20-50
A01=Boria Sax
Age Group_Uncategorized
Age Group_Uncategorized
animals
Author_Boria Sax
automatic-update
beasts
Bestiary
Bigfoot
Category1=Non-Fiction
Category=JBGB
Category=JFHF
challenging
COP=United Kingdom
Delivery_Delivery within 10-20 working days
dog-men
Dragon
dragons
earth
encounters
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
expectations
fantastical
fire
folklore
global connections
griffins
Harry Potter
Hieronymous Bosch
ice
illustrated work
illustration
imaginary
imagined animal
international stories
Language_English
legends
mechanical
mechanized
menagerie
mermaids
monsters
myths
PA=Available
Phoenix
Price_€20 to €50
PS=Active
psychology
shape-shifters
social construction
socially constructed creatures
softlaunch
three-headed dogs
unicorns
unreal
water
Werewolf
wonders
worldwide
yetis
Product details
- ISBN 9781789145458
- Dimensions: 190 x 250mm
- Publication Date: 01 Aug 2022
- Publisher: Reaktion Books
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Paperback
- Language: English
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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.
Boria Sax teaches at Sing Sing prison and online in the graduate literature programme at Mercy University. He has published many books, which have won awards and been translated into numerous languages. His most recent is Avian Illuminations: A Cultural History of Birds (Reaktion, 2021).
