Tyranny of the Normal: Essays on Bioethics, Theology and Myth Book

"Fast approaching 80, Leslie Fielder continues to break fresh ground. These nine 'essays on bioethics, theology, and myth' cover such unexpected topics as child abuse, organ transplants, and our images of doctors, nurses, and the disabled. Fiedler addresses these topics through literature as well as popular culture. The chapter on organ transplant programs offers a brilliant reading of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.Throughout, Fiedler helps us see our present moment in mythic terms. Particularly memorable are two largely autobiographical chapters on aging and sexuality."
-Daniel Weiss, Virginia Quarterly Review

In his controversial bestseller FREAKS: MYTHS AND IMAGES OF THE SECRET SELF (1978), Leslie Fiedler explored the lives of the congenitally malformed. Drawing on his knowledge of literature and myth, Fielder unmasked society's ambivalent attitude toward the deformed which he found to be a perverse fascination with the "Other," as well as the fear that the "Other" actually mirrors the "Secret Self" embedded in the human psyche. In TYRANNY OF THE NORMAL: ESSAYS ON BIOETHICS, THEOLOGY AND MYTH, Fiedler resumes his examination of society's attitudes toward the abnormal from the perspective of bioethics.
-Magill Book Reviews