Description
Book Synopsistwilight and Philosophy
What can vampires tell us about the meaning of life?
Is Edward a romantic hero or a dangerous stalker?
Is Bella a feminist? Is Stephenie Meyer?
How does Stephenie Meyer's Mormonism fit into the fantastical world of Twilight?
Is Jacob better for Bella than Edward?
The answers to these philosophical questions and more can be found inside Twilight and Philosophy: Vampires, Vegetarians, and the Pursuit of Immortality. With everything from Taoism to mind reading to the place of God in a world of vampires, this book offers some very tasty philosophy for both the living and the undead to sink their teeth into. Whether you're on Team Edward or Team Jacob, whether you loved or hated Breaking Dawn, this book is for you!
To learn more about the Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture series, visit www.andphilosophy.com
Table of Contents
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: Supernatural Humans
We Can’t Live Without xi
Introduction: Undead Wisdom 1
PART ONE TWILIGHT
1 You Look Good Enough to Eat: Love, Madness, and the Food Analogy 7
George A. Dunn
2 Dying to Eat: The Vegetarian Ethics of Twilight 25
Jean Kazez
3 Can a Vampire Be a Person? 39
Nicolas Michaud
4 Carlisle: More Compassionate Than a Speeding Bullet? 49
Andrew Terjesen and Jenny Terjesen
PART TWO NEW MOON
5 Vampire-Dämmerung: What Can Twilight Tell Us about God? 63
Peter S. Fosl and Eli Fosl
6 To Bite or Not to Bite: Twilight, Immortality, and the Meaning of Life 79
Brendan Shea
7 Mind Reading and Morality: The Moral Hazards of Being Edward 93
Eric Silverman
8 Love and Authority among Wolves 107
Sara Worley
PART THREE ECLIPSE
9 Bella Swan and Sarah Palin: All the Old Myths Are Not True 121
Naomi Zack
10 Vampire Love: The Second Sex Negotiates the Twenty-first Century 131
Bonnie Mann
11 Edward Cullen and Bella Swan: Byronic and Feminist Heroes . . . or Not 147
Abigail E. Myers
12 Undead Patriarchy and the Possibility of Love 163
Leah McClimans and J. Jeremy Wisnewski
13 The “Real” Danger: Fact vs. Fiction for the Girl Audience 177
Rebecca Housel
PART FOUR BREAKING DAWN
14 Twilight of an Idol: Our Fatal Attraction to Vampires 193
Jennifer L. McMahon
15 Bella’s Vampire Semiotics 209
Dennis Knepp
16 Space, Time, and Vampire Ontology 219
Philip Puszczalowski
17 For the Strength of Bella? Meyer, Vampires, and Mormonism 227
Marc E. Shaw
18 The Tao of Jacob 237
Rebecca Housel
CONTRIBUTORS: Ladies and Gentlemen, Introducing the Stars of Our Show, Humans, Vampires, and Shape-Shifters Alike 247
INDEX: For Those Who Can’t Read Minds 253
