Leslie A. Sconduto
Print ISBN: 978-0-7864-3559-3
EBook ISBN: 978-0-7864-5216-3
notes, bibliography, index
228pp. softcover 2008
Price: $39.95
About the Book
The mythical werewolf is known for its sudden transformation under the full moon, but the creature also underwent a narrative evolution through the centuries, from bloodthirsty creature to hero.
Beginning with The Epic of Gilgamesh, Ovid’s Metamorphoses, and an account in Petronius’ Satyricon, the book analyzes the context that created the traditional image of the werewolf as a savage beast. The Catholic Church’s response to the popular belief in werewolves and medieval literature’s sympathetic depiction of the werewolf as victim are presented to support the idea of the werewolf as a complex and varied cultural symbol.
Table of Contents
Introduction 1
1. The Werewolf in Antiquity 7
2. The Church’s Response to the Werewolf 15
3. The Werewolves of Ossory and Other Medieval Wonder Tales and Marvels 26
4. Bisclavret or a Lesson in Loyalty 39
5. Melion or a Lesson About Pride 57
6. Arthur and Gorlagon or a Lesson for an Adulteress 76
7. Guillaume de Palerne or a Lesson in Noble Sacrifice 90
8. A New Renaissance for the Wicked Werewolf 127
9. Explanations or “Que cele beste senefie” 180
Notes 201
Bibliography 211
Index 217
About the Author
Leslie A. Sconduto is a French professor at Bradley University. Her previous work includes a study of the literature that created the traditional image of the werewolf as a savage beast. She lives in Dunlap, Illinois.
Other Book(s) by Leslie A. Sconduto Available from McFarland:
Guillaume de Palerne
Elizabeth A. Whittingham
Series Editors Donald E. Palumbo and C.W. Sullivan III
Print ISBN: 978-0-7864-3281-3
bibliography, index
232pp. softcover 2008
Price: $35.00
About the Book
The History of Middle-earth traces the evolution of J.R.R. Tolkien’s literary world, stories, and characters from their earliest written forms to the final revisions Tolkien penned shortly before his death in 1973. Published posthumously by Tolkien’s son Christopher, the extensively detailed 12-volume work allows readers to follow the development of the texts that eventually became Tolkien’s immensely popular The Hobbit, The Lord of The Rings, The Silmarillion, and Unfinished Tales.
This work provides a thorough study of Tolkien’s life and influences through an analysis of The History of Middle-earth. The work begins with a brief biography and an analysis of the major influences in Tolkien’s life. Following chapters deal with elements common to Tolkien’s popular works, including the cosmogony, theogony, cosmology, metaphysics, and eschatology of Middle-earth. The study also reviews some of the myths with which Tolkien was most familiar--Greek, Roman, Finnish, and Norse--and reveals the often overlapping relationship between mythology, biblical stories, and Tolkien’s popular works.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Abbreviations xi
Preface 1
Introduction 5
1. Influences in Tolkien’s Life 13
2. Tolkien’s Mythology of Creation 37
3. Tolkien’s Mythology of Divine Beings 64
4. The Physical World of Middle-earth and of Eä 100
5. Death and Immortality among Elves and Men 123
6. The Last Days of Middle-earth 170
7. The Final Victory 192
Works Consulted 201
Index 205
About the Author
Elizabeth A. Whittingham teaches in the English department at SUNY College at Brockport in Brockport, New York. Donald E. Palumbo is a professor of English at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina. He lives in Greenville. C.W. Sullivan III is a professor of arts and sciences at East Carolina University and a full member of the Welsh Academy. He is the author of numerous books and the on-line journal Celtic Cultural Studies.
Award Winner
Finalist, Mythopoeic Scholarship Award in Inklings Studies--The Mythopoeic Society
Edited by Gary Westfahl and George Slusser
Series Editors Donald E. Palumbo and C.W. Sullivan III
Print ISBN: 978-0-7864-4297-3
tables, notes, bibliographies, index
290pp. softcover 2009
Price: $35.00
About the Book
Essays in this volume demonstrate how science fiction can serve as a bridge between the sciences and the humanities. The essays show how early writers like Dante and Mary Shelley revealed a gradual shift toward a genuine understanding of science; how H.G. Wells first showed the possibilities of combining scientific and humanistic perspectives; how writers influenced by Gernsback’s ideas, like Isaac Asimov, illustrated the ways that literature could interact with science and assist in its progress; and how more recent writers offer critiques of science and its practitioners.
Table of Contents
Introduction: Science Fiction at the Crossroads of Two Cultures
GARY WESTFAHL 1
I. OVERVIEWS: SCIENCE FICTION IN THE CONTEXT OF TWO CULTURES
1. Science Fiction and the Two Cultures: Reflections after the Snow-Leavis Controversy
CARL FREEDMAN 11
2. Science Fiction, Mediating Agent between C.P. Snow’s Two Cultures: A Historical Interpretation
BRADFORD LYAU 22
3. Fighting Out of Context: Culture Wars Within and Without Science Fiction, from Snow to Sokal
HOWARD V. HENDRIX 37
4. A Tale of Two Cultures: Science Studies and Science Fiction
STEPHEN POTTS 49
5. The Rich and the Poor: Science Fiction and the Other Two Cultures
GARY WESTFAHL 67
6. The Science of Fiction and the Fiction of Science: A Storytelling Animal in an Inhospitable World
FRANK MCCONNELL 86
7. Dimorphs and Doubles: J. D. Bernal’s “Two Cultures” and the Transhuman Promise
GEORGE SLUSSER 96
II. CASE STUDIES: SCIENCE FICTION AS AN EXPRESSION OF TWO CULTURES
8. Discontinuity: Spaceships at the Abyss
CAROL MACKAY and KIRK HAMPTON 131
9. Gregory Benford’s Against Infinity and the Literary, Historical and Geometric Formation of the Encyclopedic Circle of Knowledge
PEKKA KUUSISTO 140
10. Utopia and Utopianism in the Life, Work, and Thought of H. G. Wells
JOHN S. PARTINGTON 160
11. The Alien Eye: Imperialism and Otherness in H. G. Wells’s The First Men in the Moon
GARETH DAVIES-MORRIS 170
12. Killer Robots, Laws of Robotics, and Pernicious Humans
GEORGE ATKINS 185
13. Philip K. Dick’s Conversion Narrative
NOAH MASS 196
14. The Terror of Nature Not Understood: Science, Mysticism, and the Unknowable in Don DeLillo’s Ratner’s Star/I>
JAKE JAKAITIS 209
15. When the Caesura Ceases: Two Romanian Authors Gauge the Place of Writers in the Age of Computers
SHARON D. KING 219
16. A Creature of Double Vision
GREGORY BENFORD 228
Afterword: Science Fiction and the Playing Fields of Eaton
GARY WESTFAHL 237
Bibliography of Works Related to Science Fiction and the Two Cultures Debate 247
Bibliography of Other Works Cited in the Text 258
About the Contributors 271
Index 275
About the Author
Gary Westfahl teaches at the University of California, Riverside. A prolific writer and editor, he earned the Science Fiction Research Association’s Pilgrim Award for his lifetime contributions to science fiction and fantasy scholarship.
George Slusser is a professor emeritus of comparative literature at the University of California, Riverside. The longtime curator of the famed Eaton Collection of Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature, he also earned the Pilgrim Award for his numerous scholarly books.
Donald E. Palumbo is a professor of English at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina. He lives in Greenville.
C.W. Sullivan III is a professor of arts and sciences at East Carolina University and a full member of the Welsh Academy. He is the author of numerous books and the on-line journal Celtic Cultural Studies.
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