Eating the Rude: Hannibal Lecter and the Fannibals, Criminals, and Legacy of America’s Favorite Cannibal

Contact: hannibalscholars@gmail.com

Editors: Kyle Moody, Ph.D. and Nicholas Yanes, Ph.D.
Publisher: McFarland Press

Deadline for Abstracts: March 18, 2016

Description of the Book:

When Thomas Harris’ Red Dragon was released in 1981, the literary community quickly became enraptured by its cannibal antagonist, Dr. Hannibal Lecter. Popular interest in “Hannibal the Cannibal” would only increase with the release of 1988’s The Silence of the Lambs and the 1991 movie adaptation starring Anthony Hopkins as Lecter. After several sequels were produced live action adaptations of Harris’ Hannibal books were stopped until 2013, when NBC took a chance and approved of a Hannibal Lecter TV series to be created by Pushing Daisies creator Bryan Fuller.

Loosely defined as a prequel, the series Hannibal focused on Dr. Hannibal Lecter’s relationship with FBI Special Investigator Will Graham. With unique visualizations, off-kilter music, character reimaginings that changed race and gender, food culture, and several story arcs that addressed LGBTQ themes in a specific and idiosyncratic manner, Hannibal was a critically acclaimed show that is begging to be analyzed by scholars of all types.

Expectations for Proposals and Essays:
Ideal proposals focusing on any aspect of Hannibal texts from any period will contain a clear thesis, an abstract which is two to three paragraphs long and a list of potential sources. Essays need to be MLA formatted – parenthetical citations, not footnotes. And it is up to the author(s) to get permission to reprint copyrighted material. Though this should go without saying, we will not accept work that is plagiarized or that has been published elsewhere.