On Monsters : An Unnatural History of Our Worst Fears

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 with an enormous beast—larger than an elephantthree ominous horns on its forehead. From there the monsters come fast and furious—Behemoth and Leviathan, Gog and Magog, the leopard-bear-lion beast of Revelation, Satan and his demons, Grendel and Frankenstein, circus freaks and headless children, right up to the serial killers and terrorists of today and the post-human cyborgs of tomorrow. Monsters embody our deepest anxieties and vulnerabilities, Asma argues, but they also symbolize the mysterious and incoherent territory just beyond the safe enclosures of rational thought. Exploring philosophical treatises, theological tracts, newspapers, pamphlets, films, scientific notebooks, and novels, Asma unpacks traditional monster stories for the clues they offer about the inner logic of an era's fears and fascinations. In doing so, he illuminates the many ways monsters have become repositories for those human qualities that must be repudiated, externalized, and defeated. Asma suggests that how we handle monsters reflects how we handle uncertainty, ambiguity, insecurity. And in a world that is daily becoming less secure and more ambiguous, he shows how we might learn to better live with monsters—and thereby avoid becoming one. The Washington Post - Michael Sims Cleverly conceived and slyly written, Stephen Asma's survey of monsters is not content merely to parade the usual suspects—the fretful dead or the giant recluses of the deep sea. Instead, this Unnatural History of Our Worst Fears leads us on a safari through the many manifestations of our idea of the monstrous. I have seldom read a book that so satisfyingly achieves such an ambitious goal…Asma explores all sorts of historical and psychological terrain, deliberately seeking a confrontation with every monster in our nasty little minds. The book's antique title positions Asma in the tradition of comprehensive personal essayists, a la Robert Burton; even his endnotes are unpredictably broad and flavored with outrage and humor. The result is a confident and appealing authorial presence. Cover 1 Contents 8 Acknowledgments 12 Introduction: Extraordinary Beings 18 Phobias 18 Repulsion and Attraction 22 Inhuman 24 Unthinkable 27 Unmanageable 28 The Literal and the Symbolic 30 PART 1 — ANCIENT MONSTERS 34 1 Alexander Fights Monsters in India 36 Embellishing 39 Manliness 40 2 Monsters Are Nature’s Playthings 43 Griffns 44 Monstrous Bones 47 Natural History and Credulity 49 Monstrous Races 53 3 Hermaphrodites and Man-headed Oxen 56 In-between Beings 56 Reason and Superstition 59 Aristotle’s Monsters 62 Phantom Images 66 4 Monstrous Desire 68 Plato’s Monster 69 Monstrous Mother 72 PART 2 — MEDIEVAL MONSTERS: MESSAGES FROM GOD 78 5 Biblical Monsters 80 God’s Lackeys 80 The Apocalypse 84 Giants 89 6 Do Monsters Have Souls? 91 Monsters and a Creator God 92 Baptizing the Monstrous Races 94 The Descent of Monsters 101 Alexander’s Gates 103 7 The Monster Killer 111 “I Have Known Much Peril” 111 Tolkien’s Tragic Beowulf 114 8 Possessing Demons and Witches 120 St. Anthony Fights the Demons 120 Witches 124 The Witch Hunter 130 Illusion or Reality? 132 Monstrous Desires Revisited 133 Driving Out the Demons 136 PART 3 — SCIENTIFIC MONSTERS: THE BOOK OF NATURE IS RIDDLED WITH TYPOS 138 9 Natural History, Freaks, and Nondescripts 140 The Hydra 140 Eradicating the Fantastic 144 Responding to the Marvelous 147 A Mischievous Taxidermist 149 Freaks 151 10 The Medicalization of Monsters 158 Monstrous Births 159 Pregnant Women Should Not Look upon Monsters 163 Monsters and the Mechanization of Nature 165 Frankenstein 168 John Hunter’s Monsters 171 Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire’s Teratology 173 William Lawrence and the Headless Children 177 11 Darwin’s Mutants 180 Monsters and Transmutation 180 No Monstrous Jumps in Nature 183 Mutationism and Hopeful Monsters 187 Alberch, Gould, and the Return of the Monsters 189 Evo-Devo 192 PART 4 — INNER MONSTERS: THE PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS 198 12 The Art of Human Vulnerability: Angst and Horror 200 Fear and Cognitive Mismatch 201 Angst and Fear 201 Freud 205 Torture Porn 211 Creeping Flesh 215 13 Criminal Monsters: Psychopathology, Aggression,and the Malignant Heart 220 Monsters in the Headlines 220 Leopold and Loeb 222 Rage and Aggression 225 Monstrous Desire Revisited 229 Cold Detachment 235 The Causes of Psychopathology 240 Judging and Managing the Monsters 243 PART V: — MONSTERS TODAY AND TOMORROW 246 14 Torturers, Terrorists, and Zombies: The Products of Monstrous Societies 248 Xenophobia and Race 248 Theoretical Xenophobia 253 Instinctual Xenophobia 256 Monstrous Civilizations 257 Pathological Societies 261 Monsters from the Oppressed Classes 263 Monsters of Ideology 267 Deconstructing Monsters 269 15 Future Monsters: Robots, Mutants, and Posthuman Cyborgs 272 Mutants and Robots 272 Cyborgs 277 Disembodied Minds 283 Playing God: Biotechnology 286 Are Monsters in the Eye of the Beholder? 291 Epilogue 295 Notes 302 Index 352 A 352 B 353 C 354 D 356 E 357 F 357 G 358 H 359 I 360 J 361 K 361 L 361 M 362 N 363 O 363 P 364 Q 365 R 365 S 366 T 367 U 1 V 1 W 1 X 1 Z 1 "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 with an "enormous beast--larger than an elephant with three ominous horns on its forehead." From there the monsters come fast and furious--Behemoth and Leviathan, Gog and Magog, the leopard-bear-lion beast of Revelation, Satan and his demons, Grendel and Frankenstein, circus freaks and headless children, right up to the serial killers and terrorists of today and the post-human cyborgs of tomorrow. Monsters embody our deepest anxieties and vulnerabilities, Asma argues, but they also symbolize the mysterious and incoherent territory just beyond the safe enclosures of rational thought. Exploring philosophical treatises, theological tracts, newspapers, pamphlets, films, scientific notebooks, and novels, Asma unpacks traditional monster stories for the clues they offer about the inner logic of an era's fears and fascinations. In doing so, he illuminates the many ways monsters have become repositories for those human qualities that must be repudiated, externalized, and defeated. Asma suggests that how we handle monsters reflects how we handle uncertainty, ambiguity, insecurity. And in a world that is daily becoming less secure and more ambiguous, he shows how we might learn to better live with monsters--and thereby avoid becoming one."--Publisher's website
Hailed as "a feast" (Washington Post) and "a modern-day bestiary" (The New Yorker), 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. Beginning at the time of Alexander the Great, the monsters come fast and furious--Behemoth and Leviathan, Gog and Magog, Satan and his demons, Grendel and Frankenstein, circus freaks and headless children, right up to the serial killers and terrorists of today and the post-human cyborgs of tomorrow. Monsters embody our deepest anxieties and vulnerabilities, Asma argues, but they also symbolize the mysterious and incoherent territory beyond the safe enclosures of rational thought. Exploring sources as diverse as philosophical treatises, scientific notebooks, and novels, Asma unravels traditional monster stories for the clues they offer about the inner logic of an era's fears and fascinations. In doing so, he illuminates the many ways monsters have become repositories for those human qualities that must be repudiated, externalized, and defeated. Annotation. Hailed as "a feast" (Washington Post) and "a modern-day bestiary" (The New Yorker), 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. Beginning at the time of Alexander the Great, the monsters come fast and furious - Behemoth and Leviathan, Gog and Magog, Satan and his demons, Grendel and Frankenstein, circus freaks and headless children, right up to the serial killers and terrorists of today and the post-human cyborgs of tomorrow. Monsters embody our deepest anxieties and vulnerabilities, Asma argues, but they also symbolize the mysterious and incoherent territory beyond the safe enclosures of rational thought. Exploring sources as diverse as philosophical treatises, scientific notebooks, and novels, Asma unravels traditional monster stories for the clues they offer about the inner logic of an era's fearsand fascinations. In doing so, he illuminates the many ways monsters have become repositories for those human qualities that must be repudiated, externalized, and defeated Acknowledgments Introduction: Extraordinary Beings Part 1 - Ancient Monsters 1 Alexander Fights Monsters in India 2 Monsters Are Nature's Playthings 3 Hermaphrodites and Man-headed Oxen 4 Monstrous Desire Part 2 - Medieval Monsters: Messages from God 5 Biblical Monsters 6 Do Monsters Have Souls? 7 The Monster Killer 8 Possessing Demons and Witches Part 3 - Scientific Monsters: The Book of Nature is Riddled with Typos 9 Natural History, Freaks, and Nondescripts 10 The Medicalization of Monsters 11 Darwin's Mutants Part 4 - Inner Monsters: The Psychological Aspects 12 The Art of Human Vulnerability: Angst and Horror 13 Criminal Monsters: Psychopathology, Aggression, and the Malignant Heart Part 5 - Monsters Today and Tomorrow 14 Torturers, Terrorists, and Zombies: The Products of Monstrous Societies 15 Future Monsters: Robots, Mutants, and Posthuman Cyborgs Epilogue Notes Index