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Monstrous Reflection
This volume was first published by Inter-Disciplinary Press in 2014.
By engaging and questioning existing definitions and ideas, all of the essays in this volume represent the idea of a ‘monstrous reflection’ in one way or another. Monsters can serve as a means to explore the cultural anxieties they embody and the reasons for these anxieties. Thus monsters act as mirrors highlighting the causes for the creation of categories. A reflection can also be a comment or statement applicable in that the monstrous or the word ‘monster’ becomes a label of otherness and exclusion. This label is sometimes a construction, a discursive and rhetorical trope, which only serves to other those deemed different or undesirable, suggesting that the monster might not always be monstrous. This volume is about the ones gazing into the mirror and the ‘things’ staring back at humanity along with the uncomfortable truths that are revealed in the process.
By engaging and questioning existing definitions and ideas, all of the essays in this volume represent the idea of a ‘monstrous reflection’ in one way or another. Monsters can serve as a means to explore the cultural anxieties they embody and the reasons for these anxieties. Thus monsters act as mirrors highlighting the causes for the creation of categories. A reflection can also be a comment or statement applicable in that the monstrous or the word ‘monster’ becomes a label of otherness and exclusion. This label is sometimes a construction, a discursive and rhetorical trope, which only serves to other those deemed different or undesirable, suggesting that the monster might not always be monstrous. This volume is about the ones gazing into the mirror and the ‘things’ staring back at humanity along with the uncomfortable truths that are revealed in the process.
Petra Rehling is a scholar, sinologist, freelance journalist and artist. She has previously worked as Associate Professor at a Taiwanese University and is currently working at an Institute in Spain. Her publications include a book on Hong Kong cinema and articles on Wong Kar-wai, science fiction, wuxia, cyberculture and the Harry Potter phenomenon.
Elsa Bouet received her PhD from the University of Edinburgh in English Literature in 2013. Her thesis focused on depictions of ideological barriers in Cold war dystopian fiction. She is currently working on the representation of cityscapes in contemporary dystopian literature and science fiction and researching on monsters and the monstrous in relation to ideology and utopia.
Elsa Bouet received her PhD from the University of Edinburgh in English Literature in 2013. Her thesis focused on depictions of ideological barriers in Cold war dystopian fiction. She is currently working on the representation of cityscapes in contemporary dystopian literature and science fiction and researching on monsters and the monstrous in relation to ideology and utopia.