On Monsters: An Unnatural History of Our Worst Fears

Real or imagined, literal or metaphorical, monsters have exerted a dread fascination on the human mind for many centuries. Using philosophical treatises, theological tracts, newspapers, films, and novels, author Stephen T. Asma unpacks traditional monster stories for the clues they offer about the inner logic of our fears and fascinations throughout the ages. Take a Closer Look at the Mythical Creatures from On Monsters Click on image to enlarge The manticore monster was thought to favor human flesh. Descriptions of the beast appear in the natural history texts of Ctesias, Aristotle, and Pliny. Pencil drawing by Stephen T. Asma © 2008, based on a sketch from Edward Topsell’s seventeenth-century bestiary. The Golem is a bumbling monster of Jewish folklore. The clay creature was animated by Rabbi Judah Loew to protect the Jewish ghetto but could not be controlled and wreaked havoc in Prague. Pen and ink drawing byStephen T. Asma © 2008. The Cyclops legend was fueled by ancient Greek misinterpretations of mastodon skulls found in Mediterranean caves. Pencil drawing and collage byStephen T. Asma. Symbolic of God’s power, the biblical Behemoth appears in the Book of Psalms and Job. Pencil drawing by Stephen T. Asma © 2008. From Publishers Weekly Asma's book zooms in on the subject of monsters, both mythical and real, past, present and future, detailing how they have fascinated and frightened the human imagination through all of recorded time. Conjuring dread, the mind's eye has embraced the Philistine giant Goliath, Grendel, the golem of Jewish lore, Frankenstein's monster, freak shows, monster spectacles and werewolves with equal parts affection and terror, writes Asma, a philosophy professor at Columbia College Chicago. Using varied media sources, from history to legend and literature, Asma studies the symbolic meaning of monsters (e.g., biblical monsters represent arrogance in the face of God's power) and their psychological function. He concludes that humans need an excuse to fight, protect and defend, as well as to transfer those horrific qualities, our own monstrous desires, to inhuman beings. A wide-ranging exploration of fear and evil, Asma's presentation and theories are original and practical, depicting those dark, repulsive notions of an unstable, turbulent world in which everybody must struggle to remain human and civilized. 30 b&w illus. (Oct.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. "Monsters literal and metaphorical are dissected with skill and discernment in philosopher and scholar Asma's penetrating "unnatural history." Erudite, funny, and deeply attuned to the profound psychological and moral implications of monstrousness, Asma encompasses the mystical and the scientific as he ponders the simultaneous repulsion and attraction monsters arouse... Asma is insightful and entertaining in his discussion of monsters of the deep, supernatural doppelgangers, zombies, and vampires, and intense in his discussion of Freud and the 'science of monstrous feelings...' Asma's far-reaching book of monsterology is original, captivating, and profoundly elucidating."-- Booklist starred review "With insight, erudition, and humor, Asma's compendium of monsterology traces the evolving meanings and manifestations of monsters since antiquity, in religion, philosophy, science, literature, popular culture, and the human psyche. To explain the eternal attraction and repulsion of the monstrous, Asma draws on material from Aristotle to nanotechnology, revealing myriad, surprising ways that supernatural, natural, and metaphorical monsters inhabit the landscape of our imagination."--Adrienne Mayor, author of The First Fossil Hunters and The Poison King "On Monsters is a humorously omnivorous consideration of the monstrous. It's a delightful book, a terrific balance of scholarship and wonder."--Audrey Niffenegger, author of The Time Traveler's Wife "A wide-ranging exploration of fear and evil, Asma's presentation and theories are original and practical, depicting those dark, repulsive notions of an unstable, turbulent world in which everybody must struggle to remain human and civilized." -- Publishers Weekly "A comprehensive modern-day bestiary."-- New Yorker "Cleverly conceived and slyly written...I have seldom read a book that so satisfyingly achieves such an ambitious goal... His new book is a feast." -- Washington Post "Spelunking adventure through the caverns of world history, culture and thought." -- Chicago Sun-Times "Asma has a lucid, engaging style, and he uses it to provide a thoughtfully breezy survey of the bizarre and the lurking." -- Chicago Reader In his new book, On Monsters: An Unnatural History of Our Worst Fears , Columbia College lecturer Stephen Asma lays out a frightful and compelling bestiary." -- Time Out Chicago "This highly readable, often humorous book is suitable for anyone interested in the history of ideas, culture, and the imagination." -- Choice "Asma's book is a thoroughly entertaining and informative discussion of human fear and monsters. It consistently takes the reader in unexpected directions and makes complex connections that are not readily apparent. The mixture of history, religion, psychology, and philosophy, infused with periodic doses of popular culture references, makes this book much more than simply a bestiary of monsters."-- Journal of Folklore Research "A thoroughly entertaining and informative discussion of human fear and monsters. It consistently takes the reader in unexpected directions and makes complex connections that are not readily apparent. The mixture of history, religion, psychology, and philosophy, infused with periodic doses of popular culture references, makes this book much more than simply a bestiary of monsters." -- Journal of Folklore Research Stephen T. Asma is Professor of Philosophy at Columbia College Chicago, where he holds the title of Distinguished Scholar. From The Washington Post From The Washington Post's Book World/washingtonpost.com Reviewed by Michael Sims Cleverly conceived and slyly written, Stephen Asma's survey of monsters is not content merely to parade the usual suspects -- the fretful dead or the giant recluses of the deep sea. Instead, this "Unnatural History of Our Worst Fears" leads us on a safari through the many manifestations of our idea of the monstrous. I have seldom read a book that so satisfyingly achieves such an ambitious goal. "To be a monster," writes Asma, "is to be an omen." He points out that the word "monster" derives from a Latin root meaning "to warn." Hence his subtitle's emphasis on fear, our troublesome primate combination of herd-think and anxiety that quickly metamorphoses the other -- the unknown -- into something ghastly and threatening. Asma quotes Nietzsche's famous line: "He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster." Consequently, Asma examines not only Frankenstein's monster and vampires and ghosts, but also racists, torturers and serial killers; he takes us into xenophobia, misogyny, homophobia and warmongering. "One will search in vain through this book to find a single compelling definition of monster," he writes. "That's not because I forgot to include one, but because I don't think there is one." Asma explores all sorts of historical and psychological terrain, deliberately seeking a confrontation with every monster in our nasty little minds. The book's antique title positions Asma in the tradition of comprehensive personal essayists, a la Robert Burton; even his endnotes are unpredictably broad and flavored with outrage and humor. The result is a confident and appealing authorial presence. A philosophy professor at Columbia College Chicago, Asma ranges easily from the deadly charisma of Leopold and Loeb to the enthusiastic demon-hunting of Augustine and Aquinas. It's great fun to accompany him on this trek. Only a wide-ranging mind could work into a single book Freud's theories about Medusa and castration and the way in which the feisty biblical Satan resembles the good cop/bad cop theology of Zoroastrianism. Although Asma doesn't treat the topic lightly, one of the more amusing sections in his book addresses Christianity's carnival of rationalizations and back flips around the question of monsters; medieval Christians believed in whole arks of them. Do these creatures demonstrate a supposedly benevolent creator's attention deficit, they wondered, or do monsters serve as what Asma nicely describes as "living billboards for God's sublime creativity and awe-inspiring authority"? But Asma doesn't spend all his time among dusty texts. He also aims his spotlight at numerous movies, examining the dehumanizing racism behind such films as "The Birth of a Nation" and "300" or even the implications of the unchained id in "Forbidden Planet." He peers into the sobering back story behind "Godzilla." He demonstrates how recent movies have transformed Grendel in the Beowulf story from a ravening beast into a victim of oppression. Not surprisingly, this author of a superb chronicle of natural history museums ("Stuffed Animals and Pickled Heads") proves adept at explaining Darwinian evolution, too. Yes, even natural selection shows up in Asma's unnatural history. He smoothly explains why genetic monsters (melodramatic, dead-end mistakes of nature such as two-headed babies) preoccupied Darwin and his colleagues. "The year 1838 was the turning point for Darwin," Asma writes. "Before that, he thought of monsters as a reasonable catalyst for evolution, but after the discovery of natural selection he rejected the role of monsters." Darwin and Freud are only two of the many characters whose connection with monsters got them invited to Asma's party. Others are much more alarming. You will encounter fantastic tales of penis-stealing witches and hard-headed accounts of the incestuous Austrian rapist Josef Fritzl. Asma brings in the camera-swallowing artist Stelarc and the performance artist Orlan, who undergoes plastic surgery onstage. Then along comes the fascinating 16th-century Frenchman from whom Asma borrows his title: Ambroise Paré, author of "On Monsters and Marvels," a transitional work that sought to bring medicine out of the Dark Ages. Asma garnishes these enlightening pages with many photographs and illustrations, including his own graceful drawings of such figures as the biblical Behemoth, the murderer John Wayne Gacy and the dog-headed cannibal Saint Christopher. Asma is that sort of writer -- able to get his hands on all kinds of gourmet ingredients, offhandedly scenting the air with erudition and then casually tossing in his own drawings just to add the last touch of spice. His new book is a feast. 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