, scientific notebooks, and novels, Asma unravels traditional monster stories for the clues they offer about the inner logic of an era's fears and fascinations. In doing so, he illuminates the many ways monsters have become repositories for those human qualities that must be repudiated, externalized, and defeated.

From the serpentine "Champie" of Lake Champlain to the venerable "Nessie" of Loch Ness, extraordinary-and un-explained-creatures of the deep have been reported in sightings throughout the twentieth century. Now, two of the world's leading cryptozoological investigators provide a globetrotting field guide to when, where, and what kind of mysterious aquatic beasts have gripped the public—and sometimes the scientific—imagination. Filled with comprehensive drawings, classifications, and maps, their book offers an invaluable and unusual resource for the intrepidly curious to investigate these sightings firsthand or to simply enjoy the fascinating accounts that others have given.

A clear and engaging history of how left radicalism went wrong and how it can become what it must be again. Here Be Monsters speaks to a left that has forgotten its history, its potential, and its power. Gramsci spoke of a time of monsters or morbid symptoms. In the ancient world, monsters were not enemies, but rather divine warnings, symptoms of a world out of balance. Here Be Monsters meets these monsters and listens to what they have to tell us. Interweaving personal stories with engaging histories of political thought and the meanings of monsters, Rhyd Wildermuth reveals the roots of current identity conflicts and political contradictions in feminism, anti-racist theory, Marxism, Frankfurt School theorists, and the many other leftist attempts to put the world back into balance. The left has always been the province of dreamers and visionaries, or as Ursula K. Le Guin named them, “realists of a larger reality.” Here Be Monsters is an urgent and deeply engaging narrative to help us remember that reality once more.

A study of the gruesome game characters we love to beat—and what they tell us about ourselves. Since the early days of video games, monsters have played pivotal roles as dangers to be avoided, level bosses to be defeated, or targets to be destroyed for extra points. But why is the figure of the monster so important in gaming, and how have video games come to shape our culture’s conceptions of monstrosity? To answer these questions, Player vs. Monster explores the past half-century of monsters in games, from the dragons of early tabletop role-playing games and the pixelated aliens of Space Invaders to the malformed mutants of The Last of Us and the bizarre beasts of Bloodborne, and reveals the common threads among them. Covering examples from aliens to zombies, Jaroslav Švelch explores the art of monster design and traces its influences from mythology, visual arts, popular culture, and tabletop role-playing games. At the same time, he shows that video games follow the Cold War–era notion of clearly defined, calculable enemies, portraying monsters as figures that are irredeemably evil yet invariably vulnerable to defeat. He explains the appeal of such simplistic video game monsters, but also explores how the medium could evolve to present more nuanced depictions of monstrosity.

Sulley is the best Scarer in all of Monstropolis. With the help of his best pal Mike, Sulley brings back the most screams to the city to be converted into energy. But when Mike begins to wonder what it would be like to be a Scarer himself, he is determined to show Sulley he can be scary, too! There's just one problem: whenever he tries to scare Sulley, Sulley ends up laughing instead! Can Mike manage to scare Sulley, or will he be the jokester monster forever?

Billy's dream is to become a monster hunter and become famous as his idol Dylan Dory, the Detective of the Horror. But Billy is cowardly and stupid. Baxter is an intelligent dog, he can talk to Billy and form an unbeatable team. Together they are the Monster Detective, and they are ready to defeat every monster. When they are not scared ....