Overview

This volume and its companion gather a wide range of readings and sources to enable us to see and understand what monsters show us about what it means to be human. The first volume introduces important modern theorists of the monstrous, with a brief introduction to each reading, setting the theorist and theory in context, and providing background and guiding questions. The 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 in the second volume - Primary Sources on Monsters - which brings together some of the most influential and indicative monster narratives from the West. Taken together, these volumes allow us to witness the consistent, multi-millennium strategies the West has articulated, weaponized, and deployed to exclude, disempower, and dehumanize a range of groups and individuals within and without its porous boundaries.

Full Product Details

Author:   Asa Simon Mittman (Professor and Chair of Art & Art History, California State University, Chico) ,  Marcus Hensel (Assistant Professor of English, Bethany College)
Publisher:   Arc Humanities Press
Imprint:   Arc Humanities Press
Edition:   New edition
ISBN:  

9781641894272

ISBN 10:   164189427
Pages:   136
Publication Date:   30 April 2020
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us.

Table of Contents

"Monster Theory 1. Introduction: ""A Marvel of Monsters"" by Asa Simon Mittman and Marcus Hensel 2. ""Beowulf, the Monsters and the Critics"" by J.R.R. Tolkien 3. ""A Measure of Man,"" from The Monstrous Races in Medieval Art and Thought by John Block Friedman 4. ""The Nature of Horror,"" from The Philosophy of Horror by Noël Carroll 5. ""Rethinking the Canon: Prophets, Canons, and Promising Monsters"" by Michael Camille 6. ""Monster Culture (Seven Theses),"" from Monster Theory: Reading Culture by Jeffrey Jerome Cohen Allied Theories 7. ""Introduction,"" from Orientalism by Edward Said 8. ""Approaching Abjection,"" from Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection by Julia Kristeva 9. ""Parasites and Perverts: An Introduction to Gothic Monstrosity,"" from Skin Shows: Gothic Horror and the Technology of Monsters by J. Halberstam 10. ""From Wonder to Error: A Genealogy of Freak Discourse in Modernity,"" from Freakery: Cultural Spectacles of the Extraordinary Body by Rosemarie Garland Thomson"

Reviews

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 Information

Asa Simon Mittman is Professor and Chair of Art & Art History at California State University, Chico. Marcus Hensel is Assistant Professor of English at Bethany College, Kansas.

Tab Content 6

Author Website:  

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

No review item found!

Add your own review!

Countries Available

All regions