AIPT Science: 'Monster Theory Reader' aiming for scholarship of the fantastic

One of the virtues of The Monster Theory Reader is how Weinstock has worked to establish an intellectual continuity throughout.

A collection of scholarship on monsters and their meaning—across genres, disciplines, methodologies, and time—from foundational texts to the most recent contributionsOne of the virtues of The Monster Theory Reader is how Weinstock has worked to establish an intellectual continuity throughout. This is demonstrated in how Part I leads into Part II via pioneering psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud’s essay “The Uncanny,” which explores the boundary separating the familiar from the unfamiliar, and how the blurring of that boundary elicits unease. Roboticist Masahiro Mori’s well-known essay “The Uncanny Valley” illustrates Freud’s observation by considering how humans seem hardwired to fear that which simultaneously resembles us and yet is clearly not us.

Review at AIPT Comics.