1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910459790303321

Autore

Asma Stephen T

Titolo

On monsters [[electronic resource] ] : an unnatural history of our worst fears / / Stephen T. Asma

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Oxford ; ; New York, : Oxford University Press, 2009

ISBN

1-283-05868-5

9786613058683

0-19-971451-7

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (368 p.)

Disciplina

398.24/54

Soggetti

Monsters

Electronic books.

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. [285]-333) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Extraordinary beings -- Ancient monsters. Alexander fights monsters in India ; Monsters are nature's playthings ; Hermaphrodites and man-headed oxen ; Monstrous desire -- Medieval monsters : messages from God. Biblical monsters ; Do monsters have souls? ; The monster killer ; Possessing demons and witches -- Scientific monsters : the book of nature is riddled with typos. Natural history, freaks, and nondescripts ; The medicalization of monsters ; Darwin's mutants -- Inner monsters : the psychological aspects. The art of human vulnerability : angst and horror ; Criminal monsters : psychopathology, aggression, and the malignant heart ; Torturers, terrorists, and zombies : the products of monstrous societies ; Future monsters : robots, mutants, and posthuman cyborgs.

Sommario/riassunto

Monsters. Real or imagined, literal or metaphorical, they have exerted a dread fascination on the human mind for many centuries. They attract and repel us, intrigue and terrify us, and in the process reveal something deeply important about the darker recesses of our collective psyche. 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. Asma begins with a letter from Alexander the



Great in 326 B.C. detailing an encounter in India w