Dangerous fictions : the fear of fantasy and the invention of reality / Lyta Gold.

Includes bibliographical references.

Introduction: Moral panics old and new -- Get a load of these crazy broads -- The victory of the nerds -- Stop making fun of our Übermenschen!!! -- Fear of a red literature -- The gentleman's club effect -- The enemy of my enemy is- -- The dramatic condition -- How to blow up reality.

"Fictional stories have long been imagined to hold an uncanny power over hearts and minds. These days, everybody frets about fiction: according to the National Coalition Against Censorship, the current wave of book bans is the worst since the 1980s, and our cultural debates are consumed by questions about the politics and moral responsibility of storytelling. Can readers and viewers, at any age, be harmed by what they read and see? In Dangerous Fictions, Lyta Gold traces arguments both historical and contemporary that have labeled fiction as dark, immoral, frightening, or poisonous; within each she asks, how "dangerous" is fiction, really? And what about it provokes waves of moral panic and even censorship?"-- Provided by publisher.