Items related to Monsters: Evil Beings, Mythical Beasts, and All Manner...

Monsters: Evil Beings, Mythical Beasts, and All Manner of Imaginary Terrors - Hardcover

 
9780812237023: Monsters: Evil Beings, Mythical Beasts, and All Manner of Imaginary Terrors
View all copies of this ISBN edition:
 
 

The human mind needs monsters. In every culture and in every epoch in human history, from ancient Egypt to modern Hollywood, imaginary beings have haunted dreams and fantasies, provoking in young and old shivers of delight, thrills of terror, and endless fascination. All known folklores brim with visions of looming and ferocious monsters, often in the role as adversaries to great heroes. But while heroes have been closely studied by mythologists, monsters have been neglected, even though they are equally important as pan-human symbols and reveal similar insights into ways the mind works. In Monsters: Evil Beings, Mythical Beasts, and All Manner of Imaginary Terrors, anthropologist David D. Gilmore explores what human traits monsters represent and why they are so ubiquitous in people's imaginations and share so many features across different cultures.

Using colorful and absorbing evidence from virtually all times and places, Monsters is the first attempt by an anthropologist to delve into the mysterious, frightful abyss of mythical beasts and to interpret their role in the psyche and in society. After many hair-raising descriptions of monstrous beings in art, folktales, fantasy, literature, and community ritual, including such avatars as Dracula and Frankenstein, Hollywood ghouls, and extraterrestrials, Gilmore identifies many common denominators and proposes some novel interpretations.

Monsters, according to Gilmore, are always enormous, man-eating, gratuitously violent, aggressive, sexually sadistic, and superhuman in power, combining our worst nightmares and our most urgent fantasies. We both abhor and worship our monsters: they are our gods as well as our demons. Gilmore argues that the immortal monster of the mind is a complex creation embodying virtually all of the inner conflicts that make us human. Far from being something alien, nonhuman, and outside us, our monsters are our deepest selves.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

About the Author:
David D. Gilmore is Professor of Anthropology at the State University of New York, Stony Brook. He is the author of several books, including Misogyny: The Male Malady, also available from the University of Pennsylvania Press.
Review:

"Gilmore's . . . engaging book suggests a universal need to extend perceptions of evil far beyond the obvious."—Choice

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

Other Popular Editions of the Same Title

9780812220889: Monsters: Evil Beings, Mythical Beasts, and All Manner of Imaginary Terrors

Featured Edition

ISBN 10:  ISBN 13:  9780812220889
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2009
Softcover

Top Search Results from the AbeBooks Marketplace

Stock Image

Gilmore, David D.
ISBN 10: 0812237021 ISBN 13: 9780812237023
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
GoldBooks
(Austin, TX, U.S.A.)

Book Description Hardcover. Condition: new. New Copy. Customer Service Guaranteed. Seller Inventory # think0812237021

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 48.51
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 4.25
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Gilmore, David D.
ISBN 10: 0812237021 ISBN 13: 9780812237023
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
Front Cover Books
(Denver, CO, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: new. Seller Inventory # FrontCover0812237021

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 48.65
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 4.30
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Gilmore, David D.
ISBN 10: 0812237021 ISBN 13: 9780812237023
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
GoldenWavesOfBooks
(Fayetteville, TX, U.S.A.)

Book Description Hardcover. Condition: new. New. Fast Shipping and good customer service. Seller Inventory # Holz_New_0812237021

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 49.37
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 4.00
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Gilmore, David D.
ISBN 10: 0812237021 ISBN 13: 9780812237023
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
GF Books, Inc.
(Hawthorne, CA, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: New. Book is in NEW condition. Seller Inventory # 0812237021-2-1

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 73.40
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Gilmore, David D.
ISBN 10: 0812237021 ISBN 13: 9780812237023
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
Book Deals
(Tucson, AZ, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: New. New! This book is in the same immaculate condition as when it was published. Seller Inventory # 353-0812237021-new

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 73.41
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Seller Image

Gilmore, David D.:
ISBN 10: 0812237021 ISBN 13: 9780812237023
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:

Book Description Condition: Neu. 224 Seiten Gebundenes Buch mit Original-Schutzumschlag. Buch ist neu, aus priv. Vorbesitz, ungelesen, ISBN: 9780812237023 Wir senden umgehend mit beiliegender MwSt.Rechnung. Sprache: Englisch Gewicht in Gramm: 440 Gebundene Ausgabe, Größe: 16.5 x 1.9 x 23.5 cm. Seller Inventory # 568463

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 60.14
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 13.30
From Germany to U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Gilmore, David D.
ISBN 10: 0812237021 ISBN 13: 9780812237023
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
Wizard Books
(Long Beach, CA, U.S.A.)

Book Description Hardcover. Condition: new. New. Seller Inventory # Wizard0812237021

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 71.08
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 3.50
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Gilmore, David D.
ISBN 10: 0812237021 ISBN 13: 9780812237023
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
BennettBooksLtd
(LOS ANGELES, CA, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: New. New. In shrink wrap. Looks like an interesting title! 0.95. Seller Inventory # Q-0812237021

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 106.26
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 4.13
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds