Preternature V2:2

by Steven M. Stannish, Christine M. Doran, Lorenzo Montemagno Ciseri

'Monstrophy'' is a term referring to the academic study of monsters as representational and conceptual categories, which has gained recent currency in several related fields of study (literary and cultural history, sociological theories of identity and difference, etc.), as well as in a number of recent books and articles about monsters as subjects of theoretical interpretation. Etymologically derived from Latin ''mōnstrum'' (meaning prodigy, ominous sign, monstrous creature or person, abomination) and Greek ''sophia'' (σοφία, wisdom), hybrid compounding of monstrophy is not uncommon in disciplinary names (e.g. [[sociology]], another Greek and Latin compound). Monstrophy literally means "wisdom about monsters," and in academic usage refers to the broader study of monsters in society and history. Monsters have been widely catalogued in their historical and ethnographic contexts, and have been commonly included in cultural products such as epic, folktale, fiction, and film, but have only begun to be studied seriously as semiological markers indicating the seams of internal cultural tension. Interpreters commonly note the "monstrous" as occupying space at the borders of a society's conceptual categories, such as those relating to sexual and behavioral transgression, or to inherent prejudice and internal conflict (for instance, in race, gender, politics, and religion). Monsters are rarely fully distinct from the "human," but are often comprised of hybrid features of the human and non-human. This issue of Preternature explores how the category of "monster" is used to define and articulate what a certain group of people articulates to itself to be properly human. (http://www.psupress.org/Journals/jnls...)

234 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 15, 2013