Conan Meets the Academy
Conan Meets the Academy

Author: Jonas Prida

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2012-12-04

Total Pages: 225

ISBN-13: 0786461527

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Robert E. Howard penned a series of fantasy stories in 1932 featuring Conan, a hulking warrior from "Cimmeria" who roamed the mythical Hyborian Age landscape engaging in heroic adventures. More than the quirky manifestation of Depression-era magazines, Conan the Barbarian has endured as a cultural mainstay for over 70 years. This multidisciplinary collection offers the first scholarly investigation of Conan, from Howard's early stories, through midcentury novels and Arnold Schwarzenegger's iconic films, to the 2011 cinematic remake of Conan the Barbarian. Drawing on disciplines such as stylometry, archeology, cultural and folklore studies and literary history, the essays examine statistical analyses of the words in Conan texts, the literary genesis of Conan, later-day parodies, Conan video games, and much more. This volume reveals the hidden scholarly depth of this seemingly unsophisticated fictional character.

Marvel Comics into Film
Marvel Comics into Film

Author: Matthew J. McEniry

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2016-04-13

Total Pages: 281

ISBN-13: 0786443049

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Marvel Studios' approach to its Cinematic Universe--beginning with the release of Iron Man (2008)--has become the template for successful management of blockbuster film properties. Yet films featuring Marvel characters can be traced back to the 1940s, when the Captain America serial first appeared on the screen. This collection of new essays is the first to explore the historical, textual and cultural context of the larger cinematic Marvel universe, including serials, animated films, television movies, non-U.S. versions of Marvel characters, films that feature characters licensed by Marvel, and the contemporary Cinematic Universe as conceived by Kevin Feige and Marvel Studios. Films analyzed include Transformers (1986), Howard the Duck (1986), Blade (1998), Planet Hulk (2010), Iron Man: Rise of Technovore (2013), Elektra (2005), the Conan the Barbarian franchise (1982-1990), Ultimate Avengers (2006) and Ghost Rider (2007).

Terry Pratchett's Ethical Worlds
Terry Pratchett's Ethical Worlds

Author: Kristin Noone

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2020-08-09

Total Pages: 156

ISBN-13: 1476674493

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Terry Pratchett's writing celebrates the possibilities opened up by inventiveness and imagination. It constructs an ethical stance that values informed and self-aware choices, knowledge of the world in which one makes those choices, the importance of play and humor in crafting a compassionate worldview, and acts of continuous self-examination and creation. This collection of essays uses inventiveness and creation as a thematic core to combine normally disparate themes, such as science fiction studies, the effect of collaborative writing and shared authorship, steampunk aesthetics, productive modes of "ownership," intertextuality, neomedievalism and colonialism, adaptations into other media, linguistics and rhetorics, and coming of age as an act of free will.

Absent Mothers
Absent Mothers

Author: Frances Greenslade

Publisher: Demeter Press

Published: 2017-09-01

Total Pages: 136

ISBN-13: 1772581267

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Missing, dead, disappeared, or otherwise absent mothers haunt us and the stories we tell ourselves. Our literature, from fairytales like Cinderella and The Little Mermaid to popular narratives like Cheryl Strayed's recent book Wild, is peopled with motherless children. The absent mother, whether in literature or life, may force us to forge an independent identity. But she can also leave a mother-shaped hole and a howling loneliness that dogs us through our adult lives. This anthology explores the theme of absent mothers from scholars and creative writers, who tell personal stories and provide the theoretical framework to recognize and begin to understand the impact of motherlessness that ripples through our cultures and our art.

The Barbaric Triumph
The Barbaric Triumph

Author: Don Herron

Publisher: Wildside Press LLC

Published: 2004-06-01

Total Pages: 226

ISBN-13: 0809515679

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The Barbaric Triumph examines all aspects of the life and work of Robert E. Howard -- the originator of the sword-&-sorcery antasy genre and the creator of Conan the Barbarian. Featured are essays by Leo Grin, Edwrad A. Waterman, Charles Hoffman, Paul Spencer, Mark Finn, Steven R. Trout, Lauric Guillaud, Scott Connors, George Knight, Don Herron, and more. From the phantoms of Hate simmering beneath Howard's blood-drenched prose to Howard's lifelong interest in philosophy, from Howard's visionary use of the American Frontier Myth to his tales of boxing, The Barbaric Triumph builds on the pioneering research of Heron's previous book on Howard, The Dark Barbarian and takes it to new levels.

Undead in the West II
Undead in the West II

Author: Cynthia J. Miller

Publisher: Scarecrow Press

Published: 2013-10-18

Total Pages: 387

ISBN-13: 0810892650

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The undead are back! In Undead in the West: Vampires, Zombies, Mummies, and Ghosts on the Cinematic Frontier, Cynthia J. Miller and A. Bowdoin Van Riper assembled a collection of essays that explored the unique intersection of two seemingly distinct genres in cinema: the western and the horror film. In this new volume, Undead in the West II: They Just Keep Coming, Miller and Van Riper expand their examination of undead Westerns to include not only film, but literature, sequential art, gaming, and fan culture (fan fiction, blogging, fan editing, and zombie walks). These essays run the gamut from comics and graphic novels such as American Vampire, Preacher, and Priest, and games like Darkwatch and Red Dead Redemption, to novels and short stories by celebrated writers including Robert E. Howard, Joe R. Lansdale, and Stephen King. Featuring a foreword by renowned science fiction author William F. Nolan (Logan’s Run) and an afterword by acclaimed game designer Paul O’Connor (Darkwatch), this collection will appeal to scholars of literature, gaming, and popular culture, as well as to fans of this unique hybrid.

The Philosophy of Conan the Barbarian
The Philosophy of Conan the Barbarian

Author:

Publisher: Independently Published

Published: 2020-06-12

Total Pages: 210

ISBN-13:

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This is already a cult book in certain circles. Although it's aimed at the average reader, it contains something characteristic of turning points in the history of philosophy. Like ancient Greek (Socrates) and modern philosophy (Descartes), Serbian contemporary philosophy gets its demon too. Apart from the appearance of the Daemon as the inspirer of this book, the theme itself is unusual. In fact, this work is like a multiple personality connected by a single thread that can be followed throughout the book - the theme of barbarians. The book deals with philosophical topics covered in the cult film Conan the Barbarian. Those are the ideas of Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, Hegel, which are presented in an artistically remarkably successful way by famous American director John Milius. The philosophical views presented in the film, when it comes to eternal life and philosophical issues are complemented by the author's attempt to synthesize Kant's ethical formalism and Nietzsche's dualistic immoralism. Like a real treat, the theory of human sexuality as the cause of barbarian invasions is left for the end. But we don't know whether this intriguing theory is a step back or forward for the civilization. Does a civilized man have to look up to Nietzsche's ideal of "overman" in order to avoid being replaced by a barbarian? It's perhaps the best to read this book and judge for yourself.

Speculative Modernism
Speculative Modernism

Author: William Gillard

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2021-10-21

Total Pages: 254

ISBN-13: 1476683336

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Speculative modernists--that is, British and American writers of science fiction, fantasy and horror during the late 19th and early 20th centuries--successfully grappled with the same forces that would drive their better-known literary counterparts to existential despair. Building on the ideas of the 19th-century Gothic and utopian movements, these speculative writers anticipated literary Modernism and blazed alternative literary trails in science, religion, ecology and sociology. Such authors as H.G. Wells and H.P. Lovecraft gained widespread recognition--budding from them, other speculative authors published fascinating tales of individuals trapped in dystopias, of anti-society attitudes, post-apocalyptic worlds and the rapidly expanding knowledge of the limitless universe. This book documents the Gothic and utopian roots of speculative fiction and explores how these authors played a crucial role in shaping the culture of the new century with their darker, more evolved themes.

The Unique Legacy of Weird Tales
The Unique Legacy of Weird Tales

Author: Justin Everett

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2015-10-01

Total Pages: 267

ISBN-13: 1442256222

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When the pulp magazine Weird Tales appeared on newsstands in 1923, it proved to be a pivotal moment in the evolution of speculative fiction. Living up to its nickname, “The Unique Magazine,” Weird Tales provided the first real venue for authors writing in the nascent genres of fantasy, horror, and science fiction. Weird fiction pioneers such as H. P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, Clark Ashton Smith, Robert Bloch, Catherine L. Moore, and many others honed their craft in the pages of Weird Tales in the 1920s and 1930s, and their work had a tremendous influence on later generations of genre authors. In The Unique Legacy of Weird Tales: The Evolution of Modern Fantasy and Horror, Justin Everett and Jeffrey Shanks have assembled an impressive collection of essays that explore many of the themes critical to understanding the importance of the magazine. This multi-disciplinary collection from a wide array of scholars looks at how Weird Tales served as a locus of genre formation and literary discourse community. There are also chapters devoted to individual authors—including Lovecraft, Howard, and Bloch—and their particular contributions to the magazine. As the literary world was undergoing a revolution and mass-produced media began to dwarf high-brow literature in social significance, Weird Tales managed to straddle both worlds. This collection of essays explores the important role the magazine played in expanding the literary landscape at a very particular time and place in American culture. The Unique Legacy of Weird Tales will appeal to scholars and aficionados of fantasy, horror, and weird fiction and those interested in the early roots of these popular genres.