Our Ladies of Darkness opens with a question raised by Nathaniel Hawthorne in his 1835 sketch "The Haunted Mind": "What if the fiend should come in women's garments, with a pale beauty amid sin and desolation, and lie down by your side?" Joseph Andriano boldly attempts to answer this question by examining some fifteen texts in which such a haunting occurs, including Poe's "Ligeia," Hoffmann's "The Sandman," Irving's "The Adventure of the German Student," Cazotte's "Le Diable amoureux," and Aickman's "Ravissante." His close reading of the individual texts leads to illuminating...
Our Ladies of Darkness opens with a question raised by Nathaniel Hawthorne in his 1835 sketch "The Haunted Mind": "What if the fiend shoul...
Imaginary beasts have figured prominently in literary works ever since the ancient world, when these myths were first formulated. But the nineteenth century witnessed the rise of science, the discovery of geological findings that challenged the biblical myth of creation, and the birth of Darwin's theory of evolution. Since then, monsters have evolved from supernatural creatures to natural ones endowed with exceptional size, strength, or intelligence. This book explores both literary and cinematic texts that are especially explicit in their Darwinian portrayal of monstrous beasts, though...
Imaginary beasts have figured prominently in literary works ever since the ancient world, when these myths were first formulated. But the nineteent...
