A01=Boria Sax
animal studies
Author_Boria Sax
biodiversity
Category=WNCN
consciousness
Dickinson
Durer
ecology
environment
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
evolution
extinction
forthcoming
Grandville
humanity
identity
insects
Kafka
Merian
mythology
nature
philosophy
spirituality
spontaneous generation
symbolism
transformation
Zhuang Zhou
Product details
- ISBN 9781836391654
- Dimensions: 138 x 216mm
- Publication Date: 15 Jun 2026
- Publisher: Reaktion Books
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Hardback
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From ancient fables to modern science, insects and their metamorphoses have long inspired human understanding of life’s transitions. This original and engaging book traces how these transformations have shaped rituals around birth, marriage and death, while also provoking deep questions about identity. Through stories that connect Zhuang Zhou’s butterfly dream to figures such as Kafka, Merian and Dürer, it explores the strange, beautiful and sometimes unsettling ways in which cultures have understood insects – as miracles, messengers or monsters. Blending humour, history and environmental insight, Boria Sax offers an imaginative lens on the growing crisis of insect extinction. More than just a natural history, this is a cultural and philosophical journey that shows why losing insects means losing part of ourselves.
Boria Sax teaches at Sing Sing prison and online in the graduate literature programme at Mercy University. He has published numerous books, many of which have won awards and been translated into multiple languages. His most recent is Enchanted Forests: The Poetic Construction of a World before Time (Reaktion, 2023).
