The Butterfly Who Dreamt He Was a Man: Metamorphoses, Entomological and Human
By Boria Sax. Reaktion Books, 2025.
From ancient fables to modern science, insects and their metamorphoses have long inspired human understanding of life’s transitions. This original and engaging book traces how these transformations have shaped rituals around birth, marriage, and death, while also provoking deep questions about identity. Through stories that connect Zhuang Zhou’s butterfly dream to figures like Kafka, Merian, and Dürer, it explores the strange, beautiful, and sometimes unsettling ways cultures have understood insects—as miracles, messengers, or monsters. Blending humor, history, and ...