Any publication that relies on multiple contributors tends to be uneven, and The Ashgate Encyclopedia of Literary and Cinematic Monsters is no exception. However, the strong contributions heavily outweigh the weak ones, which makes it a valuable resource. Editor Jeffrey Weinstock has collected a wide array of contributions on monsters both familiar and lesser known. In the end, its real strength lies on the literary side of the ledger, with the cinematic contributions not being up to the same standard.
The book's introduction, which begins with a reference to a classic Bugs Bunny cartoon, suggests that it will not be a formal approach to the topic. In fact, the introduction provides an interesting exploration of society's ongoing fascination with monsters. As Weinstock writes, “Monsters in short are inevitably the most interesting—and, one should add, threatening—of ‘people’ because they are ontological puzzles that demand solutions. They are things that should not...
