A fascinating journey through 15,000 years of history, exploring the incredible variety of monstrous creatures we have created and what they can tell us about ourselves.
The hydra rears its many heads in a flurry of teeth and poisonous fumes. The cyborg lays waste to humanity with a ruthless, expressionless stare.
From ancient mythology to modern science fiction, we have had to confront the monsters that lurk in the depths of our collective imagination. They embody our anxieties and our irrational terrors, giving form to what we don't wish to know or understand. For millennia, monsters have helped us to manage the extraordinary complexity of our minds and to deal with the challenges of being human.
In Enchanted Creatures, Natalie Lawrence delves into 15,000 years of imaginary beasts and uncovers the other-worldly natural history that has evolved with our deepest fears and fascinations. Join Lawrence on a tour of prehistoric cave monsters, serpentine hybrids, deep-sea leviathans and fire-breathing Kaiju. Discover how this monstrous menagerie has shaped our minds, our societies and how we see our place in nature.
“In Enchanted Creatures, Ms. Lawrence roves around the globe and across history to summon a rich and exciting array of monstrous beings. She explores the creatures, each in turn, in an effort to assess what they reveal about humanity. Ms. Lawrence is a zestful writer. Enchanted Creatures vividly conjures fanciful terrors such as dragons, werewolves, bull-men and snake-women.”
“Enchanted Creatures analyzes fabled and mythical beasts across human history, folklore, and literature, asking why monsters persist in human imaginations. Comprehensive yet accessible, Enchanted Creatures perches at the intersection of literary criticism and cultural studies with its exciting examinations of the beasts that accompany humanity through dreams and nightmares alike.”
“In this fascinating book, Natalie Lawrence takes us on a riveting tour of the monsters which have long occupied human minds and cultures, and which reveal a huge amount about who we are and where we have come from.”
“Game of Thrones meets the Natural History Museum meets Grimm fairytales. Fascinating, enthralling and definitely enchanting.”
