This book presents a cultural history of Promethean Horror in the modern age, tracing the rise of a sub-genre of gothic fiction in the twentieth-century and examining post-modern revisions of Modernist “Promethean” tropes in an eclectic range of gothic, fantasy and SF writing.

1 The modern Prometheus: A brief introduction to the horror of Enlightenment2 Architects of the Occult: London’s alternative “gothic” tradition3 Gorillas in the House of Light: Inter-war Modernism as crisis management at London Zoo4 Orc-talk: Spectres of Marx in Tolkien’s Middle-Earth5 Pandora’s box: The insidious appeal of the Brutalist dystopia 6 The Mechanical Turk: Enduring misapprehensions concerning artificial intelligence 7 The Promethean Altar: Prospects of atonement in twenty-first century science fictionSelect bibliographyIndex

A book of monsters presents a cultural history of Promethean Horror in the modern age. Beginning with Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, this book explores imaginative literature that exploits popular fears relating, not to a 'Gothic' darkness, but to a scientific Enlightenment. Revealing why it is that Modernism has in turn become imbued with the uncanny, the chapters consider an eclectic range of cultural material including psycho-geographical fiction by Iain Sinclair and Alan Moore, the fantasies of J.R.R. Tolkien, Gorilla horror movies, anxieties relating to Artificial Intelligence in science fiction and philosophy of science, and popular debates surrounding the legacies of post-war Brutalist architecture, in a subgenre of the dystopia that is specifically anti-Keynesian. Building on post-humanist philosophy and engaging with recent debates, A book of monsters attempts to place urgent theoretical controversies in a historical context, making connections with issues in architecture, linguistics, economics and cultural geography. In doing so, the book presents a compelling and comprehensive overview on the West’s collective 'dream-work' in those decades since the dreams of the nineteenth century were realised in Modernism – tracing the inception and outlining the consequences of literary fantasies.