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102 Monster Culture (Seven Theses) Notes

Monster theory.

• Thesis I. The Monster’s Body Is a Cultural Body (4)
• Thesis II. The Monster Always Escapes (4)
• Thesis III. The Monster Is the Harbinger of Category Crisis (6)
• Thesis IV. The Monster Dwells at the Gates of Difference (7)
• Thesis V. The Monster Polices the Borders of the Possible (12)
• Thesis VI. Fear of the Monster Is Really a Kind of Desire (16)
• Thesis VII. The Monster Stands at the Threshold . . . of Becoming (20)

Thesis I. The Monster’s Body Is a Cultural Body

• Each culture will produce their own monsters and their own versions of monsters. “The monstrous body is pure culture” (4).
• The monsters is born as an embodiment of a certain cultural moment, a time, a feeling, and a place. A monster will always change because culture changes, our fears and beliefs are always changing (4).
• The monster signifies something other than itself: it is a displacement, it inhabits the gap between when it was created and it is received, to be born again (4).

Thesis II. The Monster Always Escapes

• “The anxiety that condenses like green vapor into the form of the vampire can be dispersed temporarily, but the revenant by definition returns” This is the unsettling feeling you get when your mind starts to wander and the feeling of insecurity when thinking about your monster
• “Monsters must be examined within the intricate matrix of relations (social, cultural, and literary-historical) that generate them” This explains that monsters tie into the persona that we assign them
• “the undead returns in slightly different clothing, each time to be read against contemporary social movements or a specific, determining event”
• Over time ideals change, adapting to our different interpretations of this monster
• “Monster Theory must therefore concern itself with strings of cultural moments, connected by a logic that always threatens to shift; invigorated by change and escape, by the impossibility of achieving what Susan Stewart calls the desired ‘fall or death, the stopping’ of its gigantic subject monstrous interpretations is as much process as epiphany, a work that must content itself with fragments”
• monster theory is the concern of culture an cultural moments connected by logic that is always changing. Monsters are always changing in culture, therefore, are always escaping.

Thesis III. The Monster Is the Harbinger of Category Crisis

• “they demand a radical rethinking of boundary and normality. The too precise laws of nature as set forth by science are gleefully violated.”  Monsters are externally incoherent bodies that resist attempts to include them in any systematic structure. They refuse easy categorization and defy the natural laws of evolution. The power to evade and undermine are coursed through the monsters blood.
• “the monstrous offers an escape from its hermetic path, an invitation to explore new spirals, new and interconnected methods of perceiving the world.” The monster always escapes and returns to its habitation at the margins of the world.
• “rebuke to boundary and enclosure” The demand radical rethinking of boundary and normality.
• Monster described as systematic phenomenon rather than object or idea of how it is perceived.
• Monster escapes because it is hard to categorize.
• Disturbing hybrid
• Externally incoherent
• Resist systematic structuration.
• Resists classification built on hierarchy or merely binary opposition.
• Demands a system allowing polyphony, mixed response (Difference in sameness, repulsion in attraction).

Thesis IV. The Monster Dwells at the Gates of Difference

• People who are different are viewed as monsters.
• Differences tend to be political, cultural, racial economic, sexual, not fitting into the norm.
• People make up stories that will form the different people into monsters.
• The “monsters” are a threat.
• Used to justify treating them differently.
• Going against what was considered the norm of the culture was considered monstrous. This included sexual orientation, , race, economic status, and political preference.; this allowed  actions against these “monsters”, or “not  normal” individuals to be justified.
• “Representing an anterior culture as monstrous justifies its displacement or extermination by rendering the act heroic” (Cohen).

Thesis V. The Monster Polices the Borders of the Possible

• Keeping people in a bubble and keeping them from exploring the world in order to keep order.
• “To step outside this official geography is to risk attack by some monstrous border patrol or (worse)to become monstrous oneself” (Cohen).
• The Monster represents consequences of curiosity, desire, or rebellion. (As dictated by the Monster’s creator).
• The tale of a Monster discourages certain actions and behaviors as dictated by the Monster’s creator.
• The Monster can serve as an intimidation tactic to deter individuals from going to certain places.
• Monster’s may serve as an example for what is to come if one does/doesn’t do a particular thing.
• Monster’s can be a crude template for vilifying or humiliating certain individuals or groups so as to discourage intermingling.
• A Monster can also be depicted as the enemy; anything or anyone the Monster’s creator views as lesser, grotesque, or deemed worthy of destruction.

Thesis VI. Fear of the Monster Is Really a Kind of Desire

• The fear of the Monster could be translated to desire because humans are inherently curious creatures and are often attracted to the taboo.
• The Monster can be a method of escapism, to ponder subjects and situations they would normally not encounter due to either outside, or self-made restrictions.
• The Monster may symbolize what we see in ourselves, the simultaneous admiration and disgust being a common struggle for some. (This simultaneous admiration and disgust may also be the attractive combination to sensationalize a Monster.)
• Monsters may also stand for the anxieties we face and our inner turmoils over existential issues and morality.
• monsters practice forbidden concepts
• offer a way to escape via fantasy
• people have a simultaneous reaction of repulsion and attraction
• represents a projection of “other”
• awakens the joy of being frightened
• uses the rush-/excitement of dressing up as a demon on Halloween. it’s something we don’t get to take on often, at least socially
• people are able to relate/live vicariously an entity that takes various forms and one that expresses different identities
• the exploration via these monsters was exciting in contrast to the imposing environment the Church was creating(a few centuries ago)
• made the taboo more accessible
• overall, monsters are something different and it sparks the dark/curious side in us.

Thesis VII. The Monster Stands at the Threshold . . . of Becoming

• represents the repressed memories of our childhood
• ultimately, they challenge our perspective, what we find acceptable
• monsters require us to question our tolerance towards different expressions
• Our own fears never fully go away just go for a little then come back stronger than before.
• Monsters bring context with their existence
• They reside in the deepest, darkest parts of our minds
• monsters can be within
• They are our fears
• can be our own minds
• Monster is linked to forbidden practices in order to normalize
• Monster attracts
• Evokes escapist fantasies, the linking of the monster with the forbidden makes it more appealing
• Monster can serve as an alter ego
• We know when we see horror films, that the jolts of horror are temporary, so we use it as a temporary escape
• The lands monsters live in are realms of happy fantasy, horizons of liberation
• Monsters serve as secondary bodies through which the possibilities of other genders, other sexual practices, and other social customs can be explored
• Making a monster desirable is accomplished by the neutralization of potentially threatening aspects with a liberal dose of comedy
• Monsters are our children
• We can hide our monsters deep in our mind, but they always return
• Monsters come back knowing more
• They ask us to reevaluate our cultural assumptions about race, gender, sexuality, our perception of difference, our tolerance toward its expression

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The Final Judgement in “Monster Culture”

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“In this distribution of functions, the scholar is the delegated intellect. In the right state he is Man Thinking. In the degenerate state, when the victim of society, he tends to become a mere thinker, or, still worse, the parrot of other men’s thinking.”

—Ralph Waldo Emerson

It is rare for a writer to put his or her theory at risk by exposing its secret vulnerability, to set out on that fragile, shaky wooden bridge stretching across a chasm—the gap between the two cliffs of understanding. Daunting is the possibility of trust collapsing. One would be a fool to turn one’s idea against oneself. Yet, Jeffrey Cohen leads readers of his essay, “Monster Culture,” on this bridge of uncertainty when he poses a polarizing question that could either make the readers believe him completely or doubt his entire theory: “Do monsters really exist?” (20).

In “Monster Culture,” Cohen extensively discusses and analyzes monsters in connection with the cultures from which they rise. “What I will propose here by way of a first foray, as entrance into this book of monstrous content, is a sketch of a new modus legendi : a method of reading cultures from the monsters they engender,” he begins (3). Maintaining the formal tone of an academic, he contends that monsters rise at the “crossroads” of a culture, where differences emerge and anxiety heightens. The monster is an embodiment of difference—of any quality, whether it be ideological, cultural, sexual, or racial, that inspires fear and uncertainty in its creators (7). The monster is frequently a “disturbing hybrid” that defies categorization––its hybridity rebels against nature (6). And though there are fictional monsters, real people can become monsters too. In order to bring “freaks” under control, those who abide by the standard code of the day impart monstrous identities to those who do not. Anxiety is what breeds them and defines their existence. Thus locating the origin of monsters, Cohen strives to reveal our culture’s values and tendencies. For the vast majority of the essay, the monster is simply the subject of our examination, an otherworldly creature under our scrutiny.

It is when Cohen approaches the end of his essay that he adds another dimension to the monster’s entity and exposes its vulnerability:

Perhaps it is the time to ask the question that always arises when the monster is discussed seriously (the inevitability of the question a symptom of the deep anxiety about what is and what should be thinkable, an anxiety that the process of monster theory is destined to raise): Do monsters really exist? Surely they must, for if they did not, how could we? (20)

In an essay in which monsters are central, he chooses to investigate in his final paragraphs whether monsters even exist after all. This query boldly shifts the focus away from the discussion of his monster theory and introduces a counter argument, pushing readers to either end of the spectrum of their belief in monster theory. They will have to choose whether monsters exist, and whether they will believe or disregard Cohen’s work. Pressing his readers to decide, Cohen places his readers in this foggy gap between the two extremes in order to, paradoxically, eliminate their indecision about his theory.

From the first page––in fact, the first sentence––Cohen seems to be building up to this eruption, the boom moment. Grave and rather stiff in his tone, he is full of purpose––“What I propose here . . . is a sketch of a new modus legendi ” (3). By starting with a rather abrupt announcement, he lays out his objective plainly and explicitly as he launches into a “foray,” a sudden raid, to destroy the protective walls of convention and comfort (3). The risk he takes in unveiling his argument’s potential flaws and testing the readers’ judgments will bring forth the anxiety that permeates not only his essay, but also people’s minds. This sense that a quest is underway reappears in the diction of his concluding passage. His language and tone, departing from the academic study of monsters, demonstrates a serious yet playfully provoking attitude toward the audience. We see the subtle, ironic sense of humor that he has well hidden under the seriousness and technicalities of an academic. Imagine him smirking as he encourages, “Surely they must, for if they did not, how could we?”—content that he has the power to spark trouble and uneasiness in his readers. But to arrive at this point, he detoured from his scholarly discussion of his theses.

Let’s return to the beginning of the passage. The word “perhaps” marks a careful interjection that brings a pause to the flow of his ideas. It is a gentle motion to stop and think. The following phrase “it is time” displays Cohen’s anticipation: he has been building up toward this moment. Thus pulling his readers out of the text and back into reality, he raises the central question: “Do monsters really exist?” (20). The answer to this question holds the key to his theory’s credibility. Can we trust his theory, which is wholly based on the assumption that monsters do exist? His answer is a testament to his confidence, for he replies, “Surely they must” (20). Sly and expectant, his response is not only a challenge to the conventional understanding that monsters are forms of our imagination, but also a design to trigger a little indignation from the readers. For example, the word “surely” gives a sense that his answer is an obvious one that “surely” everyone should know (though he provides no more concrete evidence than his emphatic interpretation of common sense). Indeed, Cohen’s use of “must” suggests that there is no other rational answer that can be true. With these subtly forceful word choices, he appears to challenge readers’ knowledge or, more importantly, their pride in what they know. We can start to see here that Cohen is aiming at a specific part of the subconscious—the ego—that will allow him access and even control a reader’s sense of what is real.

Cohen demands a definite answer, a conviction—whether it be disregard or trust—for vacillating on that unsteady bridge is a source of anxiety in itself. But under the appearance of a perfectly probable motive lies a more intricate pursuit. By calling the question’s inevitability a “symptom of the deep anxiety about what is and what should be thinkable,” he challenges his audience’s scope of thought (20). Notice his inclusion of the word “should.” The clear, crucial distinction between what “is” and what “should” be thinkable serves to differentiate the mundane, average thinking ability from the sophisticated intellect Cohen requires from his readers. It is his way of coyly, maybe even with a hint of haughtiness, asking, “Can you handle my ideas?” In an ever-so-charming manner, he prods our ego—something that we so treasure that we will go to extreme lengths to save it from damage or belittlement. With his suave patronization as the bait, he is fishing for our overprotectiveness of our egos.

And as Cohen’s prey, the readers may feel their ego threatened and become perceptibly anxious. When Cohen calls “the inevitability of the question a symptom of the deep anxiety,” “symptom” is also a carefully chosen word that appropriately renders a disease-like quality. According to this notion, anxiety is a contagious epidemic––one that takes over people’s reason and causes them to constantly feel insecure, leading them to eventually produce monsters. Interestingly, anxiety in Cohen’s text is a revisited subject—a constantly reoccurring term—that mirrors the prevalent, lingering nature of a disease. It is ironic that his own monster theory, which analyzes the anxieties that create monsters in the first place, might itself engender anxiety—both his and his readers’. The anxiety can rise simply from the essay’s content (a solemn discourse on monster), which Cohen says inevitably prompts his central query, or it can also come from ambivalence regarding the question (of the monster’s existence) itself. “Monster Culture” brims with uncertainty and tension.

In many ways, then, reading “Monster Culture” is not just reading but rather thinking and questioning, and all the while coping with anxiety. Fueling the anxiety, Cohen establishes a dependent relationship between monsters and us. According to the rhetorical question in “Surely they must, for if they did not, how could we?” we cannot exist if monsters do not (20). But consequently, if their existence equates to our existence, does that not mean we are monsters? Here is the epitome of the break between thinkable and unthinkable. We all are monsters, and in choosing whether or not one can accept that fact is the key to complete comprehension of Cohen’s theory—and deciding on which end of the bridge we will land. In fact, with the question, Cohen allows the readers to actively experience the making of a monster. As Cohen says, we detest monsters. So, we naturally don’t want to be monsters ourselves—or casted out as different or freakish. But when Cohen suggests that we are all monsters, a non-monster (who is thus unlike all others) becomes a monster nonetheless. With this prospect, anxiety turns into panic, and as a result, his question “If they did not, how could we?” acts as reverse psychology: rather than be appalled, we are tempted to swiftly accept Cohen’s bait and concur, “Yes, you are right. I, too, am a monster.” We don’t want to be left behind on that bridge. When the essay ends and the bridge falls, we could either plummet down and flounder in that bottomless gulf of uncertainty and anxiety—with no one to pull you out, to persuade you to either side. Or, we could escape the easy way: follow his lead.

Thus, Cohen’s concluding inquiry was not a question at all, but a powerful shove to his readers toward believing him completely. Though in a glance, he appears to be simply questioning the existence of monsters, he is really testing the readers’ level of thought and urging others to question everything and everyone (even him, the author, and themselves). But, even in this, there is deception because he in fact is pushing the readers to the side the bridge that corresponds to trust and belief in him. By speaking to the readers’ egos, he actually makes readers, afraid of humiliation, want to agree with him. And with the suggestion that everyone is a monster, he entices them to accept it as a plainly apparent reality. Rather than putting his theory at risk, Cohen has convinced his readers––by causing their anxiety to rule over their reason––to want to be on his side even if they aren’t necessarily his believer. Thus, the vulnerability exposed isn’t that of his theory, but that of his readers. “Monster Culture,” then, is Cohen’s lonely battle against “un-thought,” which ironically, and unfortunately, shows the prevalence and inevitability of it (3).

WORKS CITED

Cohen, Jeffrey Jerome. “Monster Culture (Seven Theses).” Monster Theory: Reading Culture . Ed. Jeffrey Jerome Cohen. Minneapolis: U. of Minnesota Press, 1996. 3-25.

Emerson, Ralph W. “The American Scholar.” Speech. Phi Beta Kappa Society, Cambridge, MA. 31 Aug. 1837. EmersonCentral.com . Web. 20 Feb. 2013.

SUE BAHK '15SEAS is an undergraduate student in The Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science. Though she is an engineer, she considers herself also as a humanities person who believes in the value and power of writing. She was born and raised in Seoul, South Korea, but started studying in the States since the 6th grade. In her free time, Sue enjoys reading, listening to music, and traveling.

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Jeffery Jerome Cohen: Monster Theory Analysis

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Published: Mar 16, 2024

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Thesis 1: the monster's is a cultural, thesis 2: the monster always escapes, thesis 3: the monster is the harbinger of category crisis, thesis 4: the monster dwells at the gates of difference, thesis 5: the monster polices the borders of the possible, thesis 6: fear of the monster is really a kind of desire, thesis 7: the monster stands at the threshold of becoming.

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• Fiestas and Fervor: Religious Life and Catholic Enlightenment in the Diocese of Barcelona, 1766-1775 FIESTAS AND FERVOR: RELIGIOUS LIFE AND CATHOLIC ENLIGHTENMENT IN THE DIOCESE OF BARCELONA, 1766-1775 DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Andrea J. Smidt, M.A. * * * * * The Ohio State University 2006 Dissertation Committee: Approved by Professor Dale K. Van Kley, Adviser Professor N. Geoffrey Parker Professor Kenneth J. Andrien ____________________ Adviser History Graduate Program ABSTRACT The Enlightenment, or the "Age of Reason," had a profound impact on eighteenth-century Europe, especially on its religion, producing both outright atheism and powerful movements of religious reform within the Church. The former—culminating in the French Revolution—has attracted many scholars; the latter has been relatively neglected. By looking at "enlightened" attempts to reform popular religious practices in Spain, my project examines the religious fervor of people whose story usually escapes historical attention. "Fiestas and Fervor" reveals the capacity of the Enlightenment to reform the Catholicism of ordinary Spaniards, examining how enlightened or Reform Catholicism affected popular piety in the diocese of Barcelona. This study focuses on the efforts of an exceptional figure of Reform Catholicism and Enlightenment Spain—Josep Climent i Avinent, Bishop of Barcelona from 1766- 1775. The program of “Enlightenment” as sponsored by the Spanish monarchy was one that did not question the Catholic faith and that championed economic progress and the advancement of the sciences, primarily benefiting the elite of Spanish society. In this context, Climent is noteworthy not only because his idea of “Catholic Enlightenment” opposed that sponsored by the Spanish monarchy but also because his was one that implicitly condemned the present hierarchy of the Catholic Church and explicitly ii advocated popular enlightenment and the creation of a more independent “public sphere” in Spain by means of increased literacy and education of the masses. [Show full text]
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• Breaking the Magic Spell: Radical Theories of Folk and Fairy Tales University of Kentucky UKnowledge Folklore Anthropology 7-5-2002 Breaking the Magic Spell: Radical Theories of Folk and Fairy Tales Jack Zipes Click here to let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Thanks to the University of Kentucky Libraries and the University Press of Kentucky, this book is freely available to current faculty, students, and staff at the University of Kentucky. Find other University of Kentucky Books at uknowledge.uky.edu/upk. For more information, please contact UKnowledge at [email protected] . Recommended Citation Zipes, Jack, "Breaking the Magic Spell: Radical Theories of Folk and Fairy Tales" (2002). Folklore. 15. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/upk_folklore/15 Breaking the Magic Spell Publication of this volume was made possible in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Copyright O 1979 by Jack Zipes Published 2002 by The University Press of Kentucky Scholarly publisher for the Commonwealth, serving Bellarmine University, Berea College, Centre College of Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky University, The Filson Historical Society, Georgetown College, Kentucky Historical Society, Kentucky State University, Morehead State University, Murray State University, Northern Kentucky University, Transylvania University, University of Kentucky, University of Louisville, and Western Kentucky University. All rights reserved. - Editorial and Sales Ofices: The University Press of Kentucky 663 South Limestone Street, Lexington, Kentucky 40508-4008 www.kentuckypress.com Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Zipes, Jack Breaking the magic spell. 1. Tales, European-History and criticism. 2. Literature and society. I. Title ISBN-10: 0-8131-9030-4 (paper) ISBN-13: 978-0-8131-9030-3 This book is printed on acid-free recycled paper meeting the requirements of the American National Standard for Permanence in Paper for Printed Library Materials. [Show full text]
• Distressing Damsels: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight As a Loathly Lady Tale Distressing Damsels: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight as a Loathly Lady Tale By Lauren Chochinov A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies of The University of Manitoba In partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of MASTER OF ARTS Department of English University of Manitoba Winnipeg, Manitoba Copyright © 2010 by Lauren Chochinov i Abstract At the end of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, when Bertilak de Hautdesert reveals Morgan le Fay’s involvement in Gawain’s quest, the Pearl Poet introduces a difficult problem for scholars and students of the text. Morgan appears out of nowhere, and it is difficult to understand the poet’s intentions for including her so late in his narrative. The premise for this thesis is that the loathly lady motif helps explain Morgan’s appearance and Gawain’s symbolic importance in the poem. Through a study of the loathly lady motif, I argue it is possible that the Pearl Poet was using certain aspects of the motif to inform his story. Chapter one of this thesis will focus on the origins of the loathly lady motif and the literary origins of Morgan le Fay. In order to understand the connotations of the loathly lady stories, it is important to study both the Irish tales and the later English versions of the motif. My study of Morgan will trace her beginnings as a pagan healer goddess to her later variations in French and Middle English literature. The second chapter will discuss the influential women in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and their specific importance to the text. [Show full text]
• Vilenica and Vilenjak: Bearers of an Extinct Fairy Cult1 Nar. umjet. 39/1, 2002, pp. 31-63, Z. Čiča, Vilenica and Vilenjak: Bearers of an Extinct... Original scientific paper Received: 17th Jan. 2002 Accepted: 29th March 2002 UDK 398.4(4)(091) ZORAN »I»A BartoliÊi 41, Zagreb VILENICA AND VILENJAK: BEARERS OF AN EXTINCT FAIRY CULT1 This article traces a popular pre-Christian fairy cult in Croatia and broader, with vilenica and vilenjak as its bearers and practitioners. The sources analyzed are historical records, sixteenth-century literary fragments, theological writings from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and nineteenth- and twentieth-century ethnographic data. The author reconstructs and examines the morphology of the cult, its influence on the learned culture (Renaissance literary works), along with the theological endeavours to alter the social reception of an apparently widespread cult and to root it out. The Roman Catholic efforts to reform popular culture as well as the historical phenomenon of witch-hunting and its consequences contributed markedly to the disappearance of the contemporary awareness of vilenicas (f) and vilenjaks (vileniks, vilovnjaks) (m) as the central personages of a rich cosmological cult similar to those practised elsewhere in Europe. Key words: vilenica, vilenjak (vilenik, vilovnjak), fairy cult, witch- -hunting, popular culture 1. It was in early August of 1660 when captain Ivan Gučetić of Janjina captaincy, the Republic of Dubrovnik, was informed of the presence of vilenicas and streghe [witches] in his district. Intrigued by the report, he decided to have one of these vilenicas summoned. Soon before him stood a young woman, aged between 25 and 30, who was to satisfy the captain's curiosity and puzzlement. [Show full text]
• The Hanoverian Horse OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER of the HANOVERIAN HORSE SOCIETY of AUSTRALIA in THIS ISSUE HANOVERIAN TOUR 2011 The Hanoverian Horse OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER OF THE HANOVERIAN HORSE SOCIETY OF AUSTRALIA IN THIS ISSUE HANOVERIAN TOUR 2011 Hanoverian Tour 2011 1 The Hanoverian Horse Society of Australia are thrilled to Tour Itinerary & Contacts 2 announce that the Tour Classifier for 2011 is Gerhard Senckenberg. Tour Awards & Trophies 3 Gerhard Senckenberg was born in Darmstadt in 1951, is married Central Coast Mare and has two sons (27 and 29 years old). After finishing his studies Show 4 of agriculture in Stuttgart in 1977 he spent one year in Australia and New Zealand and afterwards one year on a farm in Lower- Qld Mare Show 5 Saxony. In 1980 he took over his parents` farm in Hesse. The farm has 220 hectares where grain, rape, sugar beets, corn and herbs Elite Warmbloods Open Day 6 are cultivated. The Senckenbergs have 45 boxes for horse boarding. They own four to Remi Stud Open Day 7 eight horses and breed with Mare Performance Test 8 two broodmares. From 1963 until 2006 Gerhard Presenting a Mare 9 Senckenberg was successful in eventing up to 2012 HHSA Wall Calendar 11 the S level, in show- jumping up to the S level Young Rider Challenge 11 and in dressage up to the M level. 2011 Sydney CDI YH Rider and Upcoming Clinics 11 In 1995 he became a board member of the Hessian horse breeding association and in 1997 was elected president. He held Pryde’s Easifeed Leaderboard office until 2005 when the Hessian and Hanoverian associations 12 merged and has since been president of the district society Hesse. [Show full text]
• Dreaming of Dwarves DREAMING OF DWARVES: NIGHTMARES AND SHAMANISM IN ANGLO-SAXON POETICS AND THE WIĐ DWEORH CHARM by MATTHEW C. G. LEWIS (Under the Direction of Jonathan Evans) ABSTRACT Anglo-Saxon Metrical Charm 3, Wið Dweorh, from the British Library MS Harley 585, provides evidence of remnants of shamanic thinking in the early Christian era of Anglo-Saxon England. It shows a depth of understanding of dream psychology that prefigures modern psychiatric techniques; provides clues as to the linguistic, religious, cultural, and folkloric origins of nightmares, and reflects a tradition of shamanism in Old English poetry. This paper illustrates these linguistic and folkloric themes, places the metrical charm within the shamanistic tradition of Old English poetics, and connects the charm‟s value as a therapeutic device to modern psychiatric techniques. INDEX WORDS: Anglo-Saxon poetics, shamanism, metrical charms, nightmare, dreams, folk medicine and remedies, The Wanderer, Lacnunga, The Seafarer, Beowulf, medieval folklore, succubus, theories of cognition, psychiatry DREAMING OF DWARVES ANGLO-SAXON DREAM THEORY, NIGHTMARES, AND THE WIĐ DWEORH CHARM by MATTHEW C. G. LEWIS A.B., University of Georgia, 2005 A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the University of Georgia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF ARTS ATHENS, GEORGIA 2009 © 2009 Matthew C. G. Lewis All Rights Reserved DREAMING OF DWARVES ANGLO-SAXON DREAM THEORY, NIGHTMARES, AND THE WIĐ DWEORH CHARM by MATTHEW C. G. LEWIS Major Professor: Jonathan Evans Committee: Charles Doyle John Vance Electronic Version Approved: Maureen Grasso Dean of the Graduate School The University of Georgia May 2009 iv DEDICATION This work is dedicated to my parents, Brian and Kate Lewis, who instilled in me an early love of reading; and who have uncomplainingly put up with far too many years of my academic puttering about; and to my aunt, Thérèse Lewis, who introduced me to J. [Show full text]
• The Changeling A Digital Anthology of Early Modern English Drama emed.folger.edu Discover over four hundred early modern English plays that were professionally performed in London between 1576 and 1642. Browse plays written by Shakespeare’s contemporaries; explore the repertoires of London’s professional companies; and download plays for reading and research. This documentary edition has been edited to provide an accurate and transparent transcription of a single copy of the earliest surviving print edition of this play. Further material, including editorial policy and XML files of the play, is available on the EMED website. EMED texts are edited and encoded by Meaghan Brown, Michael Poston, and Elizabeth Williamson, and build on work done by the EEBO-TCP and the Shakespeare His Contemporaries project. This project is funded by a Humanities Collections and Reference Resources grant from the NEH’s Division of Preservation and Access. Plays distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. img: 1­a ismigg: :[ N1­/bA] sig: A1r ln 0001 THE ln 0002 CHANGELING: ln 0003 As it was Acted (with great Applause) ln 0004 at the Private house in DRURY LANE, ln 0005 and Salisbury Court. ln 0006 Written by THOMAS MIDDLETON, ln 0007 and ln 0008 WILLIAM ROWLEY. Gentlemen. ln 0009 Never Printed before. ln 0010 LONDON, ln 0011 Printed for HUMPHREY MOSELEY, and are to ln 0012 be sold at his shop at the sign of the Prince’s Arms ln 0013 in St. Paul’s Churchyard, 1653. img: 2­a sig: A1v ln 0001 Dramatis Personae. ln 0002 Vermandero, Father to Beatrice. [Show full text]
• Pale Light: Natural Difficulties and Poetic Epistemology in the Enlightenment Pale Light: Natural Difficulties and Poetic Epistemology in the Enlightenment By Ian Michael Thomas-Bignami A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the Requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy In English In the Graduate Division Of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Professor Kevis Goodman, Chair Professor Kent Puckett Professor Thomas Laqueur Summer 2015 Abstract Pale Light: Natural Difficulties and Poetic Epistemology in the Enlightenment by Ian Michael Thomas-Bignami Doctor of Philosophy in English University of California, Berkeley Professor Kevis Goodman, Chair Pale Light: Natural Difficulties and Poetic Epistemology in the Enlightenment explores the relationship between natural history and poetry, considered as rival sciences during the Enlightenment, and it explores the environmental ground out of which eighteenth- century aesthetics arose. Focusing on poetic treatments of the strangely ubiquitous phenomenon known as the ignis fatuus or will-o-the-wisp, I describe the development of a distinct poetic epistemology that valued a way of knowing paradoxically attentive to the permanence and power of the unknown. Tracing the numerous treatments of the ignis fatuus as a phenomenon that marked the limits of scientific confidence, I show how eighteenth-century poets constructed a distinct epistemology within the context of the New Science and the problems inherent in its protocols, such as the limits and distortions of the senses and the provisional nature of knowledge derived through inductive accumulation. Natural history in the British Enlightenment is characterized at once by an interest in these problems and by a waning attention to the ways in which objects like the ignis fatuus fracture the foundations of knowledge. [Show full text]