Wolves at the Door: Migration, Dehumanization, Rewilding the World - Hardcover

Dr. Peter Arnds

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1501366769 ISBN 13: 9781501366765

Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic USA, 2021

Synopsis

In view of the current rhetoric surrounding the global migrant crisis with politicians comparing refugees with animals and media reports warning of migrants swarming like insects or trespassing like wolves this timely study explores the cultural origins of the language and imagery of dehumanization.

Situated at the junction of literature, politics, and ecocriticism, Wolves at the Door traces the history of the wolf metaphor in discussions of race, gender, colonialism, fascism, and ecology. How have Gypsies , Jews, Native Americans but also wayward women been wolfed in literature and politics? How has the wolf myth been exploited by Hitler, Mussolini and Turkish ultra-nationalism? How do right-wing politicians today exploit the reappearance of wolves in Central Europe in the context of the migration discourse? And while their reintroduction in places like Yellowstone has fuelled heated debates, what is the wolf s role in ecological rewilding and for the restoration of biodiversity?

In today s fraught political climate, Wolves at the Door alerts readers to the links between stereotypical images, their cultural history, and their political consequences. It raises awareness about xenophobia and the dangers of nationalist idolatry, but also highlights how literature and the visual arts employ the wolf myth for alternative messages of tolerance and cultural diversity.

About this title

About the Author

Peter Arnds is a Fellow and the Director of the Comparative Literature programme at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. Elected into the Academia Europaea in 2018, he has published books on Gunter Grass, Dickens, Lycanthropy, Holocaust Literature and is the author of Searching for Alice (2019). His literary translation of P. Bolthauser's 'Rapids' was longlisted for the 2016 IMPAC Prize.

Edition details

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic USA
• Publication date: 2021
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1501366769
• ISBN 13: 9781501366765
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 232