Inherent Monstrosity in Narrative: The Witchy Writer and Liquid Identity

Brooke Maggs

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Inherent Monstrosity in Narrative: The Witchy Writer and Liquid Identity

In: Monstrous Reflection

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Brooke Maggs

Brooke Maggs
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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 161–170

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9781848884076_017

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As a child, I attended a Wizard of Oz themed party and was delegated green gloves to wear – the role of the Wicked Witch of the West. From that time, I have been intrigued by the weight and form of the ‘witch monster’ label, its effect on my creative writing practice and social identity more broadly. Investigating the ‘witch monster’ label challenges my impulse to impose narrative mechanisms such as genre, stereotypes and plot structures on characters and their stories. I find Jean Baudrillard’s theory of Western consumer society as a social mechanism, where consumer identities are constructed by binary relations, is a valid approach to exploring these narrative labels and mechanisms. Monsters are not binaries, there is monstrosity in all characters and their stories by extension. It is normal to be monstrous. By synthesising my concept of monstrosity with Baudrillard’s concept of symbolic exchange, specifically ‘radical otherness’, I will explore its potential to realise the inherent monstrosity in my writing. This will provide further understanding of symbolic exchange by illustrating the importance of forming relationships with ourselves and others not by constructed communication but unmediated communion. This is where we may be liquid and slide between various labels and their associated expectations. As a witchy writer, I explore the radical other in order to realise this liquid identity for characters and their stories. I seek to redefine monstrosity as an internal duality, not a binary good/wicked label, by creating narratives with extreme environments and intense relationships. A character’s relationship with their inherent monstrosity is a paradox that cannot be mediated by external mechanisms, therefore it subverts their constructed, stereotypical identity. This dual relation, like mine as both child and witch, reveals vulnerabilities and thus celebrates monstrosity as a way of writing and being.

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Monstrous Reflection

E-Book ISBN:: 9781848884076

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 01 Jan 2014

Subjects
- Literature and Cultural Studies
  - Comparative Studies & World Literature
- Social Sciences
  - Cultural Studies

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Inherent Monstrosity in Narrative: The Witchy Writer and Liquid Identity

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Monstrous Reflection

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