GOLEM: Journal of Religion and Monsters
Readers of TheoFantastique are encouraged to browse through the links included here. They are listed under two categories, the first being Enjoying the Fantastic that includes a number of websites that fans will enjoy. The second category is Exploring the Fantastic. This category is for those who want to go more deeply in understanding why [...]
Forthcoming Interviews on Neglected Aspects of Horror
My research and exploration of the fantastic over the last few months has unearthed some interested gems that touch on neglected aspects of horror. These include the book The Mummy’s Curse: Mummymania in the English-Speaking World(Routledge, 2006) by Jasmine Day, a lecturer in Egyptology. Of the various monster archetypes the mummy is one of the most [...]
Monster Theory: Culture, Monstrousness and Ourselves
As I searched Amazon.com for reading materials related to the fantastic to add to my wishlist the description of Monster Theory: Reading Culture (University of Minnesota Press, 1996) struck me as intriguing: “Explores concepts of monstrosity in Western civilization from Beowulf to Jurassic Park. “We live in a time of monsters. Monsters provide a key [...]
Gilmore: Anthropology and Monsters in Cultural Imagination
In a previous post I mentioned the work of Dr. David Gilmore, an anthropologist who teaches at Stony Brook University. He is the author of Monsters: Evil Beings, Mythical Beasts, and All Manner of Imaginary Terrors (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2002), an interesting book that provides an anthropological perspective on monsters in various cultures. Dr. [...]
An Anthropologist Considers Our Monsters
A recent e-newsletter from the Constructing Horror website introduced an interesting topic: “The beasts of past days have given birth to a new kind of creature. In movies like Saw and 28 Days Later, the monsters are powerful and horrifying. But the concept of evil has been turned around on the audiences and what once [...]
Timothy Beal: Religion and Its Monsters
Timothy K. Beal is Florence Harkness Professor of Religion and director of the Baker-Nord Center for the Humanities at Case Western Reserve University. He has published eight books, including Roadside Religion: In Search of the Sacred, the Strange, and the Substance of Faith (Beacon, 2005), which was a New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice [...]
