Imaginary Animals

Imaginary Animals
Author :
Publisher : Reaktion Books
Total Pages : 280
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781780232133
ISBN-13 : 1780232136
Rating : 4/5 (33 Downloads)

Book Synopsis Imaginary Animals by : Boria Sax

Download or read book Imaginary Animals written by Boria Sax and published by Reaktion Books. This book was released on 2013-11-15 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An extraordinary menagerie of fantastical and unreal beasts featuring hundreds of illustrations, from griffins to dog-men, mermaids, dragons, unicorns, and yetis. Fire-breathing dragons, beautiful mermaids, majestic unicorns, terrifying three-headed dogs—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 universes—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. 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 psychologically—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. Featuring over 230 illustrations of a veritable menagerie of fantastical and unreal beasts, Imaginary Animals is a feast for the eyes and the imagination.


Imaginary Animals Related Books

Imaginary Animals
Language: en
Pages: 280
Authors: Boria Sax
Categories: Social Science
Type: BOOK - Published: 2013-11-15 - Publisher: Reaktion Books

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

An extraordinary menagerie of fantastical and unreal beasts featuring hundreds of illustrations, from griffins to dog-men, mermaids, dragons, unicorns, and yeti
The Imaginary of Animals
Language: en
Pages: 256
Authors: Annabelle Dufourcq
Categories: Science
Type: BOOK - Published: 2021-07-30 - Publisher: Routledge

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book explores the phenomenon of animal imagination and its profound power over the human imagination. It examines the structural and ethical role that the
The Great Book of the Imaginary Animal Kingdom
Language: en
Pages: 68
Authors: Beto Valencia Cevallos
Categories:
Type: BOOK - Published: 2021-02-22 - Publisher:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

What if nature had created animals that are different from those that exist? An elephant tortoise, a butterfly monkey, a squid giraffe ... How fun would the ani
Imaginary Animals
Language: en
Pages: 118
Authors: Charles Sullivan
Categories: Art
Type: BOOK - Published: 1996-09 - Publisher:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Introduces poetry and art through the themes of animals and beasts in this selection of over eighty poems juxtaposed with illustrations.
Principles of Creature Design
Language: en
Pages: 0
Authors: Terryl Whitlatch
Categories: Anatomy, Artistic
Type: BOOK - Published: 2015 - Publisher:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

"Designing a captivating creature simply for it to exist against a white background and going no further is a purely academic exercise. Designing a creature tha