Section 2: The Monstrous

Chair: Fred Botting, Kingston University London

People have always been afraid of monsters and have sought to hunt and purge them as manifestations of the ultimate other. Yet at the same time, we are fascinated by monsters and drawn to them. In many literary cases, humanity itself has been responsible for the creation of monsters - the most famous example of course being Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. This inevitably leads to ethical issues, not only concerning how to deal with that which we call monstrous, but also what makes us human as opposed to monsters. Thanks to the technical possibilities of modern media, many monstrous forms have been invented, re-invented, and re-combined, leading to bizarre film titles such as Frankenfish or Sharktopus. This invites the question whether the possibilities of monstrous shapes are endless and random, or whether there is method to the monstrous.

Exemplary Topics:
- How are narrative boundaries drawn between the monstrous and the human and what makes a literary figure a monster?
- What does the use and reception of literary monsters in particular historical circumstances tell us about social exclusion, anxiety and aggression?
- What performative strategies do literary and theatrical representations of monsters adopt in order to provoke critical reflection about the conventionalized depiction of monsters?