El mito del hombre lobo

Popularized by the cinema, the legend of the werewolf has its roots in classical mythology and literature. There are references to lycanthropy in Gilgamesh, in Herodotus, Ovid, Petronius... The myth mutates over the centuries and noblemen appear transformed into wolves in the Middle Ages and later demonic lycanthropes appear. This book traces his presence in the folklore and popular tales of the Grimms and Perrault, in nineteenth-century horror literature, and in his various representations in the cinema (including the Waldemar Daninsky created and obsessively performed by Jacinto Molina -known as Paul Naschy- or the colorful incarnations of the lycanthrope in the Mexican horror cinema of the Golden Age). The werewolf is a character linked to the ideas of metamorphosis, transformation and duality, which explores animality, savagery and evil; a figure charged with sexuality, eroticism and desire, with multiple faces that also allow for multiple readings. This book approaches it from complementary angles -historical, cultural, psychoanalytic, anthropological- and reveals all its complexity and richness. Roger Bartra takes a hard look at it, with a brilliant mix of erudition and wit.