Enchanted Creatures: Our Monsters and Their Meanings

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Description

'A history of humanity without a history of our imaginations is only a partial one . . . '

We have always created and destroyed monsters. They give form to what we don't wish to know or understand; to our anxieties and irrational terrors. They have helped us manage the extraordinary complexity of our minds and deal with the challenges of being human. In Enchanted Creatures, Natalie Lawrence delves into the dark histories of creatures we have imagined over 15,000 years of history: from strange beasts carved in Palaeolithic caves and hybrid snake women, to deep-sea leviathans and apocalyptic dino-monsters. She reveals what lies beneath the monstrous menagerie that has shaped our minds, our societies and how we see our place in nature. Understanding our monsters allows us to understand ourselves, perhaps the most important quest there is.

Author Bio

Natalie Lawrence is a freelance writer, illustrator, researcher and teacher based in London. She regularly gives talks about monsters and natural oddities for a range of audiences, and has published both academic and mainstream articles on the subject. She has been featured in the Guardian and appeared on BBC Woman's Hour. She lives in London.