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Serial Killers: Real and Imagined

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About this listen

Monster stories aren’t just meant to entertain. They’re meant to inform, even educate. Above all, they ask us to question our own humanity. Nowhere is this truer than in stories of serial killers. What are the origins of this monstrous archetype? Why are we so fascinated with such gruesome terror? What do they reveal about our fears and anxieties?

Explore these and other questions in Serial Killers: Real and Imagined, where public scholar Emily Zarka looks at the serial-killer trope across history, from murky 17th-century legends to 21st-century true-crime obsessions. Using an in-depth analysis of pop-culture texts, she offers various constructions of the serial killer as threat, as cautionary tale, and even as celebrity. You’ll explore why serial murderers become famous, how they’ve been captured (and have eluded justice), their prominent role in film and television, and how the dangerous blending of fact and fiction contributes to our real-world understanding of serial killers as monstrous—almost supernatural—figures.

Stories, Emily believes, are integral to our humanity. And as you’ll discover in this fascinating Audible Original, so are stories pulled from some of the darkest corners of the human psyche.

©2024 Audible Originals, LLC (P)2024 Audible Originals, LLC. Murder True Crime Funny
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A nice listen that fits between audiobook and podcast. The narrator clearly knows her subject, her passion for it came across I was entertained but learnt a lot too.

Loving theses Audible originals

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Not long enough! Well reserved and covers such interesting ideas that I really wanted more. Examines the ideas of how the public view serial killers and 'monsters', both real and fictional. Stimulates thinking around questions of why we're so intrigued by horror.

Fascinating Insights

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This was interesting, although no new information or perspective.
Lost me when she referred to Wuthering Heights being written by Charlotte rather than Emily Brontë.

Obvious Mistakes

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From xviii century to today a analisis on how we perceive serial murders and what that says about us and our society today

Short but really enjoyable

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Some interesting insights into dark fiction, the obsession with true crime, etc. If you are at all interested in these subjects, this is worth a listen.

Interesting lectures

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