Full Description
In recent years, shapeshifting characters in literature, film and television have been on the rise. This has followed the increased use of such characters as metaphors, with novelists and critics identifying specific meanings and topics behind them. This book aims to unravel the shapeshifting trope. Rather than pursue a case-based study, the works are grouped around specific themes--adolescence, gender, sexuality, race, disability, addiction, and spirituality--that are explored through the metaphor of shapeshifting.
Because of the transformative possibilities of this metaphor and its flexibility, the shapeshifter has the potential to change how we see our world. With coverage of iconic fantasy texts and a focus on current works, the book engages with the shapeshifting figure in popular culture from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia.
Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.
Contents
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Foreword: Shapeshifters Know No Bounds (Gerry Turcotte)
Preface
Introduction
1. Dear Diary, I Become a Monster Once a Month: Shapeshifting and Adolescence
2. Wolf Boys and Wolf Girls: Shapeshifting and Gender Politics
3. Till Death Do Us Part and Beyond: Shapeshifting, Desire and Sexuality
4. The Alpha Race: Racial and Social Politics of Shapeshifting
5. Shapeshifting and the Body: Disability, Illness and Mental Health
6. Coping, Masking and Addiction: A Little Drinking Problem
7. What to Do with Eternity? Shapeshifting and Spirituality
Conclusion
Works Cited
Index
