University courses on monsters are becoming widespread as many disciplines use monsters to think about what it means to be human. To date no source collection on the literature of the monstrous exists, and this volume offers seminal essays on monster theory. Each work is preceded by a critical introduction, reading questions, notes and further reading. Accompanied by a second volume on primary source material and an instructor's website, this text will prove essential reading for students and scholars alike. "This monster of a two volume reader is exactly what we have long needed: a comprehensive and timely collection of the work that founded monster studies as well as the research that enabled it to become among the most exciting areas of interdisciplinary inquiry within the humanities. But there's more: a wide ranging collation of primary sources spans cultures and centuries. Capacious, inclusive, and brilliantly edited, this two volume set articulates the history of monster studies and promises its vigorous future." - Jeffrey J. Cohen.
Author(s): Asa Simon Mittman, Marcus Hensel
Series: Arc Reference
Publisher: Arc Humanities Press
Year: 2018
Language: English
Pages: 119
Tags: Cultural Studies, Literary Studies, Monster Theory, Cultural Deviation, Grotesque, Horror, Monsters, Monstrous
Cover......Page 1
Contents......Page 6
List of Illustrations......Page 7
Acknowledgements......Page 8
Introduction: “A Marvel of Monsters”......Page 10
PART I. MONSTER THEORY......Page 18
J.R.R. TOLKIEN — “Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics”......Page 20
JOHN BLOCK FRIEDMAN — “A Measure of Man,” excerpted from The Monstrous Races in Medieval Art and Thought......Page 36
NOËL CARROLL — “The Nature of Horror,” from The Philosophy of Horror......Page 44
MICHAEL CAMILLE — “Rethinking the Canon: Prophets, Canons, and Promising Monsters”......Page 54
JEFFREY JEROME COHEN — “Monster Culture (Seven Theses)”......Page 60
PART II. ALLIED THEORIES......Page 72
EDWARD SAID — “Introduction,” from Orientalism......Page 74
JULIA KRISTEVA —“Approaching Abjection,” from Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection......Page 84
J. HALBERSTAM — “Parasites and Perverts: An Introduction to Gothic Monstrosity,” from Skin Shows: Gothic Horror and the Technology of Monsters......Page 92
ROSEMARIE GARLAND THOMSON — “From Wonder to Error: A Genealogy of Freak Discourse in Modernity,” from Freakery: Cultural Spectacles of the Extraordinary Body
......Page 106
Index......Page 116
