The unnameable monster in literature and film / by Maria Beville.
Material type:
TextSeries: Routledge interdisciplinary perspectives on literaturePublication details: New York ; London : Routledge, 2013.Description: xii, 203 p. : ill. b & w. ; 24 cmISBN: - 9780415833622
- 0415833620
- 306.1 GOT
| Item type | Current library | Call number | Copy number | Status | Date due | Barcode | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard Loan | LSAD Library Main Collection | 306.1 GOT (Browse shelf(Opens below)) | 1 | Available | 39002100571000 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
This book visits the 'Thing' in its various manifestations as an unnameable monster in literature and film, reinforcing the idea that the very essence of the monster is its excess and its indeterminacy. Tied primarily to the artistic modes of the gothic, science fiction, and horror, the unnameable monster retains a persistent presence in literary forms as a reminder of the sublime object that exceeds our worst fears. Beville examines various representations of this elusive monster and argues that we must looks at the monster, rather than through it, at ourselves. As such, this book responds to the obsessive manner in which the monsters of literature and culture are 'managed' in processes of classification and in claims that they serve a social function by embodying all that is horrible in the human imagination. The book primarily considers literature from the Romantic period to the present, and film that leans toward postmodernism. Incorporating disciplines such as cultural theory, film theory, literary criticism, and continental philosophy, it focuses on that most difficult but interesting quality of the monster, its unnameability, in order to transform and accelerate current readings of not only the monsters of literature and film, but also those that are the focus of contemporary theoretical discussion.
Description based on print version record.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Introduction -- Monsters as we know them: a history of named monsters -- Articulating the abstract: theories of the unnameable -- Things not to be named nor understood: the unnameable monster in nineteenth century literature -- The thing keeps coming back: modern and postmodern nondescripts -- The spectacle of the lack: real-ising the monster on screen -- Conclusion.
Author notes provided by Syndetics
Maria Beville is Lecturer in English at the University of Limerick, Mary Immaculate College, Ireland.