MUTANTS AND MYSTICS: SCIENCE FICTION, SUPERHERO COMICS, AND THE PARANORMAL

Jeffrey J. Kripal

ISBN 10: 022627148X / ISBN 13: 9780226271484

Published by University Of Chicago Press, US, 2015

About this Item

Signed and inscribed by the author at half-title page. Pages are clean and unmarked. Binding is tight, spine is uncreased. Faint soiling to lower edge, but text block is otheriwse clean and unmarked. Small bump to front lower corner and headcap, but covers are otherwise clean, bright and unmarked.

Seller Inventory # 66608

Bibliographic Details

• Title: MUTANTS AND MYSTICS: SCIENCE FICTION, SUPERHERO COMICS, AND THE PARANORMAL
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press, US
• Publication Date: 2015
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 022627148X
• ISBN 13: 9780226271484
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: Near Fine
• Signed: Signed by Author(s)
• Seller catalogs:
  • Sci-Fi & Fantasy

About this title

Synopsis

In many ways, twentieth-century America was the land of superheroes and science fiction. From Superman and Batman to the Fantastic Four and the X-Men, these pop-culture juggernauts, with their "powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men," thrilled readers and audiences—and simultaneously embodied a host of our dreams and fears about modern life and the onrushing future.

But that's just scratching the surface, says Jeffrey Kripal. In Mutants and Mystics, Kripal offers a brilliantly insightful account of how comic book heroes have helped their creators and fans alike explore and express a wealth of paranormal experiences ignored by mainstream science. Delving deeply into the work of major figures in the field—from Jack Kirby’s cosmic superhero sagas and Philip K. Dick’s futuristic head-trips to Alan Moore’s sex magic and Whitley Strieber’s communion with visitors—Kripal shows how creators turned to science fiction to convey the reality of the inexplicable and the paranormal they experienced in their lives. Expanded consciousness found its language in the metaphors of sci-fi—incredible powers, unprecedented mutations, time-loops and vast intergalactic intelligences—and the deeper influences of mythology and religion that these in turn drew from; the wildly creative work that followed caught the imaginations of millions. Moving deftly from Cold War science and Fredric Wertham's anticomics crusade to gnostic revelation and alien abduction, Kripal spins out a hidden history of American culture, rich with mythical themes and shot through with an awareness that there are other realities far beyond our everyday understanding.

A bravura performance, beautifully illustrated in full color throughout and brimming over with incredible personal stories, Mutants and Mystics is that rarest of things: a book that is guaranteed to broaden—and maybe even blow—your mind.

About the Author

Jeffrey J. Kripal holds the J. Newton Rayzor Chair in Philosophy and Religious Thought at Rice University. He is the author of several books, including, most recently, The Superhumanities: Historical Precedents, Moral Objections, New Realities, also published by the University of Chicago Press.