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The Ecogothic Werewolf in Literature
Wolves, Woods and Wilderness
The Ecogothic Werewolf in Literature
Wolves, Woods and Wilderness
Description
Using an Ecogothic lens, this book offers a new conceptual framework for the werewolf in literature, recasting the lycanthrope as an emblem for society's fear of untamed wilderness. Tracing lycanthropy from a place of liminality to hybridity and to myriad and complex subjectivities, The Ecogothic Werewolf in Literature reassesses the Gothic werewolf to show how the relationship between humans and wolves has influenced its representation in literature. Starting with Dracula and tracing lycanthropic imaginings through natural histories, folk and fairy tales to contemporary iterations in the works of Maggie Stiefvater, Whitley Strieber and Glen Duncan, Kaja Franck reconsiders the trope of the 'beast within' in the werewolf canon.
From early conservationist Aldo Leopold's awakening regarding the death of wolves, to George Monbiot's call to rewild, tensions around humanity's responsibility to the natural world have emerged in lycanthropic literature. A challenge to previous anthropocentric analysis of Gothic horror's stock monster, Franck considers the changing attitude towards wolves alongside the growing environmentalism movement and reclaims the wolf from the figure of the werewolf.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Dracula: The Wolf in Vampire's Clothing
Chapter 2: The American Wilderness and the Werewolf
Chapter 3: The Werewolf in the Woods: Young Adult Gothic and Metaphoric Lycanthropy
Chapter 4: The Return of the Werewolf: The Monstrous Voice at Boundary between Human and Animal
Conclusion: The Hopeful Werewolf and the Environmental Apocalypse
Bibliography
Index
Product details
| Published | 21 Aug 2025 |
|---|---|
| Format | Ebook (Epub & Mobi) |
| Edition | 1st |
| Extent | 216 |
| ISBN | 9781350441149 |
| Imprint | Bloomsbury Academic |
| Illustrations | 0 |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing |
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