Of Men and Monsters: Jeffrey Dahmer and the Construction of the Serial Killer - Brossura

Tithecott, Richard

Brossura

ISBN 10: 0299156842 ISBN 13: 9780299156848

Casa editrice: Univ of Wisconsin Pr, 1998

Riassunto

Of Men and Monsters examines the serial killer as an American cultural icon, one that both attracts and repels. Richard Tithecott suggests that the stories we tell and the images we conjure of serial killers—real and fictional—reveal as much about mainstream culture and its values, desires, and anxieties as they do about the killers themselves.

Su questo libro

L'autore:

Richard Tithecott is an administrative director at the University of Southern California. He is coeditor of the Signet Classic edition of My Secret Life: An Erotic Diary of Victorian London.

Product Description:

Of Men and Monsters examines the serial killer as an American cultural icon, one that both attracts and repels. Richard Tithecott suggests that the stories we tell and the images we conjure of serial killers - real and fictional - reveal as much about mainstream culture and its values, desires, and anxieties as they do about the killers themselves. Why, for example, does Hannibal Lecter, though clearly dangerous, seem brilliant, even alluring, while his dark counterpart in Silence of the Lambs, Buffalo Bill, represents pure monstrosity? In a nation where murders occur every day, why do those we name "serial killers" seem so different, meriting a flood of public and media attention? Looking at how Jeffrey Dahmer's story was told - on the Geraldo talk show and CNN specials, in Washington Post editorials and People Weekly pictorials - Tithecott argues that the serial killer we construct for ourselves is a mythical figure in the contemporary world. Transcending boundaries between madness and sanity, civilization and savagery, the idea of the serial killer fulfills dreams of masculinity, purity, and violence.

Su questa edizione

• Editore: Univ of Wisconsin Pr
• Data di pubblicazione: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0299156842
• ISBN 13: 9780299156848
• Rilegatura: Copertina flessibile
• Numero di pagine: 208