Knowledge Commons | Monsters and Monstrosity | Activity https://hcommons.org/groups/monsters-and-monstrosity/ Activity feed for the group, Monsters and Monstrosity. Sat, 04 Apr 2026 10:04:46 -0400 https://buddypress.org/?v=10.6.0 en-US 30 hourly 2 501c2a9dcf54451a31fe839a1f6275e1 Lloyd Graham deposited Rainbow serpents, dragons and dragon-slayers: Global traits, ancient Egyptian particulars, and alchemical echoes in the group Monsters and Monstrosity https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1895889/ Sat, 10 Aug 2024 03:00:51 -0400 Robert Blust has recently established that – globally – dragons evolved from rainbow serpents, which in turn represent a prehistoric understanding of rainbows. The present paper explores the “dragon-scape” of ancient Egypt in search of traits that may have survived from these earlier stages. The cryptic pD.tyw Sw and Iaau of Coffin Text 698 mig…[Read more]

]]> 0 1aa7c4ffed8f762accc819485fd36fa2 Lloyd Graham deposited “Nessie”: An uncannily apt name for a serpentine water-monster in the group Monsters and Monstrosity https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1878839/ Thu, 07 Mar 2024 03:01:32 -0500 The fabled water-monster of Loch Ness has been designated a member of the putative genus Nessiteras and is referred to affectionately in media reports by the feminine diminutive “Nessie.” This paper points out that, by pure serendipity, such Nessi- appellations recall the name of the Slavic nežit of eastern and central Europe and the Latin ness…[Read more]

]]> 0 2d7cf6cceb4983ff9dd183e1cc9e86a1 Lloyd Graham deposited Patriarchal Blood Rituals and the Vampire Archetype in the group Monsters and Monstrosity https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1869561/ Tue, 02 Jan 2024 03:00:17 -0500 Correspondences can be identified between (on the one hand) androcentric cosmogonies, ancestral misogyny and tribal blood rituals, and (on the other) the classical paradigm of vampirism, especially in its literary and on-screen flowering. Specifically, the initiatory culture-hero and the archetypal vampire both confer a haematologically-mediated…[Read more]

]]> 0 8cb3d316151ea4de6cb2902f98f36620 Eric Sirota started the topic New Movie: Frankenstein (musical) based on Mary Shelley's novel in the discussion Monsters and Monstrosity https://hcommons.org/groups/monsters-and-monstrosity/forum/topic/new-movie-frankenstein-musical-based-on-mary-shelleys-novel/ Sat, 27 May 2023 04:49:26 -0400 I'm excited to tell you that my musical, "Frankenstein" that played Off-Broadway in NY for 3 years, was adapted for screen, with an expanded score and orchestration.  It was just released this week and is available on StreamingMusicals.com  or from the website https://TheFrankensteinMusical.com

]]> 2ea835a7ddf8ae0bc7a36db414604484 Pruritus Migrans deposited Before coffee in the group Monsters and Monstrosity https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1830087/ Tue, 17 Jan 2023 02:36:19 -0500 Before coffee * QRt by PRURITUS MIGRANS * CC: BY-NC-SA

]]> 0 765d5558d8a4a668d4a32618777c2201 Asa Simon Mittman deposited Asa Simon Mittman, Anti-Race? The Need for Colour-Sightedness in Medieval and Renaissance Studies, in A Cultural History of Race in the Renaissance and Early Modern Age, ed. Kim Coles and Dorothy Kim, 2022 in the group Monsters and Monstrosity https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1766629/ Sun, 16 Jan 2022 02:24:18 -0500 Few studies in medieval and Renaissance cartography focus on race, in part owing to the genealogical issues discussed above, and in part owing to the racist origins and practices of the disciple of art history that normalizes seeing whiteness as both default norm an universal ideal. Johann Joachim Winckelmann, the founder who gave the discipline…[Read more]

]]> 0 b734c6c49a29dd95e2b04a638284151e Asa Simon Mittman deposited Monstrosity, Disability, and the Posthuman in the Medieval and Early Modern World in the group Monsters and Monstrosity https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1713762/ Tue, 20 Oct 2020 02:23:56 -0400 This collection examines the intersection of the discourses of “disability” and “monstrosity” in a timely and necessary intervention in the scholarly fields of Disability Studies and Monster Studies. Analyzing Medieval and Early Modern art and literature replete with images of non-normative bodies, these essays consider the pernicious history…[Read more]

]]> 0 fd474192cfddf6d906ed145bc0dd0396 Asa Simon Mittman deposited MEARCSTAPA: TEN YEARS OF TERATOLOGY in the group Monsters and Monstrosity https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1688301/ Sat, 23 May 2020 16:25:37 -0400 Ten years ago, back in 2008, a group of scholars interested in a diverse range of cultural figures at that point in time typically marginalized as subjects for seri ous critical study-werewolves, ghosts and revenants, giants, fairies and elves, vampires, the monsters on medieval mappa mundi, in medieval texts, in man uscript marginalia, and in…[Read more]

]]> 0 46c94877c0a4d1ff029627c84874492d Eric Sirota started the topic Streaming version of Off-Broadway musical based on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein in the discussion Monsters and Monstrosity https://hcommons.org/groups/monsters-and-monstrosity/forum/topic/streaming-version-of-off-broadway-musical-based-on-mary-shelleys-frankenstein-3/ Thu, 14 May 2020 13:43:59 -0400 My musical based on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein has been playing Off-Broadway in NYC for over 2-1/2 years (up until the pause caused by the health crisis).  It has had a great deal of interest from college and high school classes studying the novel, with groups attending the performances.
TheFrankensteinMusical.com

Even before covid, we had…[Read more]

]]> 3be8f3b32f5d74d3c833dc7805221fe5 Asa Simon Mittman deposited “The Other Close at Hand: Gerald of Wales and the ‘Marvels of the West,’” in The Monstrous Middle Ages, eds. Robert Mills and Bettina Bildhauer (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2003), 97-112 in the group Monsters and Monstrosity https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1671230/ Mon, 02 Dec 2019 16:26:27 -0500 “The Other Close at Hand: Gerald of Wales and the ‘Marvels of the West,’” in The Monstrous Middle Ages, eds. Robert Mills and Bettina Bildhauer (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2003), 97-112

]]> 0 3e13130c6fa5bc8e3f6965bdda6c44f2 Asa Simon Mittman deposited "Inconceivable Beasts: The Wonders of the East in the Beowulf Manuscript," with Susan Kim, in Dark Reflections, Monstrous Reflections: Essays on the Monster in Culture, ed. Sorcha Ní Fhlainn (Oxford: Inter-Disciplinary Press E-Book, 2008) in the group Monsters and Monstrosity https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1671227/ Mon, 02 Dec 2019 16:26:22 -0500 "Inconceivable Beasts: The Wonders of the East in the Beowulf Manuscript," with Susan Kim, in Dark Reflections, Monstrous Reflections: Essays on the Monster in Culture, ed. Sorcha Ní Fhlainn (Oxford: Inter-Disciplinary Press E-Book, 2008)

]]> 0 d72f4346695a6a3a2c690c9e13ad2fcd Asa Simon Mittman deposited “The Exposed Body and the Gendered Blemmye: Reading the Wonders of the East,” with Susan Kim, Fundamentals of Medieval and Early Modern Culture, v. 3, The History of Sexuality in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, ed. by Albrecht Classen and Marilyn Sandidge (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2008) in the group Monsters and Monstrosity https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1671223/ Mon, 02 Dec 2019 16:26:17 -0500 “The Exposed Body and the Gendered Blemmye: Reading the Wonders of the East,” with Susan Kim, Fundamentals of Medieval and Early Modern Culture, v. 3, The History of Sexuality in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, ed. by Albrecht Classen and Marilyn Sandidge (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2008)

]]> 0 d85b88d4a25e4359dc1830cb9c9dff68 Asa Simon Mittman deposited "Ungefraegelicu deor: Monsters and Truth in the Wonders of the East," Different Visions: A Journal of New Perspectives on Medieval Art, vol. 2 (2009), with Susan Kim in the group Monsters and Monstrosity https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1671214/ Mon, 02 Dec 2019 16:25:37 -0500 "Ungefraegelicu deor: Monsters and Truth in the Wonders of the East," Different Visions: A Journal of New Perspectives on Medieval Art, vol. 2 (2009), with Susan Kim

]]> 0 72588f1fb8aa536beedca7844894076f Asa Simon Mittman deposited Asa Simon Mittman and Susan M. Kim, Monsters and the Exotic in Early Medieval England, Literature Compass 6/2 (2009): 332–348 in the group Monsters and Monstrosity https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1671210/ Mon, 02 Dec 2019 16:25:31 -0500 The dominant literate culture of early medieval England – male, European, and Christian – often represented itself through comparison to exotic beings and mon- sters, in traditions developed from native mythologies, and Classical and Biblical sources. So pervasive was this reflexive identification that the language of the mon- strous occurs not…[Read more]

]]> 0 6bd6660314e5154996ef43327a52a2fa Asa Simon Mittman deposited "Monsters and the Exotic in Early Medieval England," The Oxford Handbook of Medieval Literature in English, ed. Elaine Treharne and Greg Walker (Oxford University Press, March 2010) in the group Monsters and Monstrosity https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1670694/ Thu, 21 Nov 2019 16:34:03 -0500 The dominant literate culture of early medieval England – male, European, and Christian – often represented itself through comparison to exotic beings and monsters, in traditions developed from native mythologies, and Classical and Biblical sources. So pervasive was this reflexive identification that the language of the monstrous occurs not onl…[Read more]

]]> 0 305ca222b96c8ba3fe06ecfe2e9aeea2 Asa Simon Mittman deposited “Answering the Call of the Severed Head,” Heads Will Roll: Decapitation Motifs in Medieval Literature, ed. Larissa Tracy (Leiden: Brill, 2012) in the group Monsters and Monstrosity https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1670687/ Thu, 21 Nov 2019 16:33:29 -0500 “Answering the Call of the Severed Head,” Heads Will Roll: Decapitation Motifs in Medieval Literature, ed. Larissa Tracy (Leiden: Brill, 2012)

]]> 0 307b980451a932f9beba5b4d1aa0f5d5 Asa Simon Mittman deposited “Introduction: The Impact of Monsters and Monster Studies,” in Research Companion to Monsters and the Monstrous, ed. Asa Simon Mittman, with Peter Dendle (London: Ashgate, 2012), 1-14 in the group Monsters and Monstrosity https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1670679/ Thu, 21 Nov 2019 16:32:56 -0500 “Introduction: The Impact of Monsters and Monster Studies,” in Research Companion to Monsters and the Monstrous, ed. Asa Simon Mittman, with Peter Dendle (London: Ashgate, 2012), 1-14

]]> 0 5c6a238d65c48b4ceff309130c8eb490 Asa Simon Mittman deposited "Navigating Myriad Distant Worlds," Lo Sguardo, N. 9 (II): “Spazi del Mostruoso; Luoghi Filosofici della Monstruosià,” (2012): 35-46 in the group Monsters and Monstrosity https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1670672/ Thu, 21 Nov 2019 16:31:43 -0500 Abstract: This essay attempts to draw connections between medieval maps and their
many monsters, digital cartographical interfaces, and modern experiences of the world.
Each impacts our understandings of the others. The medieval notion of speculum – the
metaphorical mirror that allows us to see our worlds and ourselves more clearly – dra…[Read more]

]]> 0 674eb2a52026de2551bfd1e178504cc0 Asa Simon Mittman deposited "Are the ‘monstrous races’ races?" postmedieval 6:1 (Spring 2015): 36–51 in the group Monsters and Monstrosity https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1670501/ Tue, 19 Nov 2019 16:26:03 -0500 This essay considers the use of the modern term ‘monstrous races’ to describe the wondrous beings found in Herodotus, Pliny, The Wonders of the East, world maps and elsewhere. Considering the etymology and history of the word ‘race,’ a series of modern definitions are tested out on figures found in the images and texts of the British Library…[Read more]

]]> 0 d3022076f9a885daa5d4839b9fa4ae0e Asa Simon Mittman deposited Asa Simon Mittman, "In Those Days: Giants And The Giant Moses In The Old English Illustrated Hexateuch," Imagining the Jew: Jewishness in Anglo-Saxon Literature and Culture, ed. Samantha Zacher (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2016) in the group Monsters and Monstrosity https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1670446/ Mon, 18 Nov 2019 16:26:42 -0500 The eleventh-century Old English Illustrated Hexateuch, probably produced in the second quarter of the eleventh century, in or near St. Augustine’s Abbey, Canterbury, houses a wealth of imagery, including several images of giants that appear throughout the manuscript’s approximately 400 images and 156 folios. These giants form a primary point of…[Read more]

]]> 0 ec0b1cb11a21eb0336f96c0bc390bfb1 Asa Simon Mittman deposited “Monstrous Iconography,” with Susan M. Kim, Companion to Medieval Iconography, ed. Colum Hourihane (New York: Routledge, 2017) in the group Monsters and Monstrosity https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1670442/ Mon, 18 Nov 2019 16:26:34 -0500 Monstrous iconography was a major, even central, element of the visual arts throughout the entire medieval period, Early Christian through late Gothic, east and west, north and south. There are few—if any—medieval cultural traditions that do not rely on monstrous imagery for vital cultural functions. Within this catchall category, often def…[Read more]

]]> 0 0c10148501d5d09a53ee9216348b5d79 Asa Simon Mittman deposited "Giants of Old" in Tiny Book of Mammoth Molars in the group Monsters and Monstrosity https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1670427/ Mon, 18 Nov 2019 16:25:21 -0500 A short introduction to an artist book on history and ecology and loss.

]]> 0 cdb1a6dd491e6585deefbfa02da6753d Asa Simon Mittman deposited Bryant and Mittman, Travels of the Blemmye-Folke, LISTENING 52.3.pdf in the group Monsters and Monstrosity https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1670323/ Sun, 17 Nov 2019 16:35:20 -0500 In this article, we bring to light a text that foregrounds listening to the monster, in this case the Blemmyes, by making available to scholarly readers a previously unknown Middle English poem of great historical and literary significance. Our discovery was made possible through the generous funding of the NEPS (National Endowment for the…[Read more]

]]> 0 5aa9e804dabd85ef227732378cb6af1d Asa Simon Mittman deposited Asa Simon Mittman and Sherry C.M. Lindquist, "Here There Be Dragons,” Antiques (May/June 2018) in the group Monsters and Monstrosity https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1670316/ Sun, 17 Nov 2019 16:34:42 -0500 "Here there be Dragons"

]]> 0 f1736aff494e16189ce2b703e03f849c Asa Simon Mittman deposited Monsters and Monstrosity in Jewish History From the Middle Ages to Modernity in the group Monsters and Monstrosity https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1670002/ Wed, 13 Nov 2019 16:31:14 -0500 The line “Enge anpaðas uncuð gelad” [narrow path, unknown way] appears twice in the Old English corpus: once in the Old English Exodus (a tale from Old Testament narrative poetry that tells us a story of the Israelites fleeing the Egyptians) and once in Beowulf (an epic story of masculine bravado, intense alienation and Otherness, and time past…[Read more]

]]> 0 004ca6422642cff54f51e3d29d5d6c2f Asa Simon Mittman deposited Maps and Monsters in Medieval England in the group Monsters and Monstrosity https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1669996/ Wed, 13 Nov 2019 16:31:04 -0500 This study centers on issues of marginality and monstrosity in medieval England. In the middle ages, geography was viewed as divinely ordered, so Britain's location at the periphery of the inhabitable world caused anxiety among its inhabitants. Far from the world's holy center, the geographic margins were considered monstrous. Medieval geography,…[Read more]

]]> 0 b5d65bac9f4a64e1f5b01b5a4f508b50 Asa Simon Mittman deposited Research Companion to Monsters and the Monstrous in the group Monsters and Monstrosity https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1669991/ Wed, 13 Nov 2019 16:30:59 -0500 The field of monster studies has grown significantly over the past few years and this companion provides a comprehensive guide to the study of monsters and the monstrous from historical, regional and thematic perspectives. The collection reflects the truly multi-disciplinary nature of monster studies, bringing in scholars from literature, art…[Read more]

]]> 0 5c74f165d8bb0d74d9fe4eb10de90352 Asa Simon Mittman deposited Inconceivable Beasts: The ‘Wonders of the East’ in the Beowulf Manuscript in the group Monsters and Monstrosity https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1669639/ Sat, 09 Nov 2019 16:25:29 -0500 Bound with Beowulf, the Old English Wonders of the East, a catalogue of marvelous beings, describes the very creatures it depicts as ungefrægelicu (unheard of, inconceivable). Insistently, these representations, both visual and textual, provoke questions about the nature and possibility of representation itself. In doing so, they also destabilize…[Read more]

]]> 0 4e6efba679c8ee69d92481e5d7673672 Asa Simon Mittman deposited Classic Readings on Monsters and the Monstrous Primary Sources on Monsters in the group Monsters and Monstrosity https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1669637/ Sat, 09 Nov 2019 16:25:27 -0500 University courses on monsters are becoming widespread as many disciplines use monsters to think about what it means to be human. To date no source collection on the literature of the monstrous exists, and this volume offers the key primary readings on monsters from ancient times to the present day. Each work is preceded by a critical…[Read more]

]]> 0 e0bb0e4255d6e15cefc6a6eb5cd679e9 Asa Simon Mittman deposited Sea Monsters, edited by Thea Tomaini and Asa Simon Mittman in the group Monsters and Monstrosity https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1669634/ Sat, 09 Nov 2019 16:25:24 -0500 BEACHES GIVE AND TAKE, bringing unexpected surprises to society, and pulling essentials away from it. The ocean offers monsters— whales and whirlpools—but when a massive creature is pushed into human proximity by the ocean’s wide shoulders, the waves deposit and erode human assumptions about itself and its environment: words, sounds, breath, water…[Read more]

]]> 0 f3a7d861ddd0a6c9e9e3c72b10cd5472 Eric Sirota started the topic Frankenstein (musical) Off-Broadway, Still plating in the discussion Monsters and Monstrosity https://hcommons.org/groups/monsters-and-monstrosity/forum/topic/frankenstein-musical-off-broadway-still-plating-2/ Mon, 08 Jul 2019 19:48:36 -0400 My musical, FRANKENSTEIN, based on Mary Shelley's novel, is still playing Off-Broadway, having been extended again through its 2nd complete year!
It now plays on Tuesday evenings at 7 PM, at St. Luke's Theatre (W. 46 & 8th Ave.)
TheFrankensteinMusical.com
(contact me for discount code!)

]]> 0aaa131b6fd4b7086cfd19abe722d1df Eric Sirota posted an update in the group Monsters and Monstrosity: I wrote a musical based on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, w […] https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1602386/ Fri, 02 Mar 2018 15:44:08 -0500 I wrote a musical based on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, which is playing in NY. It is entering its 6th month as an open-ended Off-Broadway production at St. Luke’s Theatre in the heart of the theatre district. http://www.TheFrankensteinMusical.com
“Frankenstein” plays on Monday nights at 7 PM.“..it is a success of a show that should be considere…[Read more]

]]> 0 517dc8029941960824eee489302ed543 Eric Sirota posted an update in the group Monsters and Monstrosity: I wrote a musical based on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, […] https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1594791/ Fri, 05 Jan 2018 00:54:10 -0500 I wrote a musical based on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, which is playing in NY. It is having an open-ended Off-Broadway production at St. Luke's Theatre in the heart of the theatre district.
"Frankenstein" plays on Monday nights at 7 PM.
While an adaptation, I try to honor the source material.

Info is here: http://www.TheFrankensteinMusical.com

(This…[Read more]

]]> 0 340e9b41830c7c4922dc54b749c5e2e6 John Robert Ziegler replied to the topic Introductions in the discussion Monsters and Monstrosity https://hcommons.org/groups/monsters-and-monstrosity/forum/topic/introductions-2/#post-7540 Tue, 15 Aug 2017 16:52:05 -0400 I divide my research between early modern English literature, especially drama (the focus of my doctoral research), and contemporary pop culture, with a concentration on the pop-culture side on monsters/the supernatural/sci-fi that has increased over time. Currently, I am working on an article about shapeshifting and subjectivity in the video game…[Read more]

]]> a0443c15829d4e9c20438a7a1334ac81 Fiona Mitchell replied to the topic Introductions in the discussion Monsters and Monstrosity https://hcommons.org/groups/monsters-and-monstrosity/forum/topic/introductions-2/#post-7429 Thu, 10 Aug 2017 16:03:43 -0400 Excellent idea, Caitlin. Thanks for getting it started.

I work in ancient Greek literature and myth primarily, although I'm interested in the way that Greek texts and narratives interact with those from other cultures. At the moment I'm working on the connections between ancient Greek and Indian creation narratives, including the monstrous…[Read more]

]]> b70e7d4560f80080e378a89783a82a8d Caitlin Duffy started the topic Introductions in the discussion Monsters and Monstrosity https://hcommons.org/groups/monsters-and-monstrosity/forum/topic/introductions-2/ Tue, 18 Jul 2017 20:43:50 -0400 Since we're all approaching monsters from different disciplines, perhaps it might be helpful to briefly introduce yourself and explain how you use monsters/monstrosity in your work here.

I'll start:

I'm an English Lit. Ph.D. student at Stony Brook University. As of this Fall, I will be in my second year of the program. My research interests focu…[Read more]

]]> 9188fbcba96627b07c4e291f19cf7878 Fiona Mitchell started the topic Welcome! in the discussion Monsters and Monstrosity https://hcommons.org/groups/monsters-and-monstrosity/forum/topic/welcome-9/ Mon, 05 Jun 2017 09:42:37 -0400 Hi everyone,

It's looking a bit bare around here, but hopefully we can do something about that!

I wanted to start this group so that there was another place that people working on monstrosity in different disciplines could talk to one another.

So, if you have seen/organised a relevant event, have read something interesting on the topic, have p…[Read more]

]]> db406dc14eca5716892100218b711aa1 Fiona Mitchell created the group Monsters and Monstrosity https://hcommons.org/activity/p/1570530/ Mon, 15 May 2017 16:10:22 -0400 0