Classic Readings on Monster Theory

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Classic Readings on Monster Theory 16 mm 16 mm ARC HUMANITIES PRESS Reference series 16 mm 16 mm ARC-REF_Mittman-MonstersVol1 THEORY CLASSIC READINGS ON MONSTER 120 pages, 90gsm CLASSIC READINGS ON MONSTER THEORY DEMONSTRARE Volume 1 Trimmed page height 260 mm Trimmed page width 210 mm This volume and its companion gather a wide range of readings and sources CLASSIC READINGS to enable us to see and understand what monsters show us about what it ON MONSTER THEORY of the monstrous, with a brief introduction to each reading, setting the theorist andmeans theory to be in human. context, The and �irst providing volume background introduces important and guiding modern questions. theorists The DEMONSTRARE Volume 1 selection of readings in Classic Readings on Monster Theory is intended to provide interpretive tools and strategies to use to grapple with the primary sources Edited by in the second volume—Primary Sources on Monsters—which brings together ASA SIMON MITTMAN and MARCUS HENSEL Taken together, these volumes allow us to witness the consistent, multi- some of the most in�luential and indicative monster narratives from the West. andmillennium without strategies its porous the boundaries. West has articulated, weaponized, and deployed to exclude, disempower, and dehumanize a range of groups and individuals within “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, 266 mm inclusive, and brilliantly edited, this two-volume set articulates the history of monster studies and promises its vigorous future.” Jeffrey Jerome Cohen, Dean of Humanities, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Arizona State University MITTMAN and HENSEL (eds.) MITTMAN and Cover image: ASA SIMON MITTMAN is Professor and manera (2009). Nosferatu Photo: Creative Graf�iti, Commons Zurich, 2.0 Chair of Art & Art History at California State Switzerland, photo by Daniel Lobo of Daquella University, Chico. MARCUS HENSEL is Assistant Professor of English at Bethany College, West Virginia. Amsterdam AUP.nl University Press 16 mm 16 mm 6.8 16 mm 206 mm 16 mm mm 8 mm 8 mm CLASSIC READINGS ON MONSTER THEORY ARC REFERENCE CLASSIC READINGS ON MONSTER THEORY DEMONSTRARE Volume 1 Edited by ASA SIMON MITTMAN and MARCUS HENSEL British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. © 2018, Arc Humanities Press, Leeds The authors assert their moral right to be identified as the authors of their part of this work. anPermission exception to or use limitation brief excerpts covered from by thisArticle work 5 inof scholarlythe European and educationalUnion’s Copyright works isDirective hereby granted provided that the source is acknowledged. Any use of material in this work that is (2001/29/EC) or would be determined to be “fair use” under Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Act September 2010 Page 2 or that satisfies the conditions specified in Section 108 of the U.S. Copy­ right Act (17 USC §108, as revised by P.L. 94­553) does not require the Publisher’s permission. ISBN 9781942401193 e­ISBN 9781942401209 https://arc-humanities.org Printed and bound by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY CONTENTS List of Illustrations ....................................................................................................................vi ..................................................................................................................vii Acknowledgements ASA SIMON MITTMAN and MARCUS HENSEL .................................................................................ix Introduction: “A Marvel of Monsters” PART I. MONSTER THEORY Beowulf J.R.R. TOLKIEN .................................................................................................................... “ : The Monsters and the Critics” 3 The Monstrous Races in Medieval Art and Thought JOHN BLOCK FRIEDMAN ........................................................................................................19 “A Measure of Man,” excerpted from The Philosophy of Horror NOËL CARROLL .................................................................................................................. “The Nature of Horror,” from 27 MICHAEL CAMILLE .............................................................................................................. “Rethinking the Canon: Prophets, Canons, and Promising Monsters” 37 JEFFREY JEROME COHEN ....................................................................................................... “Monster Culture (Seven Theses)” 43 PART II. ALLIED THEORIES Orientalism EDWARD SaID ................................................................................................................... “Introduction,” from 57 Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection JULIA KRISTEVA ................................................................................................................. “Approaching Abjection,” from 67 from Skin Shows: Gothic Horror and the Technology of Monsters “Parasites and Perverts: An Introduction to Gothic Monstrosity,” J. HALBERSTAM .................................................................................................................. 75 from Freakery: Cultural Spectacles of the Extraordinary Body “From Wonder to Error: A Genealogy of Freak Discourse in Modernity,” ROSEMARIE GARLAND THOMSON. 89 Index ..................................................................................................................................99 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Mandeville’s Travels ............................................................................................21 Figure 3.1. Riverine Apple­Smellers. , Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale MS Fr. 2810, fol. 219v, fifteenth century. Mande ville’s Travels ............................................................................................24 Figure 3.2. Blemmyae. , Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale MS Fr. 2810, fol. 219v, fifteenth century ................... Figure 6.1. Casts of the Prophet Isaiah from Souillac and part of the South Porch of Chartres Cathedral. Paris, Musée des Monuments français, before 1937. Photo: Archives Photographiques d’Art et d’Histoire. 38 . 40 Figure 6.2. Monster at the edge of the inner face of the left socle of the West Portal of Senlis Cathedral, ca. 1170. ..............................91 Figure 11.1. Charles Tripp, the “Armless Wonder,” demonstrates his ability to eat with his feet. ..................................92 Figure 11.2. Lipstretching, often exoticized in circuses and freak shows, in an African tribe. .94 Figure 11.3. A common practice at freak shows was to juxtapose stark physical differences. To Grendel’s Mother—may she someday have a name AcKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Research Companion to Monsters and the Monstrous and Our thanks tO Dymphna Evans, who first published then solicited this two­volume source reader. That’s a lot of monsters, but we hope she’ll continue to look for more lovely monsters to bring into print. Thanks also to Ilse Schweitzer VanDonkelaar and Ruth Kennedy at Arc Humanities Press for Our thanks to Rick Godden and Joy Ambler for their their care in seeing this two­volume set into print. insightful suggestions for the volume introduction, and for and far. excellent conversations about monsters old and new, near Thanks to Stevi Mittman for producing the excellent index, and for doing so with lightning speed. In these times of skyrocketing permissions costs, we are permission to reproduce their texts and images for free. The appreciative of those generous rights holders who granted us principle of the academic enterprise. free flow of information is the most basic and fundamental entries. Thanks to Paige Stewart, who aided with a number of And deep and abiding thanks to our families, who have to live with us, and all the monsters who come with us. Copyright Statements Beowulf Tolkien, “ : The Monsters and theThe Critics,” Monstrous reprinted Races in by Medieval permission Art andof HarperCollins Thought Publishers Ltd © The Tolkien Estate Limited 1983. Friedman, “A Measure of Man,” from , © John Block Friedman. Apple Smellers and Blemmyes, BNF MS Fr. The2810, Philosophy f. 219v and of Horror, 194v, © Bibliothèque nationaleThe de Philosophy France. of Horror, or, Paradoxes of the Heart Noël Carroll, “The Nature of Horror,” from copyright 1990 From by Noel Carroll. Reproduced by permission of Taylor and Francis Group, LLC, a division of Informa plc. June 1996 issue of The Art Bulletin. Michael Camille, “Rethinking the Canon: Prophets, Canons, and Promising Monsters,” first published by the College Art Association in the Monster from Senlis Cathedral, Photo © James Austin. Monster Theory: Reading Culture Jeffrey Jerome Cohen, “Monster Culture (Seven Theses),” from , © Jeffrey Jerome Cohen and the Uni ver sity of Minnesota Press. Orientalism Edward Said, “Introduction,” from , Edward W. Said, copyright © 1978 by Edward W. Said. Used by permission of Pantheon Books, an imprint of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing PowersGroup, aof division Horror: ofAn Penguin Essay on Random Abjection House LLC. All rights reserved. Julia Kristeva, “Approaching Abjection,” from , by Julia Kristeva. Copyright © 1982 Julia Kristeva. Reprinted with permission of Columbia Uni versity Press
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