Catalog Description:
This course will introduce you to the study of literature and to constructions of monstrosity through temporally, geographically, and culturally diverse texts. Through this course, you will gain experience in interpreting texts, in reading texts in their historical and cultural contexts, and in writing about texts. Monsters are socially constructed and are born out of and reflect cultural anxieties and desires. The definitions of “monster” are culturally dependent, socio-politically utilized, and encoded in a variety of media. Through our readings, we will seek to understand categorical definitions of what constitutes the “monster” and the “human.” We will explore where monsters come from, how monsters are embodied, what they signify, and how they operate in society. The semester will begin with readings in contemporary monster theory; students will then engage with a range of literary monsters from the classical and medieval worlds, the Early Modern period, the age of colonialism, the nineteenth century, and from modernity. In confronting conceptualizations of monstrosity, students will also think about constructions of cultural norms surrounding gender, sexuality, race, class, and religion.
Course Materials/Schedule:
Monster Theory
Jeffrey Jerome Cohen’s “Monster Theory: Seven Theses”
The Lonely Monster
Beowulf
John Gardner’s Grendel,
Maria Dahvana Headley’s The Mere Wife
Werewolves
Marie de France’s “Bisclavret” and other stories
Stephen Graham Jones’s Mongrels (2016)
The Monsters of the 19th Century
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
H.G. Wells’s The Island of Dr. Moreau
Christina Rosetti’s “Goblin Market”
Excerpts from Bram Stoker’s Dracula
Monsters and Science Fiction
Octavia E. Butler’s “Bloodchild”
N.K. Jemisin’s Emergency Skin