Synopses & Reviews
Sphinxes, hydras, chimeras, dragons, unicorns, griffins, sirens, and centaurs--fantastic animals can be found in works from Greek vases to paintings by Bosch, Goya, and Picasso, from folk art to comic strips, advertising, and Hollywood movies. Here Be Dragons is a lavishly illustrated compendium of the marvelous menagerie of imaginary animals that humans have conjured up over the ages. Ariane and Christian Delacampagne take us on a visually and intellectually riveting journey through five thousand years of art, examining the symbolic meanings of such creatures and what they say about the unconscious life of the human mind.
In the Middle Ages, "bestiary" referred to an edifying poem, in Latin or French verse, in which the moral characteristics of real or imaginary animals were highlighted. With the passing of time, this once-flourishing genre disappeared. We have ceased to equate animals that can be observed with those we only dream of, but neither science nor mass culture has managed to chase away imaginary beasts. Such creatures continue to haunt us, just as they haunted our ancestors.
In the first book to explore this subject with such cross-cultural and chronological range, the Delacampagnes identify five basic structures (unicorn, human-headed animal, animal-headed human, winged quadruped, and dragon) whose stories they relate from prehistory to the present day. They also provide fascinating sociological and psychoanalytical insight into the processes through which artists have created these astonishing animals and how they have been transmitted from culture to culture.
Contrary to what people once believed, the fantastic exists only in the mind. And yet, as Here Be Dragons shows us, it is one of the mind's most sophisticated, mysterious, and inspiring creations.
Review
"This lovely presentation of dragons and other imaginary beasts found in art all over the world makes it clear that humans have an almost innate facility for creating a pretend nature. . . . [A] beautiful book."--Toronto Globe and Mail
Review
This lovely presentation of dragons and other imaginary beasts found in art all over the world makes it clear that humans have an almost innate facility for creating a pretend nature. . . . [A] beautiful book. Toronto Globe and Mail
Review
and#8220;Speaking as someone fascinated by all animals from earliest childhood, I found Imaginary Animals to be an intriguing and thought-provoking discovery. Scholarly and well-researched, without being either ponderous or condescending, it is written with real wit, and with a contagious delight in its subject rare in such a study. I would recommend it enthusiastically to anyone interested in the astonishing range of folkloric, religious, cultural, philosophic and political symbolism with which human beings have regarded and ceaselessly recreated real animals in our time together on this planet.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;A thought-provoking analysis of bestial creations, this illustrated compendium by Boria Sax scrutinizes artistic and literary models, ranging from Chauvet cave art from 36,000 BCE to political cartoons, graphic Japanese novels, and postmodern robotics. Conclusions about the nature and purpose of fantasy animals draw on scripture, anthropology, medicine, myth, and psychology . . . An intriguing, highly readable reference work at a low price, Saxand#8217;s multifaceted work covers a host of reference needs.and#8221;and#160;
Synopsis
Sphinxes, hydras, chimeras, dragons, unicorns, griffins, sirens, and centaurs--fantastic animals can be found in works from Greek vases to paintings by Bosch, Goya, and Picasso, from folk art to comic strips, advertising, and Hollywood movies.
Here Be Dragons is a lavishly illustrated compendium of the marvelous menagerie of imaginary animals that humans have conjured up over the ages. Ariane and Christian Delacampagne take us on a visually and intellectually riveting journey through five thousand years of art, examining the symbolic meanings of such creatures and what they say about the unconscious life of the human mind.
In the Middle Ages, "bestiary" referred to an edifying poem, in Latin or French verse, in which the moral characteristics of real or imaginary animals were highlighted. With the passing of time, this once-flourishing genre disappeared. We have ceased to equate animals that can be observed with those we only dream of, but neither science nor mass culture has managed to chase away imaginary beasts. Such creatures continue to haunt us, just as they haunted our ancestors.
In the first book to explore this subject with such cross-cultural and chronological range, the Delacampagnes identify five basic structures (unicorn, human-headed animal, animal-headed human, winged quadruped, and dragon) whose stories they relate from prehistory to the present day. They also provide fascinating sociological and psychoanalytical insight into the processes through which artists have created these astonishing animals and how they have been transmitted from culture to culture.
Contrary to what people once believed, the fantastic exists only in the mind. And yet, as Here Be Dragons shows us, it is one of the mind's most sophisticated, mysterious, and inspiring creations.
Synopsis
Includes bibliographical references (p. 195-197) and index.
Synopsis
"The Delacampagnes' argument is crisp, lucid, economical, and persuasive. Their conceptualization and interpretation of the subject is, so far as I am aware, new. I know of no work that both presents such an extensive range of imagery and offers a comprehensive analysis of this kind."--Arthur Goldhammer, Harvard University
Synopsis
"The Delacampagnes' argument is crisp, lucid, economical, and persuasive. Their conceptualization and interpretation of the subject is, so far as I am aware, new. I know of no work that both presents such an extensive range of imagery and offers a comprehensive analysis of this kind."--Arthur Goldhammer, Harvard University
Synopsis
Sphinxes, hydras, chimeras, dragons, unicorns, griffins, sirens, and centaurs--fantastic animals can be found in works from Greek vases to paintings by Bosch, Goya, and Picasso, from folk art to comic strips, advertising, and Hollywood movies.
Here Be Dragons is a lavishly illustrated compendium of the marvelous menagerie of imaginary animals that humans have conjured up over the ages. Ariane and Christian Delacampagne take us on a visually and intellectually riveting journey through five thousand years of art, examining the symbolic meanings of such creatures and what they say about the unconscious life of the human mind.
In the Middle Ages, "bestiary" referred to an edifying poem, in Latin or French verse, in which the moral characteristics of real or imaginary animals were highlighted. With the passing of time, this once-flourishing genre disappeared. We have ceased to equate animals that can be observed with those we only dream of, but neither science nor mass culture has managed to chase away imaginary beasts. Such creatures continue to haunt us, just as they haunted our ancestors.
In the first book to explore this subject with such cross-cultural and chronological range, the Delacampagnes identify five basic structures (unicorn, human-headed animal, animal-headed human, winged quadruped, and dragon) whose stories they relate from prehistory to the present day. They also provide fascinating sociological and psychoanalytical insight into the processes through which artists have created these astonishing animals and how they have been transmitted from culture to culture.
Contrary to what people once believed, the fantastic exists only in the mind. And yet, as Here Be Dragons shows us, it is one of the mind's most sophisticated, mysterious, and inspiring creations.
Synopsis
"The Delacampagnes' argument is crisp, lucid, economical, and persuasive. Their conceptualization and interpretation of the subject is, so far as I am aware, new. I know of no work that both presents such an extensive range of imagery and offers a comprehensive analysis of this kind."--Arthur Goldhammer, Harvard University
Synopsis
and#160;Fire-breathing dragons, beautiful mermaids, majestic unicorns, terrifying three-headed dogsandmdash;these fantastic creatures have long excited our imagination. Medieval authors placed them in the borders of manuscripts as markers of the boundaries of our understanding. Tales from around the world place these beasts in deserts, deep woods, remote islands, ocean depths, and alternate universesandmdash;just out of our reach. And in the sections on the apocalypse in the Bible, they proliferate as the end of time approaches, with horses with heads like lions, dragons, and serpents signaling the destruction of the world.and#160;Legends tell us that imaginary animals belong to a primordial time, before everything in the world had names, categories, and conceptual frameworks. In this book, Boria Sax digs into the stories of these fabulous beasts. He shows how, despite their liminal role, imaginary animals like griffins, dog-men, yetis, and more are socially constructed creatures, created through the same complex play of sensuality and imagination as real ones. Tracing the history of imaginary animals from Paleolithic art to their roles in stories such as Harry Potter and even the advent of robotic pets, he reveals that these extraordinary figures help us psychologicallyandmdash;as monsters, they give form to our amorphous fears, while as creatures of wonder, they embody our hopes. Their greatest service, Sax concludes, is to continually challenge our imaginations, directing us beyond the limitations of conventional beliefs and expectations.and#160;Featuring over 230 illustrations of a veritable menagerie of fantastical and unreal beasts, Imaginary Animals is a feast for the eyes and the imagination.
About the Author
Boria Sax teaches in the college program of Sing Sing Prison in upstate New York and online for the University of Illinois Springfield. He is the author of many books, including The Mythical Zoo: An Encyclopedia of Animals in World Myth, Legend, and Literature and Crow, also published by Reaktion Books. He lives in White Plains, New York.
Table of Contents
Introduction 7
CHAPTER ONE: Symbols, Dreams, Religions 17
CHAPTER TWO: Inventing a Bestiary 45
CHAPTER THREE: Unicorns and Human Hybrids 75
CHAPTER FOUR: Flying Quadrupeds and Dragons 113
CHAPTER FIVE: Influences or Coincidences? 143
CHAPTER SIX: The Fantastic Today 175
Conclusion 191
Bibliography 195
Acknowledgments 197
Index 198
Photograghy Credits 200