Imaginary Animals: The Monstrous, the Wondrous and the Human

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Description

Tales throughout the world generally place fabulous beasts in marginal locations - deserts, deep woods, remote islands, glaciers, ocean depths, mountain peaks, caves, swamps, heavenly bodies and alternate universes. Legends tell us that imaginary animals belong to a primordial time, before we had encompassed the world with names, categories and scientific knowledge.

This book traces the history of imaginary animals from Palaeolithic art to the Harry Potter stories, and beyond. It shows how imagined creatures help us psychologically, giving form to our subconscious fears as 'monsters', as well as embodying our hopes as 'wonders'. Nevertheless, their greatest service may be to continually challenge our imaginations, directing us beyond the limitations of our conventional beliefs and expectations.

'Shows how mermaids and dragons, even superheroes and Tamagochis, help us measure what it means to be human. A well illustrated and philosophically sophisticated book.' - World of Interiors

'A thought-provoking analysis of bestial creations...Recommended.' - Choice

'Intriguing and thought-provoking...Scholarly and well-researched, without being either ponderous or condescending, it is written with real wit, and with a contagious delight in its subject rare in such a study. I would recommend it enthusiastically.' - Peter S. Beagle, author of The Last Unicorn

Reviews

Author Boria Sax argues that monsters help us by giving concrete form to our fears, whilewonders incarnate our hopes. Enlisting cultural support, whether from Hieronymus Bosch or PT Barnum, this teacher at Sing Sing prison shows how mermaids and dragons, even superheroes and Tamagochis, help us measure what it means to be human. A well illustrated and philosophically sophisticated book. * World of Interiors *
A thought-provoking analysis of bestial creations, this illustrated compendium by Boria Sax scrutinizes artistic and literary models, ranging from Chauvet cave art from 36,000 BCE to political cartoons, graphic Japanese novels, and postmodern robotics. Conclusions about the nature and purpose of fantasy animals draw on scripture, anthropology, medicine, myth, and psychology . . . An intriguing, highly readable reference work at a low price, Saxs multifaceted work covers a host of reference needs. Recommended. * Choice *
You would have thought perhaps that the animal kingdom as it stands was rich enough to excite us and capture our interest, without us having to imagine our own beasts. Wildlife documentaries exploring from our back gardens to the other side of the world are reliable favourites on TV schedules. The animal kingdom is so rich and diverse that its easy to astonish even the most seasoned zoo-goer. And yet, in Imaginary Animals, Boria Sax reels off countless examples of animals we have dreamt up ourselves . . . Sax leads us on a ceaseless and generously illustrated museum tour from one fantastical example to another. * Morning Star *
Speaking as someone fascinated by all animals from earliest childhood, I found Imaginary Animals to be an intriguing and thought-provoking discovery. Scholarly and well-researched, without being either ponderous or condescending, it is written with real wit, and with a contagious delight in its subject rare in such a study. I would recommend it enthusiastically to anyone interested in the astonishing range of folkloric, religious, cultural, philosophic and political symbolism with which human beings have regarded and ceaselessly recreated real animals in our time together on this planet. * Peter S. Beagle, author of The Last Unicorn *

One of Sax's last insights helps us see into the future of animal creation and human re-creation: All animals,
no matter whether they exist or in what sense, are products of the same dialectic of reality and imagination.
His books intention has been to reveal just such a truth; it points us to the larger questions of the nature
of reality, our role in creating it and being shaped by it, and our quest to see through what is known to the mystery
of what still remains invisible, unknown and waiting . . .

Author Bio

Boria Sax teaches at Sing Sing prison and online in the graduate literature program at Mercy College. He has published many books including City of Ravens (2012), Imaginary Animals (Reaktion, 2013) and Dinomania (Reaktion, 2019).