A Book of Monsters - by David Ashford

About the Book

This book presents a cultural history of Promethean Horror in the modern age, tracing the rise of a sub-genre of gothic fiction in the twentieth-century and examining post-modern revisions of Modernist "Promethean" tropes in an eclectic range of gothic, fantasy and SF writing.

Book Synopsis

This books traces the rise to prominence in the twentieth-century of a sub-genre of gothic fiction that is, emphatically, a horror of enlightenment rationality rather than gothic darkness, examining post-modern revisions of Modernist "Promethean" tropes in an eclectic range of gothic, fantasy and SF writing. Whether the subject be terror of London's churches in the psychogeographical fiction of Iain Sinclair and Alan Moore, the Orcs in the linguistic fantasies of J.R.R. Tolkien, King Kong, killer-computers, or demon-children in post-war British science-fiction, A Book of Monsters offers illuminating perspectives on the darker recesses of the post-modern imagination, setting out a compelling, and comprehensive, overview on our contemporary unconscious.

From the Back Cover

A book of monsters presents a cultural history of Promethean Horror in the modern age. Beginning with Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, this book explores imaginative literature that exploits popular fears relating, not to a 'Gothic' darkness, but to a scientific Enlightenment.

Revealing why it is that Modernism has in turn become imbued with the uncanny, the chapters consider an eclectic range of cultural material including psycho-geographical fiction by Iain Sinclair and Alan Moore, the fantasies of J.R.R. Tolkien, Gorilla horror movies, anxieties relating to Artificial Intelligence in science fiction and philosophy of science, and popular debates surrounding the legacies of post-war Brutalist architecture, in a subgenre of the dystopia that is specifically anti-Keynesian.

Building on post-humanist philosophy and engaging with recent debates, A book of monsters attempts to place urgent theoretical controversies in a historical context, making connections with issues in architecture, linguistics, economics and cultural geography. In doing so, the book presents a compelling and comprehensive overview on the West's collective 'dream-work' in those decades since the dreams of the nineteenth century were realised in Modernism - tracing the inception and outlining the consequences of literary fantasies.

About the Author

David Ashford is an Assistant Professor of English Literature at the University of Groningen