Fighting with literal monsters is the cornerstone of not only fantastic literature, but some of the oldest stories ever. If Hercules isn’t beheading some creature, then he’s at least thinking about it. His bros Beowulf and Perseus were into that sort of thing, too. But when one switches from myth to modern, post-modern, and what we call literary fiction, then they’ll find the literal dragons, monsters, and beasts have been banished into the past or other genres.
Except for every once and while, when beasts are famously at the forefront of great works of literature. Here are five beasts seemingly at home in fantasy or science fiction that instead occupy works of literary fiction.
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