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 worlds:
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.
