This collection of eighteen essays explores the meanings and depictions of beauty and the abject in art (from Renaissance portraiture to the canvasses of Salvador Dali), photography and the representation of the body, film (from the horror genre and gay/lesbian sexuality to socio-political problems), literature (from classical lyric and pastoral drama to the contemporary verbal arts), cultural studies (from the femme fatale and James Bond to vampires and monsters), architecture, and linguistics. These essays not only examine the theme from a variety of media and critical perspectives, they also scrutinize and challenge traditional notions of beauty and the abject.