Monsters I: Parallel Worlds
Sponsoring Organization(s)
Monsters: The Experimental Association for the Research of Cryptozoology through Scholarly Theory and Practical Application (MEARCSTAPA)
Organizer Name
Asa Simon Mittman, Stefanie Goyette
Organizer Affiliation
California State Univ.-Chico, Massachusetts Institute of Technology/Harvard Univ.
Presider Name
Stefanie Goyette
Paper Title 1
Monstrous Ireland and the Fantasy of British Sovereignty
Presenter 1 Name
Alexander Baldassano
Presenter 1 Affiliation
Graduate Center, CUNY
Paper Title 2
Lady Macbeth and the Strix: Monstrous Maternity, Time, and Periodization
Presenter 2 Name
Morgan Bozick
Presenter 2 Affiliation
Pennsylvania State Univ.
Paper Title 3
(Not) Solving the Mystery: The Complexity of the Melusine Legendary in Medieval French and German Traditions
Presenter 3 Name
Deva Fall Kemmis, Melissa Ridley Elmes
Presenter 3 Affiliation
Georgetown Univ., Univ. of North Carolina-Greensboro
Start Date
8-5-2014 3:30 PM
Session Location
Schneider 1360
Description
Refraction, reflection, intrusion, illusion, overlay, visitation, wandering, straying: parallel worlds double and haunt medieval landscapes, providing voyage destinations and otherworldly visitors. Medieval worlds are not unitary or univocal, as refugees seek Torelore and the Pays de Cocagne; as chroniclers record or imagine far-off Carthage and Jerusalem; as the secular world finds itself invaded by hellish demons or heavenly angels; as saints and mystics simultaneously inhabit this world and the next. What can other worlds, or other temporalities, tell us about how medieval cultures understood the quotidian or secular world? How does the ingress of or egress to various worlds beyond establish or erode the definition of the here-and-now? Are all such intrusions monstrous? Does monstrosity necessitate intrusion from beyond? We invite papers from all disciplines and national traditions, on topics that might include the double presence of life and death, profane and sacred, self and other, animal and human, native and foreigner, male and female, straight and queer, past, future, and present.
Asa S. Mittman
Monsters I: Parallel Worlds
Schneider 1360
Refraction, reflection, intrusion, illusion, overlay, visitation, wandering, straying: parallel worlds double and haunt medieval landscapes, providing voyage destinations and otherworldly visitors. Medieval worlds are not unitary or univocal, as refugees seek Torelore and the Pays de Cocagne; as chroniclers record or imagine far-off Carthage and Jerusalem; as the secular world finds itself invaded by hellish demons or heavenly angels; as saints and mystics simultaneously inhabit this world and the next. What can other worlds, or other temporalities, tell us about how medieval cultures understood the quotidian or secular world? How does the ingress of or egress to various worlds beyond establish or erode the definition of the here-and-now? Are all such intrusions monstrous? Does monstrosity necessitate intrusion from beyond? We invite papers from all disciplines and national traditions, on topics that might include the double presence of life and death, profane and sacred, self and other, animal and human, native and foreigner, male and female, straight and queer, past, future, and present.
Asa S. Mittman