Fabulous Monsters: Dracula, Alice, Superman, and Other Literary Friends

by Alberto Manguel

Overview

An original look at how literary characters can transcend their books to guide our lives, by one of the world's most eminent bibliophiles

Alberto Manguel, in a style both charming and erudite, examines how literary characters live with us from childhood on. Throughout the years, they change their identities and emerge from behind their stories to teach us about the complexities of love, loss, and the world itself. Manguel’s favorite characters include Jim from Huckleberry Finn, Phoebe from The Catcher in the Rye, Job and Jonah from the Bible, Little Red Riding Hood and Captain Nemo, Hamlet’s mother, and Dr. Frankenstein’s maligned Monster. Sharing his unique powers as a reader, Manguel encourages us to establish our own literary relationships. An intimate preface and Manguel’s own “doodles” complete this delightful and magical book.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780300247381
Publisher:	Yale University Press
Publication date:	09/24/2019
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	1,212,063
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 7.80(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Alberto Manguel is a writer, translator, editor, and critic, but would rather define himself as a reader. His previous books include The Library at Night and Packing My Library.

Table of Contents

Preface ix

Monsieur Bovary 1

Little Red Riding Hood 5

Dracula 11

Alice 15

Faust 23

Gertrude 27

Superman 33

Don Juan 39

Lilith 43

The Wandering Jew 49

Sleeping Beauty 53

Phoebe 59

Hsing-chen 65

Jim 71

The Chimera 79

Robinson Crusoe 85

Queequeg 93

Tyrant Banderas 99

Cide Hamete Benegeli 107

Job 117

Quasimodo 123

Casaubon 129

Satan 137

The Hippogriff 143

Captain Nemo 147

Frankenstein's Monster 153

Sandy 159

Jonah 165

Dona Emilia 179

The Wendigo 183

Heidi's Grandfather 187

Clever Elsie 191

Long John Silver 195

Karagöz and Hacivat 201

Émile 207

Sinbad 213

Wakefield 217

Sources 223

Acknowledgments 229

Credits 230

Editorial Reviews

07/22/2019

Translator and critic Manguel (Packing My Library) expounds with thoughtfulness and humor on the lessons learned from some of his favorite literary characters in this insight-rich collection. “Fictional characters at their best often seem more alive than our friends of solid flesh,” he reflects. Each short profile searches for the essence of a particular character, the bigger questions that they embody, and what they offer readers. Faust raises the question of what souls are worth in a time when the desired trade is for money or fame. Robinson Crusoe provides a sharp lesson in inequality and domination. Alice, of Wonderland fame, prompts a discussion of confronting madness with reason, and yet also finding reason in the madness. (The title of the volume itself comes from Through the Looking-Glass, namely the scene in which Alice and a unicorn agree to believe in each other.) Reflecting Manguel’s far-flung interests, his subjects come from a wide variety of sources—novels, fairy tales, biblical stories, mythology—and also include Job, Lilith, Little Red Riding Hood, Quasimodo, and Sinbad. Though the profiles vary in success, the idea behind them is meaningful and powerful, and Manguel’s whimsical illustrations add a charming note to an already winning assemblage. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

Dotted with droll little drawings by the author, Fabulous Monsters invites us to recall the intriguing, often tangential characters that we’ve met in literature and that, in certain cases, have accompanied us on life’s journey. . . . Readers will be glad to have revisited old acquaintances (Queequeg or Job) and shaken hands again with those (Heidi’s grandfather or Long John Silver) they may not know well.’—Meghan Cox Gurdon, Wall Street Journal

“A charming and essential book.”—Greg Garrett, Spectator

“In art and words, a book lover honors the characters he can’t forget.”—New York Times Book Review

“Manguel expounds with thoughtfulness and humor on the lessons learned from some of his favorite literary characters in this insight-rich collection.”—Publishers Weekly

“Bibliophiles cheer anytime Alberto Manguel . . . releases something new. His latest, Fabulous Monsters: Dracula, Alice, Superman, and Other Literary Friends, is yet another occasion for celebration.”—Fine Books & Collections

“It is in lifting these characters, small and large, beyond their original (con)text(s), and suggesting and showing connections over time and other works, . . . that Fabulous Monsters is such an entertaining work. . . . A fascinating reader’s-companion, with considerable food for thought.”—M. A. Orthofer, The Complete Review

“Translator and critic Manguel expounds with thoughtfulness and humor on the lessons learned from some of his favorite literary characters in this insight-rich collection. ‘Fictional characters at their best often seem more alive than our friends of solid flesh,’ he reflects. . . . Manguel’s whimsical illustrations add a charming note to an already winning assemblage.”—Publishers Weekly

“In Fabulous Monsters, Alberto Manguel argues that imaginary characters portray our own lives. Yes, we say, this is how we are, this is what we do to one another, this is true. That, perhaps, is where literature can help most.”—Salman Rushdie

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