Philosophers and Demons: Socrates, Descartes, and the Search for Certainty

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter

Abstract

This book is the logical continuation of a series of collected essays examining the origins and evolution of myths and legends of the supernatural in Western and non-Western tradition and popular culture. The first two volumes of the series, The Universal Vampire: Origins and Evolution of a Legend (Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2013) and Images of the Modern Vampire: The Hip and the Atavistic. (Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2013) focused on the vampire legend. The essays in this collection expand that scope to include a multicultural and multigeneric discussion of a pantheon of supernatural creatures who interact and cross species-specific boundaries with ease. Angels and demons are discussed from the perspective of supernatural allegory, angelic ethics and supernatural heredity and genetics. Fairies, sorcerers, witches and werewolves are viewed from the perspectives of popular nightmare tales, depictions of race and ethnicity, popular public discourse and cinematic imagery. Discussions of the “undead and still dead” include images of death messengers and draugar, zombies and vampires in literature, popular media and Japanese anime.

Original languageAmerican English
Title of host publicationThe Supernatural Revamped: From Timeworn Legends to 21st Century Chic
EditorsBarbara Brodman, James E. Doan
PublisherRowman & Littlefield
Chapter5
ISBN (Electronic)978-1-61147-865-5
ISBN (Print)978-1-61147-864-8, 978-1-61147-866-2
StatePublished - Apr 20 2016

Disciplines

  • Arts and Humanities

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