Robert Eisler (1882–1949)

This book took me what felt like forever and a day to finish.

I would have given this three stars, and happily, were it not for the format in which the book was published. The content of the book was, while at times outdated, enjoyable and thought-provoking. The subject of the book was also extremely interesting, and what drew me to it in the first place. While I was expecting an anthropological study of sadism, masochism, and lycanthropy (it was the thought of an anthropological study of lycanthropy that drew me to the book in the first place) what I got instead was really a study of violence in human society. Other reviewers have noted this, and though I was a bit disappointed, the content still made for an interesting enough read.

The format of the book was what killed it all for me. I can understand the author's wish to delve into more detail than the original essay went into (due to the fact the essay itself, a scant 53 pages, was originally a speech he delivered) but I felt that the manner in which he did this was poorly done. [a:Robert Eisler|495503|Robert Eisler|http://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66.jpg] would have done better to have put the content of the notes into the speech itself and thus create a full book with footnotes allowed for the linguistic oddities the notes seem to ramble on for ages. This would have made for easier reading, and altogether, a more comprehensive experience.

By placing the 200 pages worth of notes at the back, the avid reader is stuck flipping between the essay and the notes far too many times. It disrupts the flow of the essay itself and is altogether quite a confusing experience. Some pages have 20 notes on them, and the notes themselves take up over 30 pages at a time for the most part. While [a:Robert Eisler|495503|Robert Eisler|http://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66.jpg]'s enthusiasm for his topic is admirable, a certain amount of synthesis would do this publication good.

To be clear: I don't regret reading this book. Although outdated in portions, and a difficult text to get through for the formatting, it is one that offers up some interesting insights into the field of comparative mythologies before [a:Joseph Campbell|20105|Joseph Campbell|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1201938763p2/20105.jpg] arrived on the scene.. it also just raises up some interesting notions for any time period, and would serve a writer well for inspiration in general horror fiction if they are among the anthropologically inclined.… (meer)