Publisher: McFarland
Release Date: March 5, 2015
Price: $35.00
Editor: Tara Prescott
Format: 272 pgs., Trade Paperback
ISBN: 978-0-7864-9477-4
Age Ratings: N/A
ICv2 Ratings: 4 Stars out of 5
Neil Gaiman in the 21st Century is a scholarly collection of essays covering the author's diverse portfolio of works published since the year 2000. As such, while its appeal is sure to catch the eyes of diehard Gaiman aficionados, the bulk of literary theory and textual criticism renders its usefulness more for academics and librarians.
Organized into nineteen essays, this broad collection surveys Gaiman's American Gods, The Wolves in the Walls, Blueberry Girl, Anansi Boys, The Graveyard Book, Doctor Who, The Ocean at the End of the Lane, A Calendar of Tales, and Sandman: Overture. While the majority of the essays are literary criticism, the collection also includes an interview with Gaiman's collaborator on Sandman: Overture, J.H. Williams III, as well as a retrospective essay by fellow comics scribe Judd Winick.
The first two essays focus on 2001's American Gods. Where Jenn Anya Prosser's "The American Odyssey" utilizes the mythic hero quest of Joseph Campbell to compare and contrast Gaiman's work to the class tale of Homer's Odyssey, Michael B. Key opts instead for the theories of Jacques Derrida on freeplay and the destruction of constructed centers. For fans of Gaiman's comic work, Renata Lucena Dalmaso's "Towards a Feminist Reading of Gaiman's Picture Books" is fascinating for its critique of narrative structure particularly in the formation of text and visuals. Laura-Marie von Czarnowsky moves the analysis to fatherhood in her evaluation of Anansi Boys, while Danielle Russell examines the novel's connections to Zora Neale Hurston's 1937 classic book. From Anansi Boys attention turns next to The Graveyard Book and essays by Jennifer McStotts and Margaret Seyford Hrezo look at Gaiman's debt to Rudyard Kipling. After a brief stop on Gaiman's two Doctor Who episodes by Emily Capettini, the focus shifts to several essays on Gaiman's The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Monica Miller, Rebecca Long, Andrew Eichel, Yaeri Kim, and Courtney Landis.
One of the more fascinating essays in the book is Merideth Garcia's examination of Gaiman's collaborative, online project A Calendar of Tales. This works well alongside the final three critiques of Sandman: Overture. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the J.H. Williams III interview and the essay by Winick. Anybody expecting the same scholarly engagement with Williams apparent in the other essays will be disappointed as it reads as most artist interviews do.
Educators will benefit most from this collection. Language Arts teachers and literary scholars who teach Gaiman now have a solid critical resource on the author at hand as well as model for where Gaiman studies still needs to go.
--Nathan Wilson