Twenty-two selected werewolf tales offer an unprecedented look at the mystique of the werewolf in relation to human behavior and varied aspects of the human psyche.
Here is a werewolf anthology that uncovers new terrain. Its stories span centuries. Its storytellers, from Stephen King to Saki, de Maupassant to Kipling, Seabury Quinn to Ovid, are eclectic. Its premise delves deeper into its subject than previous, often sensational, collections.
The Literary Werewolf is arranged into ten story groups based on like human needs for animal transformation. Within its pages waits the werewolf who is Erotic . . . Rapacious . . . Supernatural . . . Victimized . . . Avenging . . . Guilty . . . Unabsolved . . . and Voluntary. Each cluster of tales provides unique insights into varied aspects of the human psyche by examining psychological, physical, moral, spiritual, medical, supernatural, and philosophical facets of human/werewolf transmut11tion. Thus, the author sheds spellbinding light on murky impulses lurking beneath the surface of human consciousness.
Charlotte F. Otten is professor emerita of English at Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Michigan. She is the author of A Lycanthropy Reader: Werewolves in Western Culture, also published by Syracuse University Press.
