Neil Gaiman and Philosophy: Gods Gone Wild!

Popular Culture and Philosophy #66

by Tracy L. Bealer (Editor), Rachel Luria (Editor), Wayne Yuen (Editor)

Neil Gaiman is the imaginative wizard behind the best-selling novels American Gods (soon to be an HBO series) and The Anansi Boys , the graphic series The Sandman , and popular children’s books like Coraline and The Graveyard Book .
Neil Gaiman and Philosophy looks at Gaiman’s work through a philosophical lens. How does fantasy interact with reality and what can each tell us about the other? Do we each have other selves who embody different personal qualities? If the unknown influences the known, is the unknown just as real as the known? What makes people truly valuable?

In Neil Gaiman and Philosophy , eighteen philosophers explore Gaiman’s best-loved and unforgettable

The Graveyard Book , a macabre parallel to The Jungle Book , in which the boy Bod is raised by the supernatural inhabitants of a graveyard.
Coraline , in which a girl neglected by her parents finds another world with an Other Mother who pays her a lot of attention, but then turns out to be evil and won’t let her go.
Neverwhere , in which a London man discovers a magical parallel city, London Below.
The Sandman , best-selling comic books in which the Lord of Dreams attempts to rebuild his kingdom after years of imprisonment.
Good Omens (with Terry Pratchett) treats biblical prophecy, the Antichrist, and the End Times as a hilarious comic tale, filled with sly but good-humored twists and turns.
MirrorMask , where a young circus girl finds that the pictures she has drawn have given her access to a fantastic world of light and shadow, populated with characters who have designs on her.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Biography, Pop Culture

208 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2012

Reviews

[Leo]

Trying a bit too hard to be "serious" academic work and falling a bit too short at it. Probably interesting to some, the essays tend to focus on a singular work of Gaiman each and analyse aspects of it under specific philosophical schools. Not at all what I expected and to be frank not at all what I needed, but that's neither here nor there. Perhaps more interesting to some people with a more surface-level understanding of or less practice in literary analysis.

[Marsha]

Neil Gaiman’s stories are disturbing little slices of fantasy, verging almost on their own myth and lore. He takes recognizable figures and twists them according to the needs of his writing. However, there are is more going on than mere storytelling.

In this anthology of essays, various authors and pundits probe the interior workings of Gaiman’s tales, showing us the intricate ways they reflect on soul, psyche, fate and self. They each make valid and thought-provoking points. However, I found that two of the essays were so esoteric and convoluted as to make little sense to the layperson. They mention Gaiman’s work then veer off into theories about mathematics and arguments by rival philosophers, theories so complex as to baffle the reader and make you wonder what Gaiman has to do with any of it.

Except for these two chapters, the rest of the essays are excellent fodders for discussion and cogitation. This is a volume that will be highly appealing to Gaiman fans, since we knew all along that there’s more going on than gods behaving badly.

[Mert]

2/5 Stars (%36/100)

From the entire book, I think I only highlighted 2 or 3 sentences. This is only to emphasize that the book was not very useful for me (for my thesis argument). Clear from the title, the book is a collection of essays that compare and contrast Gaiman's works and philosophy, mostly Greek. The essays on American Gods were quite nice but the others are big meh, especially about The Graveyard Book. Overall, I found the book tedious and not fun to read. It is not for me but it might be for you, give it a go I guess.

[Deb]

I love Neil Gaiman, one of my favorite writers. Sandman had me in tears at the end. I expected Neil's philosophies and instead got someone else's thoughts (a little pretentious to my mind) on why/how he writes characters and plots. I started with American Gods and was disappointed so didn't even check out any more of their essays on Neil's books. Disappointing but on to Philip Roth's Nemesis about the 1944 polio outbreak - now that should life my spirits.

[verbava]

як і більшість схожих книжок, збірник доволі нерівний: так, філософією можна займатися про що завгодно, але в когось це виходить ліпше, а в когось – гірше.

[Bobb Waller]

Once again a mixture of short sections looking at various ways Neil Gaiman's how work reflect the world we live in today. Like all the "the Philosophy" books the articles are hit and miss but all worth a read.

[Wayne]

I co-edited this book! :)

[Jutta]

i keep reading these philosophy books and keep being disappointed. i get that they have to tie philosophy to the essays, but it gets boring after a while.

[mysilicielka]

Swego czasu były bardzo popularne książki z rodzaju „coś-popularnego i filozofia”. To była taka jawna pułapka na fanów, bo kto nie skusi się na coś nowego z ulubionej serii, ale też otwarte wnyki dla sceptyków/hejterów (ten głupkowaty film o wampirach może mieć w sobie jakąś FILOZOFIĘ? Niemożliwe! Sprawdźmy to). Prawda jest taka, że nieważne, po jaką historię sięgniemy, zawsze znajdzie się jakaś myśl filozoficzna, którą uda się do tego dopasować. Czy to znaczy, że wielcy autorzy inspirowali się np. Arystotelesem wymyślając przygody swoich bohaterów? Wątpię. Mogło tak być, mogło tak nie być, a mogli to zrobić nieświadomie, bo wszyscy jesteśmy ludźmi i nasze mózgi pracują w podobny sposób od tysięcy lat.

W dużym skrócie, staram się powiedzieć, że uważam pomysł na tę filozoficzną serię za mocno naciągany. Niemniej, większość rozdziałów „Neil Gaiman i filozofia” czytało mi się dobrze traktując je po prostu jako analizy dzieł tego autora. Wtrącenia w stylu „aha, i właśnie tak samo twierdził Nietzsche!” spychałam na dalszy plan. Na pewno udało mi się lepiej docenić „Koralinę”, bo wypunktowano ważne szczegóły, na które wcześniej nie zwróciłam większej uwagi. Także lepiej zrozumiałam „Księgę cmentarną”. Mocno zaskoczył i zaciekawił mnie rozdział o Batmanie, ale to dlatego, że nie wiedziałam nawet o istnieniu takiego komiksu. U „Amerykańskich bogów” bez zmian, the best of the best.

Polecam jako ciekawostkę. Niektóre rozdziały są lepsze, inne wydają się tworzone w męczarniach. Z przymrużeniem oka da się czytać.

[Amber]

Read half of it to get a vibe for Pop Culture and Philosophy books. Was expecting essays, but it was more lessons of philosophy. Definitely interesting, and easy to read. Spoilers abound, so I'd rather finish reading his books first. Even if you know philosophy, fantastic as a refresher

[Edward Correa]

3.5
Muy interesante análisis de personajes, historias y, particularmente temas, en la bibliografía de Gaiman. De cómo algunas narrativas recurrentes tienen su razón de ser cuando las empatamos con grandes filósofos de la historia.

[The_J]

Sandman and American Gods solid, but the Graveyard pieces dragged.

[Bookshire Cat]

Zklamani, docteno do 40 % a odlozeno.