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Twisted Mirrors

At the Interface
Series Editors Dr Robert Fisher Dr Daniel Riha
Advisory Board Dr Alejandro Cervantes-Carson Dr Peter Mario Kreuter Professor Margaret Chatterjee Martin McGoldrick Dr Wayne Cristaudo Revd Stephen Morris Mira Crouch Professor John Parry Dr Phil Fitzsimmons Paul Reynolds Professor Asa Kasher Professor Peter Twohig Owen Kelly Professor S Ram Vemuri Revd Dr Kenneth Wilson, O.B.E

An At the Interface research and publications project. http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/at-the-interface/ The Evil Hub Monsters and the Monstrous

2012

Twisted Mirrors: Reflections of Monstrous Humanity

Edited by

Seth Alcorn and Steven Nardi

Inter-Disciplinary Press
Oxford, United Kingdom

Inter-Disciplinary Press 2012 http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/publishing/id-press/

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ISBN: 978-1-84888-111-2 First published in the United Kingdom in eBook format in 2012. First Edition.

Table of Contents
Introduction Seth Alcorn and Steven Nardi Part 1 Monsters and Science The Monstrous Foster Mother Tanja Poulsen The Monster and the Monstrous as Negotiations of Value: Representations of Human Cloning in (Literary) Narrative Fiction Anne-Fleur van der Meer Making Myself a Monster: Self-Portraiture as Teratological Specimen Lisa Temple-Cox Pieced Texts and Patchworked Identities: The Monstrous Corpus in Shelley Jacksons Hyperfiction Patchwork Girl Doreen Bauschke Part 2 Monsters and Gender The Monster inside Me: Unnatural Births in Early Modern Italian and French Fairy Tales Belinda Calderone Print Culture and the Monstrous Hermaphrodite in Early Modern England Whitney Dirks-Schuster Female Monsters in Kabyle Myths and Folktales: Their Nature and Functions Sabrina Zerar Dangerous Creatures: Brahmin Widows as Monsters in Twentieth-Century India Sarah Rangaratnam Sympathy for the She-Devil: Poison Women and Vengeful Ghosts in the Films of Nakagawa Nobou Michael E. Crandol 47 3 11 ix

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Part 3

Monsters and History Tracing the Monsters in Ottoman Turkish Novels: Reification in Halid Ziya Uakligils Novels Baak Deniz zdoan From the Monstrous to the God-Like: The Pacification of Vengeful Spirits in Early-Medieval Japanese Handscrolls Sara L. Sumpter Changing Skin: The Monstrous in Liaozhai zhiyi Sarah Dodd Who Mourns for Godzilla? Gojira and De-Asianization of Postwar Japan Steven Nardi and Munehito Moro Specters of Capitalism: Ghostly Labour and the Topography of Ruin in Post-Industrial Japan Norihiko Tsuneishi 95

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Part 4

The Monstrous and the Normal Reclaiming the Sexual Psychopath: Sadomasochism and the Post-War Male Crisis in Jim Thompsons The Killer Inside Me Patricia Ann Grisafi Fear, Monstrosity and Survival: A Gothic Reading of The Gravediggers Daughter Maria Luisa Pascual Garrido El Grecos Artistic Degeneration: Astigmatism, Paranoia and the Anomalous Nuno Rodrigues 141

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Part 5

Traditional Monsters Bella and the Beast: A Transformative Tale Heidi Horvath A Monstrous Aporia: The Redemption of the Vampire as a Metaphor for a Stake in Moral Agency Eva Hayles Gledhill 171 181

Queering Intimacy in True Blood: Eric Northmans Desexualized Intimacy Mana Kawanishi The Deviant Subjectivity and Savage Sexuality of the Pubescent Male: The Werewolf Metamorphosis as Cinematic Trope Steven Rita-Procter Part 6 Understanding the Monstrous Prey Deborah P. Dixon Monster or Saviour? Treatment for the Parentified Child and Siblings in Foster Care Shantay Mines A Turbid Moodiness Lingers: Horrorism and Human Relations Louise Katz

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Introduction Seth Alcorn and Steven Nardi


Twisted Mirrors is a collection of papers given at the 9th Annual Monsters and the Monstrous conference. The conference attracted international attendees with a wide variety of backgrounds and specialities. The papers chosen for inclusion in this volume represent a cross-section of the interests displayed at the conference and, as such, cover numerous topics. There is no single definition of the monstrous; traditional monsters, such as vampires and werewolves, are much in evidence, but so too are less obvious monsters, such as parentified children, the unknown, and, in one case, a hypertext. The imaginatively executed chapters in this collection provide valuable insights into what we consider to be monstrous and why. The papers presented at this conference, included as chapters in this eBook, deal with a wide variety of monsters and the monstroushuman and inhuman, real and imaginary, grotesque and ordinary. The subjects cover a broad expanse of both space and time: all of the usual suspects are presentvampires, demons, and vengeful spirits, but one can also find psychotics, landmarks, and text itself are held up as monsters. The topics range from renaissance broadsheets articles to modern teen literature, from the history of an island off the coast of Japan to masculinity and deviance in pulp novels from the 50s. One of the more fascinating threads that binds these chapters together is the role that perception plays in the creation of the monstrous. The authors of the chapters explore the ways in which various works invite viewers or readers to identify that which is monstrous. Many of these chapters explore how perception creates monsters, but also how the perception of the monstrous forms scientific, social and political discourses in reaction to the monstrous. In this way, the monster becomes not only an example of a being outside of society, but one that society uses to contain, manipulate, and control difference. The rise of a scientific interest in organizing and reclassifying monstrosity is one recurrent theme. In The Monstrous Foster Mother, for example, Tanja Poulsen looks at the case of a 1920s serial killer in Denmark who murdered the foster children she had taken in. Poulsen is interested in the scientific discourse that grows around the killer in the press, and the translation of the concept of evil into the scientifically defined abnormal. In The Monster and the Monstrous as Negotiations of Value: Representations of Human Cloning in (Literary) Narrative Fiction, Anne-Fleur van der Meer is interested in the pressure that the science of cloning puts on the distinctions cultures make between natural and unnatural. Using the Flemish novel The Angel Maker, by Stefan Brijis as a text, van der Meer shows how not only the products of cloning, but also the scientist and processes associated with cloning are portrayed as perverse, inhuman, or abnormal.

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__________________________________________________________________ Lisa Temple-Cox takes the way sciences interest in classification more personally. In her chapter Making Myself a Monster: Self-Portraiture as Teratological Specimen, Temple-Cox describes her own experimentation with using the processes, equipment and imagery of the scientific specimen as a means for creating self-portraits. Through creating images of herself as a dissected, bottled, or otherwise preserved specimen, Temple-Cox finds a way to query the historical use of scientific discourse to define and codify some bodies and subjects as other. The techniques of dissection are applied to the text itself in Doreen Bauschkes Pieced Texts and Patchworked Identities: The Monstrous Corpus in Shelley Jacksons Hyperfiction Patchwork Girl. Bauschke presents an imaginative look at a hypertext which is just as much of a hybrid as its eponymous heroine. Baushke uses a Bakhtinian lens to examine a text which, in part, is cobbled together from other texts of various genres. As the chapter unfolds, Bauschke inspects the metafictional relationships of her chosen text with itself, its hero, and Mary Shelleys Frankenstein, this examination is never as incisive as when Bauschke offers an interpretation of the heroines Usher-like end. Monstrosity as a means of controlling women is another theme. Belinda Calderone, in her chapter The Monster inside Me: Unnatural Births in Early Modern Italian and French Fairy Tales, discusses the early modern belief that monstrous births were the outcome of external causes which affected pregnant women. In many such cases, the sexual habits of women were thought to confer inhuman shapes on their children, thus the birth of such a child established not only its outer monstrosity, but also the inner monstrosity of its mother. Calderone further discusses the popularity of this trend in the popular culture of the time as well as the reasons for the intermingling of folklore with reality. Whitney Dirks-Schuster examines the popularity of monstrous birth and monstrous gender as she explores early modern examples of both scientific and popular literature about hermaphrodites in her chapter, Print Culture and the Monstrous Hermatphrodite in Early Modern England. Sabrina Zerar discusses the conflict over the role of women to a monstrous role in Kabyle mythology in Female Monsters in Kabyle Myths and Folktales: Their Nature and Functions. Sarah Rangaratnam looks at widowhood in Dangerous Creatures: Brahmin Widows as Monsters in Twentieth Century India. Rangaratnam follows the figure of the widow through Deepa Mehtas film Water and Padma Viswanathans novel The Toss of a Lemon. Widows, who remain outside the direct social control of male family members, still carry the family lineage and reputation. Rangaratnam shows how they are both demonized and sanctified as a means of containment. Michael E. Crandol follows the evolution of two monstrous women in a pair of Japanese films by Nakagawa Nobuo, one about a good wife turned monstrous by

Seth Alcorn and Steven Nardi

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__________________________________________________________________ her husbands poor conduct, and the other about a poison woman who becomes monstrous in order to provide for her daughter after the deaths of her two husbands Other chapters treat the emergence of the category of monstrous historically. Baak Deniz zdoan, in Tracing the Monsters in Ottoman Turkish Novels: Reification in Halid Ziya Uaklgils Novels, traces how the meaning of the monster in Turkish literature changes meaning under the influence of modernity. In beautifully translated passages from Uaklgils novels, zdoan shows how moneys ability to reify everything becomes an aspect of the monstrous, infecting the mind, corrupting logic and creating insanity. Sara L. Sumpter uses representations of vengeful spirits in Medieval Japanese scroll painting to show that there are alternate ways of organizing the opposition between angel and monster than that of a dialectical opposition. She traces accounts of human intervention transforming demonic beings, who wreak terrible acts of revenge, into beneficial divine presences. Scroll painting itself, she shows, could be one of the pacifying acts that produce this transformation. Sarah Dodd shows us the restorative and transformative powers of monstrosity in three Chinese folktales in her contribution, Changing Skin: The Monstrous in Liaozhai zhiyi. Steven Nardi and Munehito Moro collaborated on a chapter which investigates Godzilla as a metaphor for the Old Japan. The two authors provide support for their claim that the ambivalence about Godzilla in the eponymous film is due to sense of mourning that the pre-war Japanese existence must give way so that Japan can enter the post-war world. Norihiko Tsuneishis chapter, Specters of Capitalism: Ghostly Labour and the Topography of Ruin in Post-Industrial Japan, considers the monstrous in context of an island, Hashima, off the coast of Nagasaki, Japan. Nicknamed Battleship Island for the crown of ferroconcrete industrial structures that define its skyline, Moving from the completely monstrous to an intersection between the monstrous and the normal, Patricia Ann Grisafis Reclaiming the Sexual Psychopath: Sadomasochism and the Post-War Male Crisis in Jim Thompsons The Killer Inside Me treats with a confusion of identity between those two poles. Grisafi sees the lionization of the inner psychopath as an attempt to reframe masculine identity in the postwar Forties and Fifties. Grisafis chapter looks at the correlations between sadomasochism, pornography, and the meaning of masculinity as portrayed by pulp novels; she also discusses the backlash which occurred in reaction to this relatively explicit turn in popular fiction. In her chapter on Joyce Carol Oatess novel The Gravediggers Daughter (2007), Maria Luisa Pascual Garrido also examines the complex task of looking inside, and finding something other. The novels protagonist, the youngest child of a family that fled to the United States from Nazi Germany in 1936, survives and acquires what seems to be a comfortable middle-class life, but under the surface she remains partly something other, uncanny, and monstrous.

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__________________________________________________________________ Similarly, Nuno Rodrigues explores the tension between the pathological and the normal in his chapter on the visual artist El Greco. Rodrigues argues that the historical attribution of El Grecos genius to a physical and psychological illness, while patently false, touches on something true. While it is clearly wrong to dismiss the unique vision of the world in El Grecos work as pathological, it is true that it represents a way of seeing that is anomalousoutside the range of visual and spiritual experience that is normal. Traditional monsters also receive their due: Heidi Horvath explores possible alchemical connections in the Twilight saga, while Eva Halyes Gledhill uses Angel/Angelus from Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel to illustrate the theme of queer redemption in a hetero-normal society. Mana Kawanishi argues that vampiresnormally associated with nonconformist sexual behaviours that underscore their social marginality complicate the normative contrast between sexual and familial intimacy. In the vampire, she argues, it is not possible to keep a lovers desire for intimate connection distinct from the desire for connection with a father, a brother or a companion. Steven Rita-Procter looks at werewolf films; he is particularly interested in the werewolfs association with the pubescent male. The monster is used, in the case to mark the male teenager as a kind of degenerate, caught between the fully realized identities of child and adult. Deborah P. Dixon contrasts the conception of the Enlightenment as a scholarly undertaking with the idea that those at the sharp end of the stick, as she puts it, contributed as much to that movement as did the more erudite by collating documents, journals, and eyewitness reports of the La Bete Du Gvaudan. Shantay Mines draws on his background as a therapist to provide an alternative to the image of parentified children as monsters disrupting a family dynamic. In the final chapter, Louise Katz takes the idea of the monstrous human even further by examining the monstrous other in light of Israeli/Palestinian relations. As might be expected, the breadth of topics demanded a similar breadth of scholarship, and the following chapters do not disappoint. The writers included demonstrate their creative and critical faculties using many different approaches, all of which prove to be satisfying. Seth Alcorn is a PhD student at The Catholic University of America, where he studies Irish and American postmodernism. Steven Nardi is an Assistant Professor of American Literature at Medgar Evers College, The City University of New York.

Part 1 Monsters and Science

The Monstrous Foster Mother Tanja Poulsen


Abstract In Denmark, 1920, Dagmar Overby was arrested when it was discovered that she had made a year-long and profitable career of taking children into foster care, then murdering them as soon as their mothers had left. The case of Dagmar received a vast amount of attention, contemporary as well as afterwards. Following the dramatic development of the case, the focus of attention seemed to be the search for an explanation of this woman and her behaviour in the sciences as well as contemporary society. She was labelled as aberrant, a monster, in a way that allowed society to exclude her from normal, positive humanity while still prosecuting her as sane (and human). The construction of this type of serial killer as a monster is in part a synthesis between popular (media) opinion and a medicojudicial reasoning, allowing the idea of the monstrous evil to be translated into a scientific discourse and establishing a way to explain the murderer. In the case of Dagmar, the search for an explanation can be identified in contemporary newspaper articles, the trial and a psychiatric evaluation, but also in a more recent (fiction) novel of her life and a documentary about the case which incorporates a present-day forensic psychiatrist. It is this construction of monstrosity and abnormality as an explanation that I intend to examine further. Key Words: Murder, foster mother, baby farms, monstrosity, explanation, abnormality. ***** 1. Dagmar This chapter will explore the creation of monstrosity in relation to the monstrous foster mother as exemplified by Dagmar Overby, a woman who fostered and consequently murdered several infants in Denmark until her capture in 1920. I will examine how explanation becomes central to narrating the story of Dagmar and how monstrosity plays a crucial part in this explanation. At the time of her capture, Dagmar was 33 years old and living under working class conditions in Copenhagen. Since her early twenties, she had had four children of her own, presumably fathered by four different men: Two were dead, one she had left to be found by strangers and the last she had raised until the child was removed when she was imprisoned for larceny in 1918. She was married, but only stayed with her abusive husband for short periods through the years, and was currently living with another man, a stoker named Svendsen. Dagmar was arrested when she refused to give back an infant she had taken into care, while being unable to produce a satisfactory explanation of the childs

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__________________________________________________________________ whereabouts. When charred childrens bones were found in her stove, the case unravelled and evidence of more murders appeared. Ultimately, in March 1921, she was charged with the murders of eight infants; evidence of these murders was indisputable. However, Dagmar confessed to twice that number and police as well as the media would estimate as much as three times the number. Nevertheless, it took years before anyone questioned Dagmars practice and the coming and going of infants from her home. At the time, it was not uncommon for especially poor, unwed women to give up their infants for adoption or foster care, paying the receiving family some money for their inconvenience. This practice becomes part of the explanation of why Dagmar would and could acquire so many children, as she just had to advertise in the local newspaper for the babies and as she received relatively large sums to take in the children. Evidence shows that she killed the children relatively soon after receiving them, then dumping the bodies or burning them in the stove. 2. The Story Unfolding Newspapers, relating the story from the mystical disappearance of a baby to the trial, centre their narrative on explanation, to find some way of making sense of what Dagmar did. The need for an explanation fuels the narrative, centring it on greed, mental deviance and monstrosity. For example, as the case progresses and the number of murdered babies increases, a collective sigh of relief is uttered in the papers, a relief pertaining to the emergence of the motive of money, the fact that Dagmar was paid relatively large sums of money for taking a child into care or adopting it. The explanatory force of this motive is, as one article states, the commonly accepted idea that people will do anything for money, Dagmar simply being exceptionally ruthless, And immediately at the sight of this money one is relieved: the inscrutable fog of mystery lifts, at least now one has the satisfaction of understanding the murderess. 1 Illustrating the comfort of explanation, this labels Dagmar as understandable and exceptional at the same time. Still, the explanation of greed does not satisfy completely, and the speculations continue. The search for an explanation of the crimes seems to be central exactly because the explanation provides a sort of safeguard for society, categorizing this behaviour as abnormal and allowing for its punishment or correction. At the same time, it also separates the transgressive individual from the inherent and common, even banal evil of everyday societythat is the whole range of unwanted children, poor unwed mothers and the general social processes that lead to children being placed in advertisements every week. Separating the transgressive individual from the unspecified mass of morally challenging but common procedures, making

Tanja Poulsen

__________________________________________________________________ Dagmar exceptional or maybe just pointing out the extreme nature of her not entirely uncommon transgressions, is introducing the monster as the focus of attention, labelling the common evil as not that bad. 3. The Creation of the Monster as Explanation In the popular imagination, then, Dagmar becomes a monster in the sense that she is an individual who has transgressed norms for human behaviour in a manner so extreme that her humanity is questioned thus allowing the metaphor of the monster to be a new categorization of her as an individual and being an explanation of the inexplicable. Equally, the concept of pathological abnormality becomes the scientific explanation of Dagmar as a deviant individual, the explanation essential to the medico-legal discourse. The monster as metaphor and the concept of abnormality are crucial when discussing the narratives surrounding Dagmar as a criminal who displays a repulsive, aberrant behaviour towards others, one whose deeds extend beyond a mere transgression of the law challenging common knowledge of what a human being is capable of, making her abnormal as well as monstrous. Headlines reading The Human Animal, The Human Monster, 2 stories about her alleged vampirism and her lack of human emotions all point to the monstrous, to the blurring of the human with the inhuman. Medico-legal discourse attempts to reintegrate this apparent inhumanity in humanity as a pathological deviance but nevertheless the monster as metaphor still seems to be crucial in narrating and understanding the stories of Dagmar. The metaphor of the monster and the concept of abnormality are linked to the concept of normality. Positioning oneself within the normative boundaries is being normal, according to the Oxford English Dictionary it is [c]onstituting or conforming to a type or standard; [to be] regular, usual, typical; ordinary, conventional. And it is to be: physically and mentally sound; free from any disorder; healthy. This provides an interesting point, normal being a sort of nonspecified average of all things compared and then specifically an ideal medical condition, not only pertaining to the science of medicine, but as the medical metaphor of a seemingly arbitrary cultural soundness. Normality as the positive norm is the preference for this ideal condition, which is in essence defined by its other. 3 Hence the repulsed, the abnormal, brings the concept of normality into (its only) existence. In consequence, the definition of this other is crucial to understanding what we conceive as normal. Categorizing Dagmar as abnormal and monstrous, then, defines normality by being its other. 4 As suggested by the papers during the investigation, Dagmars seeming lack of normal human emotions was the focus of the reports of the trial. Commenting on how she differed from the expected normality of human reaction, the reporters paint a picture of what it means to be normal mainly by focusing on what is not. This applies both to Dagmar as medically abnormal as well as her being

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__________________________________________________________________ monstrous, exemplified most clearly by the psychiatric expert opinion on her, as discussed below, and the prosecutor stating that Dagmar Overby has no human emotions! There is no other likeness between her and a human being than her appearance! 5 Ordered by the court, the medical evaluation of Dagmar as it was produced by the doctor and professor of psychiatry, August Wimmer, served as the scientific explanation of Dagmar. His statement, a total of eighteen pages, contains a similar though more coherentstory to the ones appearing in the newspapers, and is based on several interviews with Dagmar herself, her relatives and police interrogations. The story is one of a girl who was born greedy, dishonest and uncontrollable, though she was quite bright. Her disregard for moral values and her excessive behaviour is listed side by side with the lack of symptoms of actual insanity. She is described as promiscuous, yet frigid, a drug addict that never seemed intoxicated and she was reported by everyone to be very good with kids yet she killed them quite frequently. Again, her seeming lack of normal human emotions is reported (as the professor deduced from the police reports and as he himself experienced in his interviews with her) side by side with her excessive emotions, her anger, self-pity and sense of drama. Dagmar seems to be too much and too little of everything, distancing her from the ideal normality in every direction. Concluding, the professor describes Dagmar as [...] from her early years a psychopathic individual, a degenerate with a reactive-uneven emotional life with extreme fluctuations between good and evil, difficult to be around, easily feeling wronged, impulsive temper, with early emerging moral defects as lying, dishonesty and stealing, with an inclination towards rather cruelly blaming innocent people of her own misdeeds to cover for herself, with a strong inclination towards an irregular way of life concerning sexuality (although claiming and perhaps even actual frigidity). 6 Upon listing all these deviances, the professor goes on to describe how she is indeed not insane and that her alleged drug problem had not influenced her judgment during the murders, thus allowing her to be convicted as sane, yet she is at the same time absolutely abnormal. The concept of abnormality can be perceived as a way of translating monstrosity to a scientific discourse, to explain the evil monster in terms of pathology. Abnormality defines, whereas the monster depicts, the otherness of the criminal, excluding the criminal from normality but also connecting this criminal to all monsters, to a special breed of other. The concept of abnormality, as presented in the expert medical opinion of Dagmar, seems to allow for the inclusion of the criminal into society more than does the

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__________________________________________________________________ metaphor of the monsterby inclusion I mean categorization, examination and control of the abnormal individual. Hence, the monstrous criminal is excluded from normality, figuratively excluded from humanity but always literally contained within humanity, included through the concept of abnormality allowing separation, examination and control. 4. The Never-Ending Story Bridging a gap of almost a century, a recent documentary of Dagmars life tells the same story as it was told in the newspapers, the medical evaluation and the police reports in the 1920s. Garnishing the dramatic storytelling with a present-day expert authority, three women speak to the case: a historian, the author of a biographical novel of Dagmars life and most importantly: a forensic psychiatrist. Mimicking the original evaluation of Dagmar, this present day scientific authority re-establishes Dagmar as emotionally deviant much the same way that the professor did. This modernized tale of monstrosity garnished with scientific authority points to the same thing as it did then, the need for an explanation, the need to find a way to effectively categorize and control this individual, again through the merger of the monstrous and the abnormal. Also focused on explanation, the aforementioned novel describing her life is dedicated by its author to explore and understand what made Dagmar do what she did, as we see in the preface: Evil people fascinate us. We are drawn to them in a strange way. At the same time we are disgusted and curious. This also applies to the case Dagmar Overby, who killed at least 25 infants. What was the impetus for her evil? Is evil not the only apt word when the person feels no remorse? Is it possible to be born evil or is it rather the environment and the chain of circumstances that create the person? [...] I [have] tried, driven by my curiosity, to investigate more than the person Dagmar Overby, learn more about her age and the conditions she was subjected to, in a determined quest to find an explanation. 7 Illustrating the narrative drive towards motive, plotting an explanation, this preface creates the framework for this narrative of Dagmar. The novel tells about the same story as all of the other narratives, though it tries to incorporate Dagmars own version as well. This results in a rather strange mix of the abused child growing into a strong-headed woman that did not want to conform to the oppressive moral standards of the time, and the deranged murderer that could drown an infant in a bathtub, then shoving the body into a kitchen cupboard until the smell made it necessary to scrape out the remains and dispose of them and describing in detail how she could strangle a child, wrap it in a newspaper and then

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__________________________________________________________________ write a letter to the infants mother, telling her how happy and well the baby was. More than bridging the gaps in the representations of Dagmar, this book seems to illustrate a point: the necessity of the metaphor of the monster, of Dagmar as a monster, because no satisfactory explanation arises from studying her, or even the different narratives of her. This seems already present in the preface, the narrative as a quest for the explanation of evilas evil may be the only apt word describing actions like these, the monster may be the most satisfactory solution in describing an individual like Dagmar if the narratives are to have their explanation. That she was greedy is not enough, this does not make her exceptional enough as to safeguard us from regular repetition. That she was abnormal does not necessitate exactly these crimes, even though it makes containing her easier. But, Dagmar as a monster brings some relief, that she is not just abnormal but somewhat inhuman as well makes the distance between normal human society and her great enough to comfort through its otherness. The narrative drive towards plot and explanation is identifiable in the narratives, and this drive leads to the metaphor, that is powerful and effective in its performance, in labelling the individual as a monster. Through the plotting of the narrative and its explanatory force, Dagmar is excluded from normality and normal humanity, but included or contained within society as a categorized being, abnormal and monstrous but explainable and controllable. In the end, Dagmar was sentenced to death. As it was common practice, she was soon after pardoned and spent her remaining life in prison, where she died in 1929.

Notes
Fru Overbye!, Ekstra-Bladet, September 14 1921, 2. No author credited, my translation. 2 Menneskedyret fra Enghavevej, Det Menneskelige Uhyre. 3 Georges Canguilhem, Le normal et le pathologique (Paris: PUF, 1994), 41, 177178. 4 I discuss the monster as metaphor and abnormality as a concept in greater detail in my article Appearing Inhuman in the volume Travelling Concepts and the Metaphor of Travelling in Literary and Cultural Studies, ed. Ansgar Nuenning, Sibylle Baumbach and Beatrice Michaelis. To be published by WVT Trier in the GCSC series (Giessen Contributions to the Study of Culture) in 2012. 5 A. T. (authors initials, full name unknown), Nvningerne kendte Dagmar Overbye skyldig I overlagt Mord, og hun blev dmt til Dden, Politiken (March 4 1921): 3. My translation. 6 August Wimmer, psychiatric evaluation of Dagmar, December 31 1920, part of the material stored at Landsarkivet Sjlland. My translation.
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__________________________________________________________________ Karen Sndergaard Jensen, Englemagersken (Allerd: Forlaget Kallisto 2007), 7. My translation.
7

Bibliography
Newspapers: Aftenbladet, September 1920. Ekstra-Bladet, September 1920 and March 1921. Politiken, September 1920 and March 1921. Social-Demokraten, March 1921. Records from the State Archives: Landsarkivet Sjlland: Kbenhavns Byret, stre Landsrets sager pk. L-164. Records of the Interrogations of Dagmar and Persons Connected to the Case and Wimmer, August: The Psychiatric Evaluation of Dagmar (no title), addressed to Kbenhavns Politis 7de Undersgelseskammer, Decemeber 31 1920. Literature: Brookman, Fiona. Understanding Homicide. London: SAGE Publications 2005. Canguilhem, Georges. Le normal et le pathologique. Paris: PUF 1994. DCruze, Shani, Sandra Walklate and Samantha Pegg. Murder. Devon: Willan Publishing 2006. Foucault, Michel. Les anormaux: cours au Collge de France (1974-1975). Paris: Gallimard 1999. Jensen, Karen Sndergaard. Englemagersken. Allerd: Forlaget Kallisto 2007. Lkke, Anne. Dden i barndommen: spdbrnsddelighed og moderniserings processer i Danmark 1800 til 1920. Kbenhavn: Gyldendal 1998.

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__________________________________________________________________ Nielsen, Beth Grothe. Letfrdige qvindfolk: om Gisle Nielsdatter og andre barnemordersker. rhus: Aarhus Universitetsforlag 1999. Documentary: Danske Mord Englemagersken. DR2 March 2 2008. Tanja Poulsen is a doctoral student at the Department of Comparative Literature at the University of Aarhus, Denmark. While writing a dissertation on monstrous murderers, currently her research and writing is devoted to examining the creation of explanation.

The Monster and the Monstrous as Negotiations of Value: Representations of Human Cloning in (Literary) Narrative Fiction Anne-Fleur van der Meer
Abstract This chapter reflects on the function and meaning of the monster and the monstrous in (literary) narrative fiction in which scientific theories or developments around human cloning are represented. In 1997 Dolly the sheep was cloned. The birth of the first cloned mammal causes in various domains as science, politics, journalism, and media, fundamental (ethical) debates in which the worth, impact, and consequences of this scientific development are negotiated. Moreover, the news of Dolly was read as an indication of the imminence of human reproductive cloning. The science of cloning is not only a much-debated issue in academic literature and (popular) media; it also features in various works of (literary) narrative fiction. Besides the broad spectrum of references to technological and material dimensions of cloning, fictional representations all have, as this chapter argues, clear ethical, moral, or evaluative implications. These appear, for example, when dystopian futures are created through which fiction reflects on horrible consequences of human cloning for society or the cloned individual. A particular role in these dystopias is played by the scientist and his/her artificial created subject(s). Often the scientist is represented as having a perverse, monstrous character, appearance, and behaviour, sometimes referring to that of the devil. Moreover, the results of the cloning technology, for example the cloned children or parts of their body, are often represented as (extremely) deformed, ill, ugly, or beastly. By analysing the Flemish novel The Angel Maker written by Stefan Brijs, this argues how the monster and the monstrous can be considered as evaluations of the science of cloning and how they can be seen as valuestatements embedded in the cultural network of negotiations on (the ethics of) human cloning. Key Words: (Literary) narrative fiction, cloning, The Angel Maker, monsters and the monstrous, negotiations of value. ***** 1. Introduction Since the sheep Dolly, its name referring to the famous actress Dolly Parton, was born in 1997, scientists proved to be able to artificially produce life. There seems to be no escape from the conclusion that in modern patent law animals (or even humans) are in certain sense reduced to the status of raw material or carrier of genetic information. 1 By that, cloning puts heavy pressure on many of the culturally entrenched distinctions and demarcations that are constitutive of our

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The Monster and the Monstrous as Negotiations of Value

__________________________________________________________________ natural order. 2 Therefore, the birth of the first cloned mammal, causes in various domains as science, politics, journalism, and media, serious (ethical) debates in which the worth, impact, and consequences of this scientific development are negotiated. In these discussions, entities that challenge the settled boundaries of nature are often designated as monsters or as treading in the footsteps of Frankenstein and his creation. 3 The science of cloning, or the human intervening in the natural order, is not only a much-debated issue in or around academic literature and (popular) media; it also features in various works of (literary) narrative fiction. 4 In a substantial number of these narratives, cloning is represented in a dystopian future and receives the connotations of the monster and the monstrous. The next paragraph contains an overview of the narrative representation of cloning in dystopian futures and includes some reflections on their relation to the public opinion on cloning. Paragraph four contains an analysis of the monster and the monstrous in the novel The Angel Maker, written by Stefan Brijs, translated into 12 languages (originally written in Dutch). The analysis regularly refers to definitions of the monster, the monstrous, perversion and impurity outlined by Mary Douglas 5 and Donald Levy. 6 The novel is exemplary for the way in which fiction on cloning represents the cloning science and enables me to argue how the monster and the monstrous in these narratives can be considered as evaluations embedded in the cultural network of negotiations and discussions on (the ethics of) human cloning. 7 2. The Monster and the Monstrous in Fiction on Cloning Joan Haran has studied the cultural history of cloning in the UK and in the US. In Human Cloning in the Media he states: There is in fact a long cultural history of the representation of cloning in literature and film which informs and enriches the contemporary Western debates about [] cloning. 8 According to him, the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelly is very important in this tradition 9 just like the novel Brave New World (1932) by Huxley and The Boys from Brazil (1978) by Ira Levin. The birth of the first cloned mammal Dolly in 1997, has given the production of films and literature on cloning a new impulse. Nerlich, Clarke, and Dingwall analyse the science fiction films Gattaca (1997) and Alien Resurrection (1997), and the novel The Day after Roswell (1997). These are to them exemplary for the way in which science fiction currently sketches the nightmare scenarios of recent scientific developments. 10 The tradition of representing cloning and the scientists as the monster and the monstrous is still current. There is for instance the creation of a clone in the film Splice (2009) by two talented rebellious scientists. 11 Exemplary too in this respect is the film The 6th Day (2000), 12 the film Godsend (2004) 13 and the (science fiction) novels Embryo (1999) and The House of the Scorpion (2002).

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13

__________________________________________________________________ I would like to note that the monster and the monstrous connotations have to be considered in its widest sense; the monsters are varying from a concrete horrible and fearful creation like Frankenstein, to, less literally, just ugly or deformed creations sometimes acting as robots or freaks. Overall, they are in a sense deviations from a (human) norm. Moreover, the monster and the monstrous are not bound to the scientific creations only, also the scientists who practice the cloning science are described with monstrous connotations, such as having a perverse, inhuman, or abnormal mind. Finally, also the scientific methods or processes that belong to the cloning science are described in monstrous terms. There are many studies concerning the role and function of these narratives in the public domain. 14 A large number of theorists argue that the science fictional dystopias negatively influence the public opinion on cloning, for instance due to the way the media uses them to inform the public about (the dangers of) technological and scientific developments. 15 In her analysis on the representations of cloning in literature and film, Jose van Dijck states that science fiction has indeed endowed our collective imagination with what-if scenarios. She argues, however, that: As scripts of future developments, science fiction stories envelop the tension between technical and literal invention; they allow imaginary space to explore the various effects of technical creations, call into question our sense of the world as it is, and question the need for new technologies. In other words, besides projecting a possible future, science fiction often entails a criticism of present technological or social arrangements. 16 According to Van Dijck, rather than serving as evidence to back up onedimensional fears, one has to exploit the great potential of science fiction novels to address philosophical, ethical and moral questions. The function and meaning of fictional representations can be a kind of reflection on, or exploring of, scientific developments. 17 In the following chapter, this paper will underline the calling of Van Dijck for a broader contextual reading of fiction on scientific developments. I will focus on The Angel Maker by Stefan Brijs and I will analyse the monstrous on three components: the cloned children, the scientist, and the cloning practice in general. Finally (in paragraph four), I will show how the monster and the monstrous in fiction on cloning can be studied as evaluations of the cloning science, and thus as negotiations of value in cultural debates on (the ethics of) human cloning. 3. The Angel Maker The Angel Maker narrates the autistic and perverse academic cloning scientist doctor Victor Hoppe. He wants to duel and conquer with God and thus he clones

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The Monster and the Monstrous as Negotiations of Value

__________________________________________________________________ three children. The children are all but perfect: due to a wrong selection of DNA, the three completely identical children have the fatal combination of their fathers autism and much too old stem cells. As a result, they are very ill, bare and enormously deformed and ugly; they are little monsters, so to say. Their (scientific) father in turn pays no attention to their suffering. Therefore the children slowly enter in a state of corruption in their beds. When they die at the age of five, Hoppe puts them in a bottle of formaldehyde to conserve them and to be able to analyse them accurately. The novel represents the scientist, the cloned children and overall the scientific practice of cloning, in terms of deformation, illness and perversion, in other words, as monsters and the monstrous. Firstly, the appearance of the cloned children is described in terms of monstrosity: characters in the novel continually appoint the inhuman or un-childish of the triplets and the children are compared to beasts and lifeless objects: Newly hatched fledglingsthat was what the boys reminded her of []. Not only because they seemed so vulnerable, so fragile, so helpless, but also because they were pink and bald and seemed to have far too much skin. And because the large, bulging eyes took up practically their entire faces. And because their mouths opened and closed like little beaks as they gasped for air. 18 The children also bear the typical characteristics of monsters as fearful, filthy, sliming creations: 19 I swear. You could see all the way back, right to their throats. And that is not all, honest to Godyou could even see their brains [] Like a walnut. Only much bigger. Slimier. If the window had been open [] I could have snatched themlike this. 20 And when the children slowly die at the end of the novel, someone finds them rotting in their little beds, and thereby the children are equated with the typical monstrous connotations of dirt, death and stench. 21 The behaviour of the children is described as being non-human and lifeless as well; they speak and act mechanically and they create the absurd situation of performing the same acts on the same time: The other boys looked round too and they all saw the boys bald heads at the window. The little tykes had clearly been spying on them; they quickly ducked out of sight when Seppe the bakers boy shook his fist at them. A few seconds later however, the

Anne-Fleur van der Meer heads popped up again, in unison, as if all three were attached to the same body. 22

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The children are thus represented as alienating, and deviating from the norm of humanity or as a malformation of some universal design. With that they can be connected to the description by which Kevin Alexander Boon describes (the etymological roots of) the monstrous. The monstrous, he argues, is unnatural and implies a boundary space between the human and the non-human, originally the human and the animal; monsters are being and non-being, presence and absence. 23 Secondly, also the scientist in the novel can be described as both human and non-human. Besides the fact that his appearance is monstrous just like that of the children, his monstrosity concerns mainly the perversion of his mind and acting. Hoppe treats his children just as if it were scientific objects, without love or fatherly tenderness. Typical in this respect is that Hoppe shows no emotions when his children are slowly dying and rotting in their beds, instead he considers it as a failing scientific experiment. Thereby, the cloning scientist deviates from a human norm of being responsible or ethical acceptable; this norm is represented by the other characters of the novel that are constantly very shocked by Hoppes actions. Finally, also the scientific practice of cloning and the methods themselves are described as monstrous and unnatural. The process of selecting the right cells in a cloning technique for example, is metaphorical compared to a process of drowning someone over and over again: It was cutting is very close, because most of the cells that Victor had harvestedthat was the word he used- had already died [] He had again starved the newly formed cells and left them hovering between life and death, until they reached the GO stage. It was like saving someone from drowning over and over again, only to throw them back into the water each time. 24 The novel creates implicitly an image of cloning consisting of impurity, indicated for example by the disgust people feel if they see, hear or even smell the children or the cloning science: Rex took it all in three seconds. In those same three seconds he felt the earth opening up under his feet [] he wanted to scream, but couldnt, because of the nausea. His stomach was on fire, as if it too was seating with thousands of flies trying to come out. He threw up for the second time that day. 25

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The Monster and the Monstrous as Negotiations of Value

__________________________________________________________________ People experience the clones thereby often as the radical other: Nose, mouth, ears, chin, jaweverything was different from what she was used to see in the mirror 26 And: Frau Maenhout, he said softly, then went on in a whisper, is there something wrong with them? I mean they look so uh different. 27 In her classic study Purity and Danger, Mary Douglas correlates reactions of impurity, fear or disgust on monsters with the transgression or violation of schemes of cultural categorization. In her interpretation of the famous abominations of Leviticus (The Torah) for example, she hypothesizes that the reason why crawling things from the sea, like lobsters, are regarded as impure is that crawling is a defining feature of earthbound creatures, not of creatures of the sea. 28 Also objects can raise categorical misgivings in virtue of being incomplete representatives of their class, such as rotting and disintegrating things, as well as in virtue of being formless, like dirt, for example. Following Douglas, then, we can initially speculate that an object or being is impure if it is categorically interstitial, categorically contradictory, categorically incomplete, or formless. This is fundamental for analysing the children of The Angel Maker as monsters in a cultural perspective. In fact, the novel represents the clones as if they are beings or creatures which are due to their sickness specialized in formlessness (they are deformed, have a cleft palate etcetera) and incompleteness (they have no hair for example). Also they are in certain senses categorical contradictory; they are human, but simultaneously they are not; they are children but at the same time they are acting like old people. The same accounts for the scientist: he is a father and at the same time he is not able to act like that; he is supposed to be human, and in the same time he acts like he is not; he is the creator of his sons and in the same time the cause of their suffering and death. Overall, one could say that the cloning science in this novel is, by means of a series of connotations of the monstrous represented as a science that violates schemes of cultural categorisation of, for example humanity, childishness, or morals. 4. Function and Meaning Instead of considering the nightmare scenario of the novel just as mirroring cultural fears or protests against cloning, or as a negative one-dimensional influence on public debates, this paper would like to suggest to study The Angel Maker as part of the cultural evaluations concerning cloning and therefore as a kind of value-adding to the cloning science. This can be done for instance by studying the function and meaning of the monster and the monstrous, in light of theories of Cultural Science Studies on literary representation of science. Gillian Beer argues: Once scientific arguments and ideas are read outside the genre of scientific paper and the institution of the scientific journal, change has already begun. Genres establish their own conditions

Anne-Fleur van der Meer which alter the significance of ideas expressed within them []. This free reception of science by literature is not likely to leave scientific problems intact within the expository terms already established by scientists. The transformed materials of scientific writing become involved in social and artistic questioning and new meanings become applied to it. 29

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Kemperink en Vermeer 30 maintain in this respect that the way in which narratives transform scientific practices or theories shows how the narratives react on them and how they evaluate the scientific practice and theories at hand. 31 Regarding this the monster and the monstrous in The Angel Maker and other representations of cloning, can be seen as transformations of the science of cloning that show how the novel evaluates the cloning science. One can say the novel creates an analogy between the monstrous and cloning, or transforms the science of cloning in the monstrous and argues thereby that the cloning science is a monstrous, perverse, dangerous practice. Moreover, one can say that The Angel Maker sketches an analogy between cloning and impurity, or transforms cloning in impurity and argues thereby that cloning leads to practices and results that harm the schemes of cultural categorisation of normalness and of what is accepted. The meaning of these transformations of cloning should be studied in light of Greenblatts theories of culture as communication and specifically of literature as part of the cultural network of negotiations of value. Greenblatt defines culture as The assemble of beliefs and practices that [] function as a pervasive technology of control, a set of limits within social behaviour must be contained, a repertoire of models to which individuals must conform. 32 To him Art is an important agent in the transmission of culture because art applies a certain worth and value to the objects it represents, for example by acts of praising or blaming. 33 Art is therefore an important part of the cultural network of negotiations for the exchange of material good, ideas, and [] people. [] Works of art [...] do not merely passively reflect [...] they help to shape, articulate and reproduce it through their own improvisatory intelligence. 34 One can argue that the transformations of cloning in fiction can be studied as negotiations of this science, embedded in cultural debates and arguments concerning the value and ethics of cloning. The way in which The Angel Maker represents the triplets as monstrous deformed, ill and suffering children coincides for instance with the arguments of the World Health Organisation on cloning and human dignity: WHO considers the use of cloning for the replication of human individuals to be ethically unacceptable as it would violate some of the basic principles which [] includes respect for the dignity of the human being and protection of the security of human genetic material [] cloning for the replication of human

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The Monster and the Monstrous as Negotiations of Value individuals is ethically unacceptable and contrary to human integrity and morality. 35

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Further, in its way of portraying the monstrous children as being mechanically, lifeless and not unique, the novel can be connected to a discourse in which cloning is coupled to artificiality or violating identity. Jose van Dijck argues: The search for the human genome, the code of codes, is the search for the perfect body []. Yet, while striving to be free of diseases and abnormalities, we insist on everyones uniqueness. 36 Moreover, how the novel describes the perverse way Hoppe treats his children with monstrous methods as if they are simply scientific objects, corresponds with arguments that identify cloning as a practice that harms the human autonomy: The creation of human clones solely for spare cell lines would [] be in obvious contradiction to the principle expressed by Emmanuel Kant: that of human dignity. This principle demands that an individual [] should never be thought of as a means, but always also as an end. Creating human life for the sole purpose of preparing therapeutic material would clearly not be for the dignity of the life created. 37 This conclusion is of course not only valid for fictional representations of cloning; one can argue it is possible to conclude the same in relation to representations of other scientific practices or technological developments, such as the famous film The Matrix Revolutions. 38 I would like to suggest the hypothesis that the monstrous connotations that are bound to the machines 39 in the film function as evaluations of, or negotiations with, the technological progress they stand for.

Notes
Kate O Riordan, Human Cloning in Film: Horror, Ambivalence, Hope, in Science as Culture 17.2 (London and New York: Routledge, 2008): 145-162. 2 Henk van den Belt, Playing God in Frankensteins Footsteps. Nanoethics 3.3 (Springer, 2009): 257-268. 3 Ibid., 259. 4 O Riordan, Human Cloning in Film..., 2008. 5 Mary Douglas, Purity and Danger: An Analysis of Concepts of Pollution and Taboo (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1966).
1

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__________________________________________________________________ Donald Levy, Perversion and the Unnatural as Moral Categories, Ethics 90.2 (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1980): 191-202. 7 Thanks to Prof. Ben Peperkamp and Ruth van den Akker-Sikkema (BA) for their comments. 8 Joan Haran, Jenny Kitzinger, Maureen McNeil and Kate ORiordan, eds., Human Cloning in the Media: From Science Fiction to Science Practice (London and New York: Routledge, 2008), 23. 9 Although Frankenstein does not revolve around cloning, it offers, he argues, an early and what is now considered to be a classic, science-fiction image of the artificial creation of (quasi) human life. See Haran, 2008, 23). 10 Birgitte Nerlich, David Clarke and Robert Dingwall, The Influence of Popular Imagery on Public Attitudes towards Cloning, Sociological Research Online 4.3 (1999), http://www.socresonline.org.uk. 11 http://www.roarezine.nl/2011/02/18/splice. 12 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0216216/plotsummary. 13 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0335121/. 14 See, for instance, John Turney, Frankensteins Footsteps: Science, Genetics and Popular Culture (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1998). 15 Nerlich, Clarke and Dingwall, The Influence of Popular Imagery, 44. 16 Jose Van Dijck, Cloning Humans, Cloning Literature: Genetics and the Imagination Deficit, New Genetics and Society 18.1 (London and New York: Routledge, 1999): 9-22. 17 Ibid., 20. 18 Stefan Brijs, The Angel Maker (London: Weidenfield and Nicolson, 2008), 378. 19 Nol Carrol, The Nature of Horror, The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 46.1 (Blackwell Publishing, 1987): 51-59, 54. 20 Brijs, The Angel Maker, 6. 21 She could now smell the stench that was rising, from [] the children. She felt sick and knew that she would faint if she didnt get away from that putrid smell. The boys were naked from the waist down: stick-thin and in a thick layer of brown, caked-on shit (Brijs, The Angel Maker, 377). 22 Ibid., 75. 23 Ibid., 33-45. 24 Brijs, The Angel Maker, 358. 25 Ibid., 427. 26 Ibid., 376. 27 Ibid.,86. 28 Douglas, Purity and Danger, 51. Also described in Carrol, The Nature of Horror, 55.
6

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__________________________________________________________________ Gillian Beer, Translation or Transformation? The Relation of Literature and Science. Open Fields: Science in Cultural Encounter (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996), 173-195,195, my italics. 30 See also Ben Peperkamp, Wetenschap in de moderne Nederlandse literatuur, van 1850 tot heden, in Leonardo voor het publiek. Een geschiedenis van de wetenschaps- en techniekcommunicaties (Amsterdam: VU University Press, 2007), 243-252 and Mary Kemperink, Gedeelde kennis: Literatuur en wetenschap in Nederland van Darwin tot Einstein (1860-1920) (Antwerpen- Apeldoorn: Garant, 2011). 31 Ibid., 2008. 32 Greenblatt, Culture, in Critical Terms for Literary Study (Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 1990), 225. 33 Ibid., 226. 34 Ibid., 228-229. 35 WHO/3/20/1997, quoted in John Harris, Goodbye Dolly? The Ethics of Human Cloning, Journal of Medical Ethics 23 (London: BJM, 1997): 354, my italics. 36 Van Dijck, Cloning Humans, Cloning Literature, 10, my italics. 37 Axel Kahn, Clone Mammals ... Clone Man? in Nature 386 (1997): 119. 38 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0242653/. 39 For images look at http://www.moviewallpaper.net/w/The_Matrix_Revolutions_ Wallpaper_19_1024.html.
29

Bibliography
Arber, Werner, Karl Illmensee, James Peacock and Peter Starlinger, eds. Genetic Manipulation: Impact on Man and Society. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010. Beer, Gillian. Translation or Transformation? The Relation of Literature and Science. In Open Fields: Science in Cultural Encounter. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996. Belt, Henk van den. Playing God in Frankensteins Footsteps. In Nanoethics 3.3 (Springer, 2009): 257-268. Boon, Kevin Alexander. Ontological Anxiety made Flesh: The Zombie in Literature, Film and Culture. In Monsters and the Monstrous Myths and Metaphors of Enduring Evil, edited by Niall Scott, 33-45. Rodopi: Amsterdam/New York, 2007.

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__________________________________________________________________ Brijs, Stefan. The Angel Maker. London: Weidenfield and Nicolson, 2008. Carroll, Nol. The Nature of Horror. The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism (Blackwell Publishing) 46.1 (1987): 51-59. Crew, Hillary. Not So Brave a World: The Representation of Human Cloning in Science Fiction for Young Adults. In The Lion and the Unicorn, edited by David L. Russell, 203-221. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004. Dijck, Jose van. Cloning Humans, Cloning Literature: Genetics and the Imagination Deficit. In New Genetics and Society (London and New York: Routledge) 18.1 (1999): 9-22. DeVita Jr, Vincent, ed. Cancer: Principles & Practice of Oncology. ANC Black Publishers Ltd, 2005. Douglas, Mary. Purity and Danger: An Analysis of Concepts of Pollution and Taboo. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1966. Essed, Philomena and David Theo Goldberg. Cloning Cultures: The Social Injustices of Sameness. In Ethnic and Racial Studies (London and New York: Routledge) 25.6 (2002): 1066-1082. Greenblatt, Stephen. Culture. In Critical Terms for Literary Study. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 1990. Grossberg, Lawrence. Globalisation and the Economization of Cultural Studies. In The Contemporary Study of Culture. Wenen: Verlag Turia + Kant, 1999. Haran, Joan, Jenny Kitzinger, Maureen McNeil and Kate ORiordan, eds. Human Cloning in the Media: From Science Fiction to Science Practice. London and New York: Routledge, 2008. Harris, John. Goodbye Dolly? The Ethics of Human Cloning. Journal of Medical Ethics 23 (London: BJM, 1997): 353-360. Haynes, Roslyn. From Faust to Strangelove: Representations of the Scientist in Western Literature. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994. Jansen, Roel. De kloonbaby. Breda: De Geus, 2003.

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__________________________________________________________________ Kahn, Axel. Clone Mammals ... Clone Man? In Nature 119 (1997): 119. Kemperink, Mary. Gedeelde kennis: Literatuur en wetenschap in Nederland van Darwin tot Einstein (1860-1920). Antwerpen-Apeldoorn: Garant, 2011. Kemperink, Mary and Leonieke Vermeer. Literatuur en wetenschap: Een dynamische en complexe relatie, Enkele theoretische en methodologische overwegingen. In Nederlandse Letterkunde (Assen: Van Gorcum) 13.1 (2008): 33-66. Lauritzen, Paul, ed. Cloning and the Future of Human Embryo Research. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001. Levy, Donald. Perversion and the Unnatural as Moral Categories. Ethics (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press) 90.2 (1980): 191-202. Nerlich, Birgitte, David Clarke and Robert Dingwall, The Influence of Popular Imagery on Public Attitudes towards Cloning. Sociological Research Online 4.3 (1999): http://www.socresonline.org.uk. ORiordan, Kate. Human Cloning in Film: Horror, Ambivalence, Hope. In Science as Culture (London and New York: Routledge) 17.2 (2008): 145-162. Peperkamp, Ben.Wetenschap in de moderne Nederlandse literatuur, van 1850 tot heden. In Leonardo voor het publiek. Een geschiedenis van de wetenschaps- en techniekcommunicaties. Amsterdam: VU University Press, 2007. Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus. Boston and Cambridge: Shever, Francis en Co, 1869. Turney, John. Frankensteins Footsteps: Science, Genetics and Popular Culture. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1998. Anne-Fleur van der Meer studied Dutch Language, Literature and Culture at the VU University Amsterdam (2008-2010, BA). Now she is a Research Masters student in Literature and is currently preparing for publishing in the field of Cultural Science Studies.

Making Myself a Monster: Self-Portraiture as Teratological Specimen Lisa Temple-Cox


Abstract This chapter will broadly describe the processes, both material and philosophical, behind my recent experiments in self-portraiture, and make the link between the anatomical medical specimen and my practice as an artist. I began with the question: what is the attraction and repulsion engendered by these pickled monsters, and what continues to draw people to see them? Through the rise of anatomical science, and surgeons such as John Hunter, there came about a notion of the proper body, which by definition then presupposes a monstrous other, the body that is not properis aberrant, repulsivebut nonetheless human, and of ourselves. It may be this connection to ourselves, recognisable through the distorting curve of the specimen jar, which draws us to peer and flinch at the teratological specimen. My interest in this material led to visual research in museums such as the Hunterian in London, renowned for its wet specimens, and the pathological collections of deformed faces and pickled babies in the Muse Dupuytren, Muse des Moulages, and the Muse Fragonard in Paris. There is a continued fascination for both the accidents of nature, and the way in which they are preserved and displayed: originally intended for didactic purposes, interest in the medical specimen swings like a pendulum between the gutter of morbid fascination and the ponderings of pure knowledge. This chapter describes how I used this aestheticand this compulsionto make work that references otherness, the uncanny, and abjection; and what effect this has had on the viewer. During this process I had the uncanny experience of coming face to face, so to speak, with my own head: and I was eventually able to present myself to the viewer as an object, a specimen; to put my own head in a jar. Key Words: Medical gaze, medical museum, teratology, self-portrait, abject, other, uncanny, self, wet specimen, moulage. ***** What is it that makes the objects and specimens of the medical museum so compelling and repelling in equal quantity? What is it about the malformations of the bottled monsters of the teratological specimen that draws our horrified and delighted attention? Since the birth of what is known in the west as modern medicine, the word monstrosities has been used to describe physical deformities, irreducible to the proper body in their singular, sometimes startling difference. 1 These accidents of nature suggest something other than the normal self, and yet they are not outside our selves or nature, but recognisably part of it. That sense of

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Making Myself a Monster

__________________________________________________________________ alterity which gives such specimens their fascination and appeal is tied to the uncanniness that is born of strangeness within the familiar. I experienced this duality when, as a child, I arrived from an English boarding school in Malaysia to find that everything I had learnt about my mother country was out of kilter. I thought that I was English, but found that I was in fact alien, other, in a country I considered home. Not only that, but I realised that the borders between normality and the monstrous were rigorously delineated here in a way which they had not been in Malaysia. There, in my Malay mother's village, the lines between what was real, and normal, and what was bizarre, uncanny, were much blurred. Monsters were all around: in the jungle, or in the corner shop: everybody knew someone who had too many fingers or toesor someone whose uncle had been eaten by a ghost, or an enormous snake. All these experiences were equally valid. After trying to fit into the dull realism of Essex life, I began, as an artist, to revisit some of these ideas of the strangeness in familiarity, and at the same time began to explore the confusion inherent in my own sense of who I was. Roy Porter suggests that our sense of self presupposes an understanding of our bodies. 2 There had been a point, at school, when my interests were divided between art and biology: so I began to work from my own fascination for the body, and the medical collection. My adult interest in this material began after visiting Gunther Von Hagens Body Worlds exhibition in Brussels. It wasnt, in the end, the plastinated bodies that piqued my interest: rather it was a small display at the end of the exhibition of pre-plastination preservation techniques. In this darkened room there was a horrified fascination as visitors clustered around the teratological specimens. This in stark contrast to the rest of the exhibition where, by the end, most people felt an emotional anaesthesia 3 occasioned by yet another bizarrely posed body, become as bland as a mannequin in some netherworld between science and art. Yet his work was inspired by the preparations of Honor Fragonard (1732-99), whose Anatomised Cavalier and dancing foetuses draw the gaze where Von Hagen's preparations do not. Fragonard himself was denounced as a madman for his pursuit of preservation. His ecorch Man with a Mandible, with its rolling glass eyes, is both a vision of a man horrified, and quite horrible in itself. When I began my research into the medical collection, there were two aesthetic avenues of medical preparation that I was looking at: the wet specimen and the wax moulage. The use of the moulage came about to serve the needs of dermatological diagnostics as the wet preparation did not preserve the colours of the skin well. More lifelike, the wax allowed for casts made from living subjects, and gave a three dimensional study which replaced the patient and did not decay. Smaller models were often placed in glass jars like the ones used for wet specimensto further emphasise in the viewer a sense that they were real. Larger models warranted their own glass bier. There is a part-body in the DeutschesHygiene Museum in Dresden of a woman giving birth. It uses as its armature,

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__________________________________________________________________ disturbingly, the deceased womans own pelvic bones. A number of disembodied surgical hands float above the partially-dissected womball male, and neatly dressed at the wrists with white cuffs and dark suit sleeves, hovering above the anatomical Venus like cherubs around a Madonna. These wax moulages have a powerful effect, both when viewed individually and en masse: the largest collection is at the Hospital of St. Louis in Paris, and I defy anyone to remain unmoved by the wall of syphilis. All these body parts are surreally segregated, removed from the whole so that just the diseased part is on display, surrounded by a neat border of fabric: mounted on a black board like a specimen, one is not meant to imagine the whole, but focus on this intimate portion of disease or deformity. This hyper-surreality of the moulage led me to experiment with casting my own face. The fragility of the mould resulted in my not being able to take many casts from it: however as the mould broke up, the casts began to resemble the deformities of the moulagein this process I felt that I was taking the life mask through processes that referenced the effects of congenital accident or deformity, removing it from the body, taking it as part-feature, metonomous. I kept the casts of my slowly collapsing face colourless, and mounted them on coloured boards instead.

Image 1: Moulage, by Lisa Temple-Cox, 2009.

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Making Myself a Monster

__________________________________________________________________ They made me reconsider myself in terms of that childhood experience of finding that I was an alien as much because of my skin colour as my post-colonial upbringing. How strange to be other in the country one thinks of as home: and an equally curious sensation, to see your own face disembodied. At this point I began to look again at the wet specimen, and specifically examples of heads and faces. Wet specimens are body parts or a whole foetus preserved in fluid such as formalin or alcohol. They have been described as objects between nature and representation, art and science. 4 The effect of seeing these aberrations, further distorted by the curve of the preserving jar, is truly uncanny. Freud, in his essay on the subject, recalls an occasion where he comes face to face with his own reflection in a train door, and momentarily mistakes it for someone else: not only that, but someone that he found unpleasant to look upon. This sense of something at once sinister but homely echoes in the correlation of preservation in jars; of bodies, or of fruit. This is particularly true of the teratological specimen. Here, the preserving jar acts as a pseudo-womb, the little monsters within floating placidly in the urinecoloured liquid as if awaiting the moment of birth. Actually, this, while a poetic image, is not true: often the expression on their faces (if they have one) is anything but placid, and the illusion of the amnion is altogether ruined by the evidence of autopsy: the lack of a brain, large stitches across their heads, glass rods keeping them in position. In the case of the specimen known as sirenome in the Muse Fragonard, the foetus is held in position by a cord tied, disturbingly, around its neck. I had this idea of toying with the purpose of the wet collection, namely that it should preserveI wanted to make work in which the heads, in their different materials, decayed, changed and altered in the sterile confinement of their container. The artist Marc Quinn made his head out of his own Image 2: Sirenome, Lisa Templeblood, perhaps the ultimate act of selfCox, 2010. portraiture: I, however, thought about using materials such as clay, wax, bread, shit, or fat, and then immersing the heads in liquids such as milk, urine, wineeven kombucha, a living liquid. Here I wanted to reverse the notion of the

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__________________________________________________________________ liquid in the jars acting as a preservative, and reference the familiarity of foodstuffs in the un-homelike environs of the laboratory. In order to do this properly, however, I first had to cast my own head. Much of what we are, as humans, is determined by our appearance, and much of that, as a woman, is determined by hair. In order to truly face my Self, I realised that I had make my head naked. And so I shaved my head, and made my first uncomfortable discoverythat the back of my head was quite flat. This first headcasting was a two-part mould that involved the use of dental alginate, a pink rubbery substance that smelled, bizarrely, of mint. The alginate broke apart while being removed from my face and I managed to get only one cast from this distorted mould. Interestingly, having been researching life and death masks, this cast brought to mind a particularly famous death maskthat of L'inconnue de la Seine.

Image 3: Head Cast 1/Linconnue de la Seine, Lisa Temple-Cox, 2010. At this point I decided to revisit my visual research in the museum. Interest in the medical collection, particularly for teratological specimens, straddles a line between science and sideshow. Early collections by surgeons later opened to public, and these displays further blurred borders between the gallery and the teaching museum. During my visits to the Hunterian and Wellcome in London, and the Dupuytren and Fragonard in Paris, I began to wonderwho is going to these collections? Not scientists any longer, but the curious and creative autodidact. The Mtter Museum, a noted medical museum in Philadelphia, has daily visits from eager schoolchildren and their teachers rather than medical professionals.

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__________________________________________________________________ In the Dupuytren, the only cabinet with lights is the teratological cabinet, where the double-headed kitten and goat nestle in jars side by side with the thoracopagus foetuses and other monstrosities. Each small corpse exhibits alongside its deformation a particular and individual appearance: their little faces angry, or vacant, indifferent. The Dupuytren also has two faces half eaten by cancers: part of their compulsion comes from the obvious and horrible disease, but partfor me at leastfrom the unique and recognisable humanity of each face: one with soft, receding hair floating silkily in the preserving fluid: one with dark brows and beard, and an arrogant twist to his lips. Peter the Great (1672-1725) was famously the possessor of a notable wunderkammer. His mania for specimens, among other drives, led him to execute his wifes lover, whose head was then preserved it in a jar; though in the interests of fairness, he did the same to his own lover. These bottled heads were later found by his grandson's wife, who remarked upon their youthful appearance before, sadly, having them buried. There is a particularly macabre head in the Mtter Museum. It is not on general display, but is down in the cold storage of the wet room, in a jar held upright by a simple metal bookend. It is Negroid, and for some reason the eye has been rather brutally removed. It is cut in half, right through the delicate, pouting lips and weak chin; however, the particular horror and humanity that I found in this specimen was, for me,

Image 4: Sketch from the Muse Dupuytren, Lisa Temple-Cox 2010.

Image 5: Sketch from the Mtter Museum, Lisa Temple-Cox, 2011.

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__________________________________________________________________ evinced by the collection of white-headed pimples on the colourless, sallow cheek. Armed with a visual cortex full of bottled horrors, I returned to the workshop determined to try again. This time, another colleague was finally intrigued enough by my bald head to make a three part mould, starting with the back of my head, then my chin and neck, and finallynose straws and earplugs in placemy face. Word had travelled around the college, in light of my earlier attempt, and this casting was observed by a large group of fine art students, all happily making notes and taking photographs of my shiny Vaselined pate. I experienced on this occasion something strange: people were talking to me throughout this process, up until the point at which my face disappeared under the plaster. Suddenly, they ceased talking to me, and began to talk about me, like an object. I lay there, offered up for display like a medical Venus, listening to the chatter around me, as if I were suffering from locked-in syndromefor the first time I had the experience of moving from person to specimen. Apart from a brief moment of fear when the mould was momentarily stuck to my ears, this was a successful mould-making. The first cast I took from this mould was made using expanded latex, which resulted in a rubbery squashy head that I delighted in carrying around like a baby. The happily uncanny experience of coming face to face with my own face resulted in a number of inappropriate behaviours, such as sticking it up my jumper so the features protruded like an alien baby about to explode from my belly. Perhaps the Alien analogy is close to the effect I was experiencing: in the film Alien Resurrection, when Ripley enters the room full of rejected or malformed mutants in huge jars, she sees herself, repeated; the monstrous mother worse than the alien mother of earlier films in the horror of their sympathetic humanity. They are her, but they are not: they are further deformed by their failure to live up to their true monstrosity: she is haunted by (these) alternative versions of herself. 5 What interested me in my playing with the latex head was not only my reaction to my double, but others in seeing me with my doppelgnger. Everyone felt that seeing me, for example, kiss my own rubbery head, was wrong and repulsive in ways that they couldnt articulate. This is where I felt I Image 6: Head baby, Lisa began to tap into those primal reactions that Temple-Cox, 2010. were evoked by the bottled babies, through

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__________________________________________________________________ a reinterpretation of both the aesthetics of the teratological wet specimen and the facial cast or moulage. Eventually I made a master mould which allowed for casting in a variety of materials. Having been earlier inspired by the plaster life and death masks in the Galton collection, I began to make a series of casts in plaster. By now, I was less interested in making the heads out of the abject materials that I had started with, after observing the uniformity of the plaster. The blank whiteness of it in contrast to my own skin was so other in its lack of colour and featurelessness. So taken was I by the rows of blank white plaster heads that it seemed to me that the heads themselves should remain inert, white and anodyne as aspirin: it was the liquid that they were immersed in that should reference this contrast between purity and abjection. Even the flat back of my Asiatic head seemed less obvious in the plaster. There was also something of a compulsion about repetition, similar to what I found when making multiples of my eyes or lips. The decapitation seemed peculiarly uncanny. Having commissioned a number of jars that were watertight and large enough to contain my head, I built a cabinet to put them inwith lightsand proceeded to fill each jar up to the nose with fluidsmilk, wine, water and urine. The cabinet took on a religious aspect as the fluids reflected the light like stained-glass, and seemed to create a space somewhere between museum and gallery, clinic and altar. The fluids themselves took on religious and transformative significances: the blood of Christ, the milk offered to Ganesh, the psychotropic reindeer urine imbibed by the shaman of Lapland. The jar containing water remained empty of a head, as I eventually determined this should be the control jar. It was later remarked to me that the empty jar was more disturbing than the jars with heads in, as the absence seemed frighteningly more uncanny by dint of its inexplicabilityone could envisage, it seemed, a head in a container that is headsized, but the lack of head seemed to raise a deep feeling of unease. In the end, the casting of my head did not result in work that was compelling in the way that the teratological specimens or moulages were: to my mind they evoked a different kind of horror: the juxtaposition of clean white plaster and rotting, foul liquids had the appearance of some sordid experiment gone awry. The work became instead a visual exploration of the way in which the museum specimen seems to reflect, in some measure, residues of the human: return the gaze of the spectator to create a deeper reflection, from object to abject, self to other, and back. Here, in the rows of heads colouring and dissolving in unnamed liquids, the artist becomes both subject and object. All this serves, I hope, to connect the contemporary concerns of science with an unconscious atavisma simultaneity of the pure and the profane, the proper and the monstrous. But to my mind I have only just begun the first step in a body of work which was inspired, originally, by a single desire: to put my own head in a jar.

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Image 7: Cabinet, Lisa Temple-Cox, 2011.

Notes
Jeffrey Longacre, review of Monstrosities: Bodies and British Romanticism, College Literature by Paul Youngquist, 22 September 2005, University of Tulsa. 2 Roy Porter, Flesh in the Age of Reason (London: Penguin, 2004), 44. 3 Taken from the chapter The Limits of Empathy in Touching the Corpse: The Unmaking of Memory in the Body Museum by Uli Linke, in Anthropology Today 21.5 (October 2005): 13-19. 4 Taken from information sheet about the AHRC Research Network The Culture of Preservation, a series of workshops and lectures at UCL run by Petra LangeBerndt and Mechthild Fend, London May/June 2011. 5 From part 3 of Slavoj iek, The Perverts Guide to the Cinema, dir. Sophie Fiennes, Lone Star Films, 2006.
1

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Bibliography
Asma, Stephen T. Stuffed Animals and Pickled Heads: The Culture and Evolution of Natural History Museums. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001. Buchloch, Benjamin. The Politics of the Signifier II: A Conversation on the Informe and the Abject 67 (Winter 1994). Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness and other Tales. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008. Daston, Lorraine and Katherine Park. Wonders and the Order of Nature, 11501750. New York: Zone Books 2001. Daukes, S. H. The Medical Museum. London: The Wellcome Foundation, 1929. Foucaud de LEspagnery, F. Trait du visage et de ses maladies cutanes: considerations generale sur la face humaine. Paris, 1855. Foucault, Michel. The Birth of the Clinic. London: Routledge, 1997. . The Order of Things. London: Routledge, 2001. Freud, Sigmund. The Uncanny. In Art and Literature. London: Penguin, 1990. Jay, Martin. Downcast Eyes: The Denigration of Vision in 20th Century French Thought. Berkeley/Los Angeles/London: University of California Press, 1994. Knoppers, Laura L. and Joan B. Landes, eds. Monstrous Bodies/Political Monstrosities in Early Modern Europe. Ithaca/London: Cornell University Press, 2004. Kristeva, Julia. Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection. New York: Columbia University Press, 1982. Linke, Uli. Touching the Corpse: The Unmaking of Memory in the Body Museum. Anthropology Today 21.5 (October 2005): 13-19. Longacre, Jeffrey. Review of Monstrosities: Bodies and British Romanticism, by Paul Youngquist. College Literature, 22 September 2005, University of Tulsa.

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__________________________________________________________________ Porter, Roy. Flesh in the Age of Reason. London: Penguin, 2004. Sawday, Jonathan. The Body Emblazoned. London: Routledge, 1996. Schnalke, Thomas. Diseases in Wax: The History of the Medical Moulage. Translated by Kathy Spatschek. Chicago: Quintessence 1995. Serra, Richard. Art and Censorship, in Art and the Public Sphere, edited by W. J. T. Mitchell. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992. iek, Slavoj. The Perverts Guide to the Cinema. Directed by Sophie Fiennes, Austria, Mischief Films, 2006. Lisa Temple-Cox is an independent researcher and artist based at Cuckoo Farm Studios in Essex. Current interests combine research and practice, in seeking to explore the interstices of art and medicine through image and text.

Pieced Texts and Patchworked Identities: The Monstrous Corpus in Shelley Jacksons Hyperfiction Patchwork Girl Doreen Bauschke
Abstract Shelley Jacksons computer novel Patchwork Girl, Or, A Modern Monster (1995) revolves around textual and anatomical bodies as monstrous patchworks. The hypertextual corpus of this digital re-make of Mary Shelleys Frankenstein, Or, A Modern Prometheus (1818) is stitched together of appropriated scraps from Shelleys original, various other intertexts and Shelley Jacksons own scribal fragments. In similar fashion, the protagonist Patchwork Girl, who is the resurrected female monster that was destroyed by Victor Frankenstein before completing it in Mary Shelleys gothic novel, is pieced together from anatomical parts of several corpses. The result of this patchwork technique is a title character who is multiple and mutable, several and simultaneous, like the hypertext that relates her story. Due to these features, the corpus of the electronic text as well as the body of the central figure might be deemed monstrous, since they deviate from prescriptive literary and social conventions. Ultimately, however, Patchwork Girl structurally as well as thematically celebrates and normalizes textual and anatomical patchworks. Key Words: Shelley Jackson, Patchwork Girl, Frankenstein, hyperfiction, the monstrous, patchwork, intertextuality, Bakhtin. ***** Unlike a conventional print book, which is organized in a fixed linear sequence with a beginning, middle and an end, and divided into a logical progression of paragraphs, pages, and chapters, computer-based fictions like Patchwork Girl are composed of discrete chunks or blocks of text known as lexias. The content of these windows of text may range from a single word to several paragraphs. These discrete reading units are connected through links that frequently branch off from each other, which then leads to multicursal reading paths and alternative storylines. 1 A reading of Jacksons electronic novel begins with the frontispiece, an image of a naked woman with dotted lines on her body. After clicking on this image, the title page appears:

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__________________________________________________________________ PATCHWORK GIRL; Or, A MODERN MONSTER BY MARY/SHELLEY, & HERSELF a graveyard, a journal, a quilt, a story, & broken accents 2 This part of the title page contains the words a graveyard, a journal, a quilt, a story, & broken accents which serve as hot wordswords that are linked to the hypertextual corpus of Patchwork Girleach functioning as a portal to one of the five main sections of Jacksons computer novel. By selecting the words a graveyard, the reader jumps into a portion of the text that deals with the title characters assembly from dead human tissue. A graveyard is preceded by, as its title hercut 4 alludes, the computer novels frontispiece cut into pieces. This image metaphorically depicts the content of this section that provides mini-biographies of the individual donors whose multiple personalities inhabit Patchwork Girls body. By clicking on this graphic, the reader is led to a lexia, which resembles a headstone that bears the following inscription: Here Lies a Head, Trunk, Arms (Right and Left), and Legs (Right and Left) as well as divers Organs appropriately Disposed. May they Rest in Piece. 3 The individual body parts on this virtual headstone serve as hot words that yield the name of the donor as well as any noticeable characteristics of that person, sometimes also including a rough depiction of the member. Patchwork Girls left leg, for example, belonged to a nanny called Jane, who harbored under her durable grey dresses and sensible undergarments a remembrance of a less sensible time: a tattoo of a ship and the legend, Come Back To Me from her wilder youth which explains why when going for a stroll with the children on the dock many a sailor greeted her by name. 4 Due to this donors past, Patchworks Girls leg is always twitching, jumping, joggling. It wants to go places. It has had enough of waiting. 5 Some of Patchwork Girls limbs are a piecework in themselves, for instance, her

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__________________________________________________________________ upper right arm belonged to Tristessa, a woman known in the shipyards for her deadly aim with a bottle, while her lower right arm came from Eleanor, a lady very dexterous with the accoutrements of femininity who wielded a fan like a weapon, unfurling and snapping it shut with militant flirtatiousness. 6 The result is a further split in Patchwork Girls multiple personality, as she herself concludes: One part of me hurls weapons for a welcome. One part uses welcome as a weapon. On one thing they agree: when I look friendly, take care. 7 Evidently, the body of Patchwork Girl is patched together from the recycled limbs of deceased humans. The result of this pieced physique is a title character that is multiple and mutable rather than unified, so that the patchwork anatomy of Jacksons protagonist literalizes and materializes postmodern notions of the subject in a subtle and surprising way. Not only the body of Jacksons central character but also the corpus of her hyperfiction is made up of diverse and appropriated pieces. Thus the hypertextual body of Patchwork Girl, corresponding to the anatomy of the eponymous character, is pieced together from incorporated textual snippets of Jacksons own fragments as well as fragments from other sources, so that Shelley Jacksons computer novel electronically enacts postmodern notions of textuality. 8 Within the first subsection of a story, for instance, Shelley Jackson embeds several passages from Mary Shelleys Frankenstein into Patchwork Girls hypertextual fabric. The fragments of Shelleys work are indistinguishable from the lexias composed by Jackson that appear in the same subdivision. An attached link called footnote is the only means of discovering the source of the borrowed material. The cited passages concern the male monsters desire for a female companion, a companion that Victor Frankenstein started to create but destroyed prior to her completion. 9 The Frankenstein fragments end with Frankenstein disposing of the female creatures remains by throwing them in the sea. 10 These recycled snippets of Frankenstein precede several text boxes that expose the disposal scenario as a cover-up story, intended to set the female monster free in such a way as to assure her privacy. 11 These textual offshoots, grafted onto Shelleys narrative by Jackson, question the plausibility of the entire scene, after all: Has it not struck you as odd that the whole of a female of stature commensurate with that of her monstrous intended (not to mention a great quantity of stones) could be hoisted by one man and borne out to seain a basket?). 12 This is the starting point of Patchwork Girl. By embedding these textual fragments of Mary Shelley verbatim into the hypertextual corpus of Patchwork Girl, Shelley Jackson disputes the pre-eminence of a single author as sole originator of a work that is uniform in style and monologic in voice. Instead, the voices of Mary Shelley and Shelley Jackson engage in a Bakhtinian dialogue in the first subsection of a story. Hence the subdivisions title M/S which combines the initials of Mary Shelleys and Shelley Jacksons first names may be read as an emblem for the content of this subsection.

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__________________________________________________________________ Yet, Jackson goes even further in the main section entitled a quilt, which relies on another crucial intertext, namely Frank L. Baums children story The Patchwork Girl of Oz. Baums protagonist Scraps is the textile equivalent of Shelleys and Jacksons female monster made from flesh and bone. The lexia research recounts Scraps conception: At first I couldnt think what to make her of. I collected bones from charnel houses, paragraphs from Heart of Darkness, and disturbed, with profane fingers, the tremendous secrets of the human frame, but finally in searching through a chest in a solitary chamber, or rather cell, at top of the house, I came across a fabric of relations, an old patchwork quilt, which my grandmother once made when she was young. 13 Although this might not be apparent at first, this text box consists entirely of appropriated text passages that are patched together without a single textual ingredient added by Jackson herself. All lexias in the main section a quilt can be viewed as plain or marked text, the latter revealing the individual sources by assigning a distinct typeface to each. The text box above looks as follows in this alternative view option: At first I couldnt think what to make her of. I collected bones from charnel houses, paragraphs from Heart of Darkness, and disturbed, with profane fingers, the tremendous secrets of the human frame, but finally in searching through a chest in a solitary chamber, or rather cell, at the top of the house, I came across an old patchwork quilt, a fabric of relations, which my grandmother once made when she was young. 14 Below, the original sources of these snippets are listed in the corresponding typeface, acknowledging that the bold passages are from Baums children story The Patchwork Girl of Oz, the parts in regular typeface from Shelleys gothic novel Frankenstein, the fragment in italics from the hypertext software manual Getting Started with Storyspace by Jay David Bolter and others and the underlined piece stems from Jean-Franois Lyotards monograph The Postmodern Condition. These heterogeneous intertexts of various genres (fiction, reference, and literary theory) are pieced together to form a single patchwork block here, superbly instantiating Bakhtins concept of heteroglossia. 15 Thus, although this main section is called crazy quilt in the hyperfictions schematic overview, this cut and paste composition should not be mistaken for mad piecework, void of any sense. Instead of amounting to idle play, Jacksons patchwork writing technique enables the

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__________________________________________________________________ formation of a fabric of relations, as the extract above suggests. Another lexia elucidates what this means: When I take something apart that once seemed whole I am making an unnerving discovery. You might think I am left with a kind of kit over which the dream of the whole hovers [] whispering that the whole already exists, that I am not making something new [] but returning scrambled elements to an order they already yearn towards because it is their essence. [] // I prise the parts apart at the cleavage zone and discover no resistance; when I press the cut ends together they dont recognize each other. [] Now when I want to join them again not to restore to their original wholeness, but to establish a relationshipI cant easily justify the link. That a head attaches to a neck and not a wrist seems less obvious when the pieces lie in a jumble on the laboratory floor []. 16 This quotation stresses that, once a text is taken apart and reassembled, its individual parts do not necessarily add up to the same text, since the pieces of a composition do not inevitably gravitate towards an intrinsic centre or essence. Instead, each piece entails a multitude of recombinant potential. 17 Consider for example Lyotards snippet of a fabric of relations. Reinserted into the larger framework of Patchwork Girl and immediately placed next to Frank L. Baums quilt reference from The Patchwork Girl of Oz, this appropriated textual fragment resonates with additional meaning. Thus, contrary to what Plato maintains in the Phaedrus, Jacksons cut and paste writing is not void of originality but constitutes an act of creativity, because Jacksons patchwork technique forges fresh imaginative connections through the recontextualization of these intertexts. Although the structural composition of Jacksons electronic novel superbly enacts the Bakhtinian concept of heteroglossia, this internal dialogization is precisely what renders the hypertextual corpus of Patchwork Girl monstrous, according to prescriptive literary theories and conventions such as (Neo) Classicism which [] cautioned artists to avoid obscene and impudent particolored objects full of hollows, broken into little pieces that were barbarous and shocking to the eyes. The impious intermarriage of graphic symbol and letter bred teeming monsters of language. Old stories must not be blended promiscuously and without distinction, [] in a chaos-manner. []. 18

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__________________________________________________________________ Clearly, Jacksons hyperfiction embodies what should have been avoided, for Patchwork Girl constitutes a text in pieces that promiscuously blends old and new stories as well as graphics and letters. It is this very crossing of boundaries that turns the title character into a monster, since her hybridity causes her to become demonized, to be perceived as a patched freak, 19 as she herself laments: I've learned to wonder: why am I hideous? They tell me each of my parts is beautiful and I know that all are strong. Every part of me is human and proportional to the whole. Yet I am a monster because I am multiple, and because I am mixed, mestizo, mongrel. 20 While the main section entitled a graveyard deals with the title characters assembly from dead human tissue, the principal portion called a story contains Patchwork Girls life story, revolving around the identity conflict that is caused by this anatomical fragmentation. The thematic nucleus a story consists of Patchwork Girls ambition to become unified, by exhorting her monsters, her hybrids to silence, 21 and attempting to pose as a proper woman, despite her pieced physique and anatomical in-between-ness that is described at the outset of that main section: I am tall, and broad-shouldered enough that many take me for a man; others think me a transsexual (another feat of cut and stitch) and examine my jaw and hands for outsized bones, my throat for the tell-tale Adam's Apple. [] Women and men alike mistake my gender and both are drawn to me. // The motley effect of patched skin has lessened with age and uniform light conditions []. I have large eyes, though they are proportional to my other features (all my features are large []). [] 22 Due to her large proportions, Patchwork Girl at first: was not a success as a lady [ but] more like a caricature of one, for those gestures, with their delicacy, sat quite strangely on [her] oversized figure. 23 Nevertheless, Patchwork Girl resolves to act according to the decorum of femininity by following the example found in 'mistress', a discrete reading path within the third and the fourth subsections of a story. In the text boxes of the mistress path, the title character responds with hysteria and fear when encountering a monster that turns out to be an armadillo. 24 Likewise, when a suitor reveals his true identity as a woman in mens clothing, she reacts with revulsion and rejection. 25 An alternative reading path entitled monstrous. runs parallel to mistress Both unite occasionally in some text boxes but then fork again. In the course of the

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__________________________________________________________________ monstrous version of the story, Patchwork Girl is so fond of the natural monster, 26 the armadillo, that she adopts it as a pet. And when her admirer turns out to be a woman, the protagonist begins a lesbian love affair. 27 In a mutual lexia where the mistress and the monstrous paths converge, Patchwork Girl loses one leg in an accident. 28 The monstrous Patchwork Girl retrieves her leg from the graveyard where it was buried and simply sews it back on. 29 Down the mistress path, however, where Patchwork Girl denies herself any musings about reclaiming her lost leg, [s]eeking to exorcise these morbid imaginings, 30 the plot takes a far more gruesome turn. When attacked by a robber, the mistress version of Patchwork Girl experiences a sudden outburst of violence, pursues the culprit, bludgeons him unconscious, then tears off one of his legs which she later uses to replace her missing limb. 31 Clearly, these forking paths of a story tell mutually exclusive versions of Patchwork Girls life, so that the computer novel contains not one but many stories. Additionally, these diverging story lines exemplify gender as a matter of performance rather than a simple question of a persons reproductive organs. Moreover, the final developments of the mistress path serve as a warning that the narrow confines of social conventions can breed more horrifying monsters than an unconventional life style might. Yet, despite this warning, Patchwork Girl continues to suppress her multiplicity, striving towards a coherent self, an idealized womanly essence. However, the more she denies her pieced self, the more pronounced her concealed plurality becomes. At first, tics, which serve as signs of the struggles of the plurality of people who inhabit her, develop. Then individual body parts drop off 32 and finally Patchwork Girl dissolves completely: [] I stopped still amidst the demolition of my temple, amidst gamy leg, skew-gie arm, crooked spine, [] and saw the beforeseen denied come rising again irrefutable and welcome. The pressure of what was tucked lady-like away could only build. My sachets would explode (shrapnel of dried orange peel and clove and petal and cedar chip), my girdles would spring apart and hang open, sprung man-traps, [] my powder compacts would flip open and up would rise a fog dense with visions. I ran a bath. [] 33 The pressure of being lady-like leads to the utter disintegration of Patchwork Girl, as she is taking a bath: My parts bobbed in changing patterns in a warm reddish slurry of bathwater and blood [], surrounded by fragments [] I was gathered together loosely [] in a way that was interesting to

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__________________________________________________________________ me, for I was all in pieces, yet not apart. I felt permitted. I began to invent something new: a way to hang together without pretending I was whole. Something between higgledy-piggledy and the eternal sphere. [] 34 While her individual body parts are coming undone, Patchwork Girl suddenly has an epiphany, realizing that patchwork can be a comforting rather than a monstrous quality, for the distinguishing feature of a patchwork quilt is that this textile motif is in pieces, yet not apart. A patchwork is fragmented and whole at the same time, so that it stands for a kind of unity that acknowledges plurality and mutability rather than artificially glossing over ones contradictions and incoherencies. Like her little textile sister Scraps, the title character thus ultimately understands: [] Im thoroughly delightful. I am an original []. Of all the comic, absurd, rare and amusing creatures the world contains, I must be the supreme freak. []. 35 Similarly, the seemingly grotesque patchwork anatomy of the hypertext ultimately amounts to something positive, as the following text fragment borrowing a snippet from Deleuze and Guattaris A Thousand Plateaus underscores: There is neither horizon nor perspective nor limit nor outline or forms nor centre. This turns lack of direction into a constructive force. 36

Notes
Espen Aarseth, Cybertext: Perspectives on Ergodic Literature (Baltimore and London: John Hopkins University Press, 1997), 44; Jay David Bolter, Writing Space: The Computer, Hypertext and the History of Writing (Hillsdale, New Jersey/Hove/London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers, 1991), 1-11; George Landow, Hypertext 3.0: Critical Theory and New Media in an Era of Globalization (Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 2006), 1-52. 2 Shelley Jackson, Patchwork Girl, Or, A Modern Monster (Watertown, MA: Eastgate, 1995), title page. 3 Ibid., a graveyard/ headstone. 4 Ibid. 5 Ibid., a graveyard/ left leg. 6 Ibid. 7 Ibid., a graveyard/ right arm. 8 For an in-depth analysis on postmodern subjectivity and textuality in Patchwork Girl turn to Katherine N. Hayles, Flickering Connectivities in Shelley Jacksons Patchwork Girl: The Importance of Media-Specific Analysis, in Postmodern Culture 10.2 (2000): http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/pmc/v010.102hayles.html. 9 Concretely, the end of chapter sixteen and the beginning of chapter seventeen of Shelleys gothic novel are quoted word for word, citing the male monsters plea for
1

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__________________________________________________________________ a female companion (Jackson, Patchwork Girl, a story/ M/S/ plea), Victor Frankensteins conflicted reaction to the monsters desire for a mate (Ibid., a story/ M/S/ promise), then his reluctant labour on the female monster (Ibid., a story/ M/S/ filthy work) and Victors final decision to destroy her (Ibid., a story/ M/S/ treachery). 10 Ibid., a story/ M/S/ remains. 11 Ibid., a story/ M/S/ scam. 12 Idid., a story/ M/S/ basket. 13 Ibid., a quilt/ research. 14 Ibid. 15 Mikhail Bakhtin, Discourse in the Novel, in The Dialogic Imagination: Four Essays, ed. Michael Holquist (Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press, 1994), 259-422. 16 Jackson, Patchwork Girl, body of text/ cuts. 17 Ibid., body of text/ this writing. 18 Ibid., a quilt/ at the mirror. 17 Ibid., a story/ sance/ manmade. 18 Idid., a story/ severance/ why hideous?. 19 Ibid., a quilt/ misconception. 20 Ibid., a story/ M/S/ I am. 21 Ibid., a story/ seagoing/ mistress/ femininity. 22 Ibid., a story/ sance/ mistress/ monster. 23 Ibid., a story/ sance/ mistress/ revelations; a story/ sance/ mistress/ revulsion. 24 Ibid., a story/ sance/ monstrous/ natural monster. 25 Ibid., a story/ sance/ monstrous/ revelations; a story/ sance/ monstrous/ laughing; a story/ sance/ monstrous/ sex. 26 Ibid., a story/ sance/ an accident. 27 Ibid., a story/ sance/ monstrous/ funeral; a story/ sance/ monstrous/ laid out, a story/ sance/ monstrous/ patchworking. 28 Ibid., a story/ sance/ mistress/ bereaved. 29 Ibid., a story/ sance/ mistress/ bethieved; a story/ sance/ mistress/ repairs. 30 Ibid., a story/ falling apart/ parting; a story/ falling apart/ my foot gone etc. 31 Ibid., a story/ falling apart/ or. 32 Ibid., a story/ falling apart/ I made myself over; italics mine. 33 Ibid., a quilt/ but I am glad. 34 Ibid., a quilt/ the wrong way.

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Bibliography
Jackson, Shelley. Patchwork Girl, Or, A Modern Monster. Watertown, MA: Eastgate, 1995. Aarseth, Espen J. Cybertext: Perspectives on Ergodic Literature. Baltimore and London: John Hopkins University Press, 1997. Bakhtin, Mikhail Mikhailovich. Discourse in the Novel. In The Dialogic Imagination: Four Essays, edited by Michael Holquist, 259-422. Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press, 1994. Bolter, Jay David. Writing Space: The Computer, Hypertext and the History of Writing. Hillsdale, New Jersey/Hove/London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers, 1991. Hayles, Katherine N. Flickering Connectivities in Shelley Jacksons Patchwork Girl: The Importance of Media-Specific Analysis. Postmodern Culture 10.2 (2000): http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/pmc/v010.102hayles.html. Landow, George P. Hypertext 3.0: Critical Theory and New Media in an Era of Globalization. Baltimore: John Hopkins UP, 2006. Doreen Bauschke is an independent scholar of American and Canadian literature at the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena, Germany. Currently her research and writing is devoted to the patchwork quilt as literary motif and metaphor for textuality in contemporary North American novels.

Part 2 Monsters and Gender

The Monster inside Me: Unnatural Births in Early Modern Italian and French Fairy Tales Belinda Calderone
Abstract Births in early modern Italian and French fairy tales were frequently monstrous. These tales abound with heroines giving birth to serpents, monkey-girls, wild boars and even myrtle branches. Indeed, the female body becomes the very origin of monstrosity. Early modern midwives and medical men, still ignorant about the female reproductive system, let their imaginations run positively wild over the many mysteries and abnormalities of childbirth. This paper argues that the early modern European cultural imagination infused the fairy tale genre with frightful depictions of unnatural progeny. Furthermore, it explores the implications for fairy tale mothers who bear such monsters. For even within the marvellous space of the fairy tale, giving birth to a monster is still an abnormality. The key fairy tale authors discussed in this paper are Giovan Francesco Straparola, Giambattista Basile and Marie-Catherine dAulnoy. From Straparolas snake offspring to dAulnoys fur covered princesses, there is no end to the incredible creatures that can spring from the womb. Indeed, their fairy taleslike enchanted mirrors reflect the nightmarish superstitions of their age. Key Words: Fairy tales, monstrous births, popular print, Straparola, Basile, dAulnoy. ***** Births in early modern Italian and French fairy tales were frequently monstrous. These tales abound with heroines giving birth to serpents, monkey-girls, wild boars and even myrtle branches. Indeed, the female body becomes the very origin of monstrosity. These unnatural births reflect the popular beliefs of their time; early modern midwives and medical men, knowing little of the female reproductive system, let their imaginations run positively wild over the many mysteries and abnormalities of childbirth. The link between popular belief and fairy tales in early modern Europe is clear when we consider two aspects of print culture: cheap popular print and the literary fairy tale. Both were short narratives, one offered to the public as a real story, the other a make-believe tale that mirrored reality. It is unsurprising that the prolific popular print, which was seen, read and heard daily on European streets found its way into the tales of early modern fairy tale authors. Indeed, their fairy taleslike enchanted mirrorsreflect the nightmarish superstitions of their age.

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__________________________________________________________________ Early modern fairy tale authors, Giovan Francesco Straparola, Giambattista Basile and Marie-Catherine dAulnoy all wrote in a time when monsters and magic were a topic of daily discussion. As Suzanne Magnanini reminds us, The literary fairy tale was born at a time when marvels were not relegated to fantastic fictions, but swirled around the courts, academies, churches, and public squares of Europe. 1 Perhaps the most frightening of these marvels were monstrous births. According to Valeria Finucci, unnatural birth stories of early modern Europe included a baby girl covered with hair as the result of her mother having gazed at a portrait of Saint John in a bearskin hanging over her bed 2 and a baby girl born in 1517 with a frog-like face because her mother had held a frog for the sake of curing a fever and kept holding it during coitus. 3 These cases reveal that causes provided for birth abnormalities were deeply rooted in superstition. They also represent the belief that monstrosity arises from the mothers actions or her maternal imagination. Thus womens bodies and minds are identified as the origin of monstrosity, a mysterious place from which all things unnatural can spring. In instances of molar pregnancies where an irregularly shaped growth inhabited the uterus instead of a healthy baby, the imagination ran positively wild. Jacques Glis discusses accounts that gave rise to the weirdest interpretations on behalf of the women who had witnessed the event. 4 Some of the women claim to have seen mothers give birth to a dead animal, rat, mole or tortoise; others saw a living fourfooted animal, armed with claws or hooked nails. 5 Some midwives even maintained that there were flying molas which could hang from the ceiling, and that others tried to hide and even re-enter the womb. 6 In the context of these nightmarish stories, monstrous fairy tale births do not seem quite so out of place. In fact, they seem positively mundane! Physical proof that these monstrous births were constantly in the early modern public consciousness exists in the sheer number of unnatural birth stories that inundated the popular print culture of early modern Europe. Booklets, broadsheets, and pamphlets were brimming with tales of animal-human hybrids and deformed infants. As Elizabeth S. Cohen and Thomas V. Cohen report, before the existence of newspapers, it was these cheap publications that purveyed news of marvels: floods, earthquakes, monstrous births. 7 Monstrous births appeared in these publications from around the beginning of the sixteenth century in Italy and from the 1570s in France. 8 According to Park and Daston, these publications were Displayed and recited publicly 9 and appealed through spoken word and image to the illiterate as well as to the reading public. 10 Broadsheets reporting monstrous births began with a provocative title and a woodcut of the creature. 11 Almost like an early modern version of todays tabloid magazines, this cheap popular literature was intended to shock and horrify the public. Yet, like fairy tales, they were also meant to entertain and to evoke wonder. Particularly significant to this discussion is an early modern broadsheet which reads just like a fairy tale: a good man promises to marry a lady, but marries another instead. The first lady is furious and

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__________________________________________________________________ seeks revenge. She enlists a witch to cast a spell on him. The witch gives him a potion that causes him to give birth to a monster. In the end, the witch is hanged and the lady is tortured and banished. 12 This cheap publication makes a striking link between fairy tales and popular culture in early modern Europe. Many of the magical and monstrous aspects of fairy tales may seem entirely foreign to us today, but in early modern Europe they were simply a reflection of what was being sold to the public as true stories. Giovan Francesco Straparola, acknowledged as the first European fairy tale author, wrote at a time when print culture was soaring, particularly cheap literature for the masses. In sixteenth century Venice, Straparola wrote two volumes of tales entitled Le Piacevoli Notti (The Pleasant Nights). Straparolas tales include a queen who gives birth to a pig and a queen who gives birth to a baby girl with a snake wrapped around her neck. In Straparolas Ancilotto, King of Provino, a young mother, Chiaretta, is tricked into believing that she has given birth to a litter of puppies. She promises her husband, King Ancilotto, three extraordinarily beautiful children, which she successfully produces. However, her sisters conspire with her mother-in-law and midwife to replace the triplets with three mongrel pups. Placing the puppies in the heroines arms they taunt, Look, oh queen, at the work that youve produced! Make sure that you regard it well so that the king can see the fruit of your womb! 13 When her husband sees the puppies he is horrified. Chiaretta breaks down into tears and desperately denies that the dogs are her offspring, but to no avail. Her husband strips her of her position as queen and gives the following orders: she was to wash the pots and pans, and ... she was to be fed the rotten garbage that fell to the dirty, stinking ground. 14 No blame whatsoever is placed upon the husband and Chiaretta is treated as though she has committed a crime. Eating garbage from the ground is typically animal behaviour, and so giving birth to animal offspring marks her as an animal also. She is no longer regarded as a human being; she is now a monster herself. We see that what comes from a womans body is treated as a reflection of her. Thus, the monster status of the offspring marks the mother as monstrous. Underlying this attitude is the implication of the mothers responsibility for, if not actual complicity in, the creation of a monster. Certainly the maternal imagination was often implicated in monstrous births, as Finuccis examples above indicate. However, mothers were often accused of something much more sinister. In the case of Chiarettas dog offspring, there is an underlying stain of guiltthat of bestiality. As Suzanne Magnanini reports, in Straparolas time there was no consensus in scientific writings as to whether the coupling of two disparate species could produce offspring. 15 In the absence of scientific knowledge, people truly believed that a woman could have sexual intercourse with an animal, become pregnant and give birth. As Magnanini argues, So great was the fear of the disintegration of the boundaries between animals and humans in this period that the birth or alleged birth of animal-human hybrids rent the fantastic fabric of the fairy

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__________________________________________________________________ tale. 16 Boundaries are particularly significant as the concept of monstrosity is closely tied up with the breaching and blurring of borders and boundaries. It is that which disturbs order and normality, and thus evokes anxiety and fear. Magnaninis statement suggests that this fear was so real and intense in early modern Europe that it inevitably permeated the fairy tale genre. The fairy tale genre was thus infused with heroines who give birth to animals, heroines who disturb the natural order. In the seventeenth century, Neapolitan courtier, Giambattista Basile, wrote a fairy tale collection entitled Lo Cunto de li Cunti (The Tale of Tales). In Basiles tales a queen has a dragon twin and another heroine is accused of giving birth to a dog. In fact, it is not only animals that can sprout from the womb in Basiles tales, but even shrubbery! In The Myrtle a woman who longs for a child constantly cries, Oh, God, if only I could bring something into this world, I wouldnt care if it were a branch of myrtle! 17 She bothers the heavens so much with her constant complaining that she becomes pregnant and after nine months, instead of a healthy baby, she gives birth to a branch of myrtle, just as she asked. The tale reminds us that God is ever watchful and has the power to punish humans by causing unnatural births. Again, boundaries have been blurred: the classifications of human and plant have merged. Basiles tale echoes a 1609 European broadsheet that tells of a woman who gives birth to a calf. The woman exclaims that she would rather die or give birth to a calf than have prayers said for her during her labour. God hears her words and transforms her baby into a calf in her womb. 18 Like Basiles tale, this broadsheet reminds us that God has the power to engender monsters as punishment for human sin. Indeed, it is sometimes impossible to tell fairy tales and popular print culture apart. This cheap literature continued into seventeenth century France, when MarieCatherine dAulnoy was writing and performing fairy tales in Paris salons. DAulnoy wrote two collections of fairy tales, Les Contes des Fes (Tales of the Fairies) and Contes Nouveaux ou Les Fes la Mode (New Fairy Tales or Fairies in Fashion). Like Straparola and Basile, dAulnoy was immersed in a world where monstrous births were spoken of daily. Holly Tucker comments on the popular beliefs of dAulnoys era: From monsters to cats, there seemed to have been no limit to the astonishing things that could come out of a womans body. 19 Stories floating around in French cheap print of the seventeenth century include a monster born with a human face and a body covered in scales, and a chambermaid who gave birth to monster after having sexual relations with a monkey. 20 The latter of which is particularly relevant to dAulnoys Babiole, which tells of a queen whose baby girl is transformed into a monkey by a cruel fairy. After she gives birth, the baby does not remain human for long, for all of a sudden, a marvel occurred! She became a monkey, jumping, running, and skipping about the room. 21 The queen is horrified and laments the reflection of her offspring on herself: What will become of me? What a disgrace! All my subjects will think Ive

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__________________________________________________________________ given birth to a monster. The king will be horrified by such a child! 22 Again, this monstrous child taints the mother with the mark of monstrosity. Like the young Chiaretta in Straparolas tale, this queen risks losing her royal status and honour. One of her attendants advises, you must tell the king that the princess was stillborn. Then put this ape in a box and let it sink to the bottom of the sea. 23 The queen agrees to this infanticide for the sake of her own honour. We must look at why the monkey-girl must be erased. What will people think the queen has done? The suspected crime is present in the broadsheet above: a chambermaid who gives birth to a monster after having sexual relations with a monkey. Again, the sin of bestiality is at the root of the monstrosity. In the queens case the sin is twofold: committing adultery and copulating with a real monkey. In her analysis of Babiole, Kathryn A. Hoffman argues that DAulnoys tale has more than a hint of bestiality, a suspicion of a deviant slip into a dangerous sexuality. Monkey bodies were particularly suspect of deviant desires. 24 The slip into a dangerous sexuality that Hoffman mentions is a slip into animal sexuality. A woman who has copulated with an animal has, in a sense, renounced her own humanity and so no longer deserves to be treated as human. Yet she is not truly an animal either; she is a liminal being hovering between two classifications. This blurring of human and animal boundaries in fairy tales provokes no end of anxiety, as it did in reality. As it happens, the monkey-girl is saved from death and given the name Babiole. She eventually becomes human after marrying a prince, at which point her mother can accept her as her child. This tale is remarkably similar to an early modern fifteen-page pamphlet mentioned by Hoffman, which tells of Tannakin Skinker, the hog-faced gentlewoman. The pamphlet includes these fairy tale motifs: An irate witch, a transformation of an innocent girl into a beast, the seeking of a worthy nobleman, and the prize of transforming marriage. 25 This broadsheet is overflowing with typical fairy tale themes and so links literary fairy tales and popular print culture together even closer. Humanisation of the monster is also present in dAulnoys The Wild Boar, in which a queen gives birth but instead of a handsome prince, a little wild boar was born! 26 Though her husband wishes to have the little monster drowned, 27 the queen feels pity for the creature and decides to raise him as her son. However, she attempts to humanise him and soften his monstrosity by dressing him in ribbons, jewellery, silk stockings and shoes. She also teaches him to walk on his hind legs and beats him to stop him from grunting. Though the queen allows the wild boar to live, she cannot accept him as he isshe must attempt to coax him from his liminal position between animal and human into the human realm. Like Babiole, he eventually becomes human after marrying, and so order is eventually restored. In fact, in many fairy tales, a monstrous child is transformed into a human at the enda miraculous blessing that real life mothers could only wish for. And so the fairy tale provides the happy ending that the booklets, broadsheets, and pamphlets cannot. The fairy

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__________________________________________________________________ tale attempts to right the wrongs of cheap popular print and re-establish the boundaries between human and animal, human, and monster. As we have seen, the early modern European cultural imagination infused the fairy tale genre with frightful depictions of unnatural progeny. A lack of scientific knowledge gave rise to weird and wonderful interpretations of abnormal births. The causes ranged from acts of God to bestiality to the maternal imagination. The effect of these popular beliefs on fairy tales is shown by the extraordinary connection between popular print and literary fairy tales, two different mediums telling the same narratives. The tales of Straparola, Basile, and dAulnoy mirrored their cultural environment. However, some fairy tales provided what the booklets, broadsheets and pamphlets could not: the hope of the humanisation of the monster, the reversal of monstrosity. Perhaps these fairy tales represent what early modern cultures wished for: the restoration of order and the peace of mind that the monster inside had been kept at bay once more.

Notes
Suzanne Magnanini, Fairy-Tale Science: Monstrous Generation in the Tales of Straparola and Basile (Toronto/Buffalo/London: University of Toronto Press, 2008), 4. 2 Valeria Finucci, Maternal Imagination and Monstrous Birth: Tassos Gerusalemme Liberta, in Generation and Degeneration: Tropes of Reproduction in Literature and History from Antiquity to Early Modern Europe, ed. Valeria Finucci and Kevin Brownlee (Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press, 2001), 55. 3 Ibid. 4 Jacques Glis, History of Childbirth: Fertility, Pregnancy and Birth in Early Modern Europe, trans. Rosemary Morris (Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1991), 259. 5 Ibid. 6 Ibid. 7 Elizabeth S. Cohen and Thomas V. Cohen, Daily Life in Renaissance Italy (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2001), 129. 8 Alan W. Bates, Emblematic Monsters: Unnatural Conceptions and Deformed Births in Early Modern Europe (Amsterdam/New York: Editions Rodopi B.V., 2005), 43. 9 Katharine Park and Lorraine J. Daston, Unnatural Conceptions: The Study of Monsters in Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century France and England, Past & Present 92 (1981): 28-30. 10 Ibid. 11 Ibid., 28.
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__________________________________________________________________ Dudley Wilson, Signs and Portents: Monstrous Births from the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment (London; New York: Routledge, 1993), 60. 13 Giovan Francesco Straparola, Ancilotto, King of Provino, in The Great Fairy Tale Tradition: From Straparola and Basile to the Brothers Grimm, ed. Jack Zipes (New York/London: W.W. Norton & Company, 2001), 222. 14 Ibid., 223. 15 Magnanini, Fairy-Tale Science, 108. 16 Ibid., 109-110. 17 Giambattista Basile, The Myrtle, in The Tale of Tales, or Entertainment for Little Ones, ed. Nancy L. Canepa (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2007), 53. 18 Wilson, Signs and Portents, 55-56. 19 Holly Tucker, Pregnant Fictions: Childbirth and the Fairy Tale in EarlyModern France (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2003), 18. 20 Wilson, Signs and Portents, 56. 21 Marie-Catherine dAulnoy, Babiole, in Beauties, Beasts and Enchantment: Classic French Fairy Tales, ed. Jack Zipes (New York: New American Library, 1989), 439. 22 Ibid. 23 Ibid. 24 Kathryn A. Hoffmann, Of Monkey Girls and a Hog-Faced Gentlewoman: Marvel in Fairy Tales, Fairgrounds, and Cabinets of Curiosities, Marvels & Tales: Journal of Fairy-Tale Studies 19.1 (2005): 75. 25 Ibid., 81. 26 Marie-Catherine dAulnoy, The Wild Boar, in The Great Fairy Tale Tradition: From Straparola and Basile to the Brothers Grimm, ed. Jack Zipes (New York; London: W.W. Norton & Company, 2001), 58. 27 Ibid.
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Bibliography
Basile, Giambattista. The Dragon. In The Tale of Tales, or Entertainment for Little Ones, edited by Nancy L. Canepa, 326-336. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2007. . The Myrtle. In The Tale of Tales, or Entertainment for Little Ones, edited by Nancy L. Canepa, 52-60. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2007.

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__________________________________________________________________ . Penta with the Chopped-Off Hands. In The Tale of Tales, or Entertainment for Little Ones, edited by Nancy L. Canepa, 223-232. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2007. Bates, Alan W. Emblematic Monsters: Unnatural Conceptions and Deformed Births in Early Modern Europe. Amsterdam/New York: Editions Rodopi B.V., 2005. Cohen, Elizabeth S., and Thomas V. Cohen. Daily Life in Renaissance Italy. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2001. DAulnoy, Marie-Catherine. Babiole. In Beauties, Beasts and Enchantment: Classic French Fairy Tales, edited by Jack Zipes, 438-458. New York: New American Library, 1989. . The Wild Boar. In The Great Fairy Tale Tradition: From Straparola and Basile to the Brothers Grimm, edited by Jack Zipes, 57-81. New York/ London: W.W. Norton & Company, 2001. Finucci, Valeria. Maternal Imagination and Monstrous Birth: Tassos Gerusalemme Liberta. In Generation and Degeneration: Tropes of Reproduction in Literature and History from Antiquity to Early Modern Europe, edited by Valeria Finucci and Kevin Brownlee, 41-77. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press, 2001. Glis, Jacques. History of Childbirth: Fertility, Pregnancy and Birth in Early Modern Europe. Translated by Rosemary Morris. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1991. Hoffmann, Kathryn A. Of Monkey Girls and a Hog-Faced Gentlewoman: Marvel in Fairy Tales, Fairgrounds, and Cabinets of Curiosities. Marvels & Tales: Journal of Fairy-Tale Studies 19.1 (2005): 67-85. Magnanini, Suzanne. Fairy-Tale Science: Monstrous Generation in the Tales of Straparola and Basile. Toronto/Buffalo/London: University of Toronto Press, 2008. Musacchio, Jacqueline Marie. The Art and Ritual of Childbirth in Renaissance Italy. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999.

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__________________________________________________________________ Park, Katharine, and Lorraine J. Daston. Unnatural Conceptions: The Study of Monsters in Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century France and England. Past & Present 92 (1981): 20-54. Straparola, Giovan Francesco. Ancilotto, King of Provino. In The Great Fairy Tale Tradition: From Straparola and Basile to the Brothers Grimm, edited by Jack Zipes, 220-229. New York; London: W.W. Norton & Company, 2001. . Biancabella and the Snake. In The Great Fairy Tale Tradition: From Straparola and Basile to the Brothers Grimm, edited by Jack Zipes, 406-415. New York; London: W.W. Norton & Company, 2001. . The Pig Prince. In The Great Fairy Tale Tradition: From Straparola and Basile to the Brothers Grimm, edited by Jack Zipes, 51-56. New York/London: W.W. Norton & Company, 2001. Tucker, Holly. Pregnant Fictions: Childbirth and the Fairy Tale in Early-Modern France. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2003. Wilson, Dudley. Signs and Portents: Monstrous Births from the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment. London/New York: Routledge, 1993. Belinda Calderone is currently completing her PhD in English at Monash University, Clayton, Australia. While her thesis examines changing representations of motherhood in European fairy tales, her broader research interests include classic and modern fairy tale literature, print history, translation and censorship.

Print Culture and the Monstrous Hermaphrodite in Early Modern England Whitney Dirks-Schuster
Abstract Early modern England was obsessed with hermaphrodites. A first, simple explanation for this phenomenon is that sex sells. This assertion takes into account a variety of evidence, from a pamphlet account of the famous Parisian boy-girl, which describes his/her body explicitly and at length, to the short-and-sweet advertisement to see a live hermaphrodite in London for 2s 6d. A second possible reason for the popularity of hermaphrodites is their identification as a kind of monstrous birth; the physical deformity of hermaphrodites, their indeterminate sex, could be read as a sign of Gods wrath for the sins of His people. Hermaphrodites could also be problematic in a third, secular sense. Without clearly male or female genitals, an hermaphrodite could transgress societal gender boundaries, leading to fears of sodomy and attempts to pin down an hermaphrodites true sex. From the popularity of Ovids Salmacis and Hermaphroditus myth to articles dedicated to real-life hermaphrodites in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, discussions of ambiguous sexuality, simultaneously fascinating and monstrous, permeated early modern England. Key Words: Hermaphrodite, sex, gender, monstrous birth, print culture, England, early modern. ***** 1. Sex Sells The bodies of early modern hermaphrodites were readily available for consumption, both to be viewed in person at private peep shows and to be read about in print. The Parisian boy-girl, aged sixteen, named Michael-Anne Drouart, for example, was upon Show in Carnaby-Street, London in November 1750 and simultaneously described in a 17-page pamphlet. 1 At birth, Drouart was given the two names of Michael and Anne, under the Uncertainty of which [sex] it properly belonged to, though Drouarts parents later determined him/her2 to be predominantly female. As a child, however, Drouart was widely reported as being an hermaphrodite, which led to constant Interruptions and Visits from all Quarters. His/her parents had not the least Idea, at that Time of exposing it to View, for any Advantage or Lucre except to [s]ome Persons only of the first Distinction [who] were admitted to satisfy their Curiosity. At the age of sixteen, Drouart became an Object so interesting to the public Curiosity that his/her portrait was engraved and apparently so widely disbursed by 1750 that it is at this Time grown pretty rare. The crowds flocking to Drouarts home eventually

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__________________________________________________________________ became so overwhelming that his/her parents allowed Drouart to stay at the home of M. Fageaise, a Surgeon of great Note and Eminence, who only allowed in Persons of the first Rank and Condition, at the price of thirty louis-dors per diem. Early in 1750, Drouart travelled to London, where all Curiosities either of Nature or Art find an Encouragement proportionable to their Degrees of Merit, and where he/she went on display for people such as M. Vacherie, the pamphlets author, to describe.3 After presenting Drouarts background, the following eight pages of the pamphlet are dedicated to a careful description of his/her body and especially genitalia, eventually concluding that Drouarts sex cannot be determined and that he/she is therefore a complete Hermaphrodite.4 In a letter to the Royal Society, however, James Parsons disagreed with Vacheries conclusions, instead arguing that Drouart, who was now shewn at Ludgate as an hermaphrodite was in fact female with a clitoris, grown to an inordinate size.5 This public disagreement between anatomists typifies the prurient nature of many anatomical or pseudoanatomical accounts of genitalia. As Ruth Gilbert points out, [s]uch works often straddled an unclear boundary between science and sensation the authors of vernacular works that discussed hermaphrodites exploited the commercial possibilities attached to the erotic nature of their subject matter.6 Indeed, Parsonss letter simultaneously commented on Drouart and advertised Parsonss Mechanical Critical Inquiry into the Nature of Hermaphrodites, the same book that he had mentioned in a 1741 letter to the Royal Society, written at a Time when the Town was daily entertained with Advertisements of the Angolan [hermaphrodite] that was shewed here publickly.7 Apparently, advertisements to see hermaphrodites were not altogether uncommon. A description of an entirely different Angolan hermaphrodite, for example, survived in a seventeenth-century collection of such promotions: An hermaphrodite (Lately brought over from Angola). The Features of whose Face are entirely Fminine, and something agreeable in Its Countenance when It smiles; there is no appearance of a Beard, nor was there ever any; when It Talks low, the Voice resembles a Womans, if aloud, a Mans; Its Breast is made wide and Masculine, Its Shoulders and Arms very Masculine, the Muscles being strong and large; below the Elbow It has a small neat Arm like a Woman; the Hips are Masculine, the Thighs and Legs Fminine, the private Parts are equally Masculine and Fminine, and so perfect in each Sex, that tis hard for the Curious Examiner to distinguish which has the Superiority.8

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__________________________________________________________________ The hermaphrodite is to be seen at the Golden-Cross, near Charing-Cross, Price 2s. 6d.9 A second paragraph of the advertisement, specifically describing the hermaphrodites genital structure, is in Latin; learned readers, possibly specifically physicians or anatomists, were evidently the targeted audience for these hermaphrodite shows. 2. A Fascination with Monstrosity Cheap to print and therefore available to a wide audience of readers, popular or ephemeral literature could be bought in a variety of forms in early modern London. Within the genre of broadside ballads alone, one could choose among all the Newes in England, of Murders, Flouds, Witches, Fires, Tempests, and what not,10 love stories, young womens cross-dressed adventures, murderers gallows confessions, and tales of monstrous births, in addition to many other entertaining topics. A typical ballad, which happens to describe hermaphroditic conjoined twins, was printed in London in 1566. The title declares this broadside to be The true description of two monsterous children who are then pictured in a woodcut.11 The image clearly depicts conjoined twins, one female and the other male. Above the woodcut, very specific details of the birth are provided, including the parents names, where they live, and when the birth occurred: laufully begotten betwene George Steuens and Margerie his wyfe, and borne in the parish of Swanburne, in Buckynghamshyre the iiij. of Aprill, Anno Domini 1566. The infants were baptised John and Joan and lived half-an-hour after the birth.12 Bates asserts that such specific details were expected by early modern readers, who relied on broadsides for news, and so the burden of truth for the material propagated in the news ballads was on the printers.13 However, these concrete details only appear in the broadsides introduction; below the woodcut, the remainder of the pageover halfis dedicated to a morality ballad, claiming that such vnnaturall shapes and formes, | Thus brought forth in our dayes, | Are tokens true and manifest | How God by dyuers wayes | Doth styrre vs to amendment of | Our vyle and cankred lyfe. Monstrous births were a warning from God to Bewayle your former lyfe and sinnes, | While you haue time and space.14 The reaction of one early modern reader to stories of monstrous births, and even to hermaphrodites particularly, can be gleaned from the manuscript book A Short History of Human Prodigious and Monstrous Births, compiled by James Paris du Plessis between 1680 and 1730. Unlike his master Samuel Pepys, whose ballad collection only contains only two monstrous broadsides,15 du Plessis was fascinated with monstrous births. Included in his sizeable book are three pages on an hermaphrodite born in Yorkshire in 1680 who visited London in 1702, complete with the painting of him/her wearing a dress, the skirt of which can be lifted on the page to bare his/her genitals. Dudley Wilson suggests that this flap may demonstrate the manner in which hermaphrodites were exhibited to the early modern public, with very little consideration for the hermaphrodite him/herself.16

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__________________________________________________________________ Du Plessis recounts how he met, talked with, and examined the twenty-two-yearold hermaphrodite: she seemed to be a Perfect Partaker of boath sexes its viril Verge did Erect by Provocation. On the following page he continues: [a]sked it many Questions but Company Cumming in Interrupted us but I found by Inspections that its viril Member was Perfect as to all outward Aparance. as to the Head Calote Testicules Scrotum &c.17 Du Plessis enjoyed unfettered access to this hermaphrodite, as did Vacherie when he examined Michael-Anne Drouart in 1750; in Wilsons words, the curiosity of the public was in no way inhibited when examining bodies on display.18 3. Transgressing Gender Boundaries Uncertainty surrounded hermaphrodites in early modern England. Were they women or men? Who decided? How could one be sure? Thomas Edgar rather unhelpfully posited that hermaphrodites were persons who must be demed male or female, according to the predominance of the sex most inciting,19 and Edward Coke agreed that an hermaphrodite aught to be baptized according to that kinde of the sex which doth prevaile.20 Anatomists, physicians, and midwives the early modern medical communitywere often called upon, or appointed themselves, to identify the true sex of an hermaphrodite. However, their opinions often varied widely, and physicians appear to have regularly challenged each others identifications or even denied the existence of hermaphrodites altogether. A very clear medical interest can be seen in these discussions about real, historical hermaphrodites, and while the authors disagree on the detailswhether an individual might be better identified as a true hermaphrodite or a woman with excessive genitalia, for exampletheir writings do demonstrate that the fascination with hermaphrodites reached beyond the purely literary. Anna Wildes story is told in a letter to the Royal Society, originally written in Latin by Thomas Allen, a physician and member of the Society, in 1667 when Wilde was to be seen in London and reprinted in English in 1745. Wilde was born on 2 February 1647 at Ringwood in Hampshire. At the age of six, there appeared two Tumours like Hernias or Ruptures; in reducing which, all the Care of Surgeons was ineffectual; for they proved to be Testicles, each contained within skin flaps which were either labia or a bifurcated scrotum. However, Wildes sex was not called into question until she21 was thirteen years old: once happening to be kneading Dough, all of a sudden a Penis, which till then lay concealed, broke forth, to the great Surprize of the Patient. At the age of sixteen, Wilde menstruated for two years, whereupon her courses stopped, her voice dropped, and she grew a beard. Allen includes two accounts of Wildes sexual preference, first saying that at the Sight of a Woman her Penis was erected, and at the Sight of a Man it became flaccid and going on to relate how one Night she was making merry with her Companions, she cast her Eyes upon a handsome Man, and became so much in Love with him, that the Excess of her Passion made her hysterick.22 Though Allen

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__________________________________________________________________ likely intended the observation and story to demonstrate Wildes double natureas a man, she was aroused by women, while as a woman, she was capable of succumbing to hysterical passion for a mana modern reader is instead led to question whether Wilde may in fact have been bisexual or at least attracted to members of both sexes. An anonymous response to Allens letter sharply contradicts Allens conclusions and even calls his professional credentials into question. The author of this review, entitled A True and Accurate Account of an Hermaphrodite, begins his own account of Wildes case by questioning not Allens identification of Wilde as an hermaphrodite but rather whether hermaphrodites even exist. He asserts that [w]e are not to wonder that People, unacquainted with the Structure of a human Body, and the Laws of Nature in its Formation, should credit Impossibilities concerning it and later claims that all the so-called hermaphrodites he has seen in London since Allens letter was published have actually been Women whose Clitoris was longer than ordinary, and nothing more. Moreover, he identifies Wilde as one of these women, who through Frequent Titillation had made her Clitoris grow longer than it would naturally have done. The author continues on to berate Allen for his lack of scientific method as, he claims, Allen received all his information about Wildes genitalia from her handler, the Man who shewed her to People for Money: A Man whose Business it was to tell as strange a Story as he could. The author even questions how Wilde could have grown a beard and become physically more masculine around age eighteen, as Allen had claimed, if she was seen in Holland by the anatomist Ysbrand van Diemerbroeck some years after this, but she was then as much a Woman as ever. According to the author, Diemerbroeck even reports that Wilde menstruated when he examined her and calls Allens penis an enlarged clitoris. However false Conclusions Dr. Allen may have drawn from the Facts he lays down in this Paper, the author asserts at the end of his review, the Facts themselves serve our Turn to prove the contrary to what he intended to make out by them. They perfectly convince us that what he means to describe as an Hermaphrodite was not an Hermaphrodite, but a mere Woman.23 4. Conclusion There can be no question that hermaphrodites appealed to a wide audience in early modern England. Cheap print was available to anyone; a labourer could easily afford a ballad or two a week, the occasional pamphlet, and sporadically even inexpensive books. Live hermaphrodite shows, anatomy books, and accounts published in the Philosophical Transactions, on the other hand, would have been aimed at a learned audience of anatomists, physicians, and moneyed gentlemen with an interest in natural philosophy. Though these more highly educated individuals likely also read popular literatureSamuel Pepys, for example, was a notorious collector of broadside balladsthese scientific works were not generally

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__________________________________________________________________ available to a popular audience. In each of these guises, the hermaphrodite was available for public consumption, and the public did indeed consume such accounts of erotica, monstrosity, and transgression. Hermaphrodites fascinated the inhabitants of early modern England.

Notes
M. Vacherie, An Account of the Famous Hermaphrodite, or, Parisian Boy-Girl, Aged Sixteen, Named Michael-Anne Drouart, at This Time (November, 1750.) upon Show in Carnaby-Street, London (London, 1750), 2. 2 Vacherie refers to Michael-Anne Drouart throughout the pamphlet with the gender-neutral pronoun it. In this narrative and in a conscious attempt to acknowledge the double nature of Drouarts genitals, I will instead refer to Drouart with the pronouns he/she, him/her, etc. 3 Vacherie, An Account of the Famous Hermaphrodite, or, Parisian Boy-Girl, 46. 4 Ibid., 14. 5 James Parsons, A Letter to the President Concerning the Hermaphrodite Shewn in London, Philosophical Transactions (1683-1775), 91 volumes (London, 175152), XLVII, 142. 6 Ruth Gilbert, Early Modern Hermaphrodites: Sex and Other Stories (Aldershot: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002), 142. 7 James Parsons, A Letter from James Parsons, M.D. F.R.S. to the Royal Society, Giving a Short Account of his Book Intituled, A Mechanical Critical Inquiry into the Nature of Hermaphrodites (London, 1741), in 8vo, Philosophical Transactions (1683-1775) 91 volumes (London, 1739-41), XLI, 651. 8 Anon., Fmina, mas, maurus, mundi mirabile monstrum. An Hermaphrodite (Lately Brought Over from Angola, in compiler unknown, A Collection of 77 Advertisements Relating to Dwarfs, Giants, and Other Monsters and Curiosities Exhibited for Public Inspection (London, 1680-1700), n. p. 9 Ibid. 10 Quoted in Tessa Watt, Cheap Print and Popular Piety, 1550-1640 (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1991), 11. 11 Aaron W. Kitch, Printing Bastards: Monstrous Birth Broadsides in Early Modern England, in Printing and Parenting in Early Modern England, ed. Douglas A. Brooks (Aldershot and Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2005), 223. 12 Anon., The True Description of Two Monsterous Children [Reprint. Originally published: London, 1566] in ed. unknown, Ancient Ballads & Broadsides Published in England in the Sixteenth Century: Chiefly in the Earlier Years of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth, Reprinted from the Unique Original
1

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__________________________________________________________________ Copies, in the Library of Henry Huth, Esq., Philobiblon Society (London, 1867), 321. 13 A. W. Bates, Emblematic Monsters: Unnatural Conceptions and Deformed Births in Early Modern Europe, The Wellcome Series in the History of Medicine (Amsterdam and New York: Rodopi, 2005), 55. 14 Anon., The True Description of Two Monsterous Children, 321-322, 326. 15 Anon., The Lamenting Lady [Reprint. Originally published: London, n.d.], in A Pepysian Garland: Black-Letter Broadside Ballads of the Years 1595-1639, Chiefly from the Collection of Samuel Pepys, ed. Hyder Edward Rollins (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1922), 124-131; and Anon., A Monstrous Shape: Or a Shapeless Monster [Reprint. Originally published: London, n. d.], in Rollins, 451-454. Significantly, both ballads describe fictional accounts of monstrosity: respectively, a woman who gives birth to 365 children at once and a pig-faced woman living in Holland. 16 D. B. Wilson, Signs and Portents: Monstrous Births from the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment (London and New York: Routledge, 1993), 92. 17 James Paris du Plessis, A Short History of Human Prodigious and Monstrous Births (unprinted manuscript, British Library, Additional MSS 5246, c. 16801730), f. 34r. 18 Wilson, Signs and Portents, 92. 19 Thomas Edgar, The Lawes Resolutions of Woemens Rights: or, The Lawes Provision for Woemen (London, 1632), 5. 20 Gilbert, Early Modern Hermaphrodites, 42. 21 Anna Wilde was never identified as male and was invariably referred to by feminine pronouns, a practice I will follow here. 22 Thomas Allen, An Hermaphrodite, in Medical Essays and Observations Relating to the Practice of Physic and Surgery: Abridgd from the Philosophical Transactions, from their First Publication, ed. S. Mihles (London, 1745), 25, 26. 23 Anon., A True and Accurate Account of an Hermaphrodite [Reprint. Originally published: London, n. d.] in A Review of the Works of the Royal Society of London; Containing Animadversions on Such of the Papers as Deserve Particular Observation, ed. Sir John Hill (London, 1751), 97-102.

Bibliography
Allen, Thomas. An Hermaphrodite. In Medical Essays and Observations Relating to the Practice of Physic and Surgery: Abridgd from the Philosophical Transactions, from their First Publication, edited by Samuel Mihles, 24-26. London, 1745.

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__________________________________________________________________ Anon. A True and Accurate Account of an Hermaphrodite [Reprint. Originally published: London, n. d.]. In A Review of the Works of the Royal Society of London; Containing Animadversions on Such of the Papers as Deserve Particular Observation, edited by Sir John Hill, 97-102. London, 1751. Anon. The Lamenting Lady [Reprint. Originally published: London, n.d.]. In A Pepysian Garland: Black-Letter Broadside Ballads of the Years 1595-1639, Chiefly from the Collection of Samuel Pepys, edited by Hyder Edward Rollins, 124-131. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1922. Anon. A Monstrous Shape. Or a Shapelesse Monster [Reprint. Originally published: London, n. d.]. In A Pepysian Garland: Black-Letter Broadside Ballads of the Years 1595-1639, Chiefly from the Collection of Samuel Pepys, edited by Hyder Edward Rollins, 451-454. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1922. Anon. The True Description of Two Monsterous Children [Reprint. Originally published: London, 1566]. In Ancient Ballads & Broadsides Published in England in the Sixteenth Century: Chiefly in the Earlier Years of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth, Reprinted from the Unique Original Copies, in the Library of Henry Huth, Esq., unknown editor, 321-326. Philobiblon Society, London, 1867. Anon. Fmina, mas, maurus, mundi mirabile monstrum. An Hermaphrodite (Lately Brought Over from Angola. In A Collection of 77 Advertisements Relating to Dwarfs, Giants, and Other Monsters and Curiosities Exhibited for Public Inspection. London, 1680-1700. Bates, A. W. Emblematic Monsters: Unnatural Conceptions and Deformed Births in Early Modern Europe. The Wellcome Series in the History of Medicine. Amsterdam and New York: Rodopi, 2005. Du Plessis, James Paris. A Short History of Human Prodigious and Monstrous Births. Unprinted manuscript, British Library, Additional MSS 5246, c. 16801730. Edgar, Thomas. The Lawes Resolutions of Woemens Rights: or, The Lawes Provision for Woemen. London, 1632. Gilbert, Ruth. Early Modern Hermaphrodites: Sex and Other Stories. Aldershot: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002.

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__________________________________________________________________ Kitch, Aaron W. Printing Bastards: Monstrous Birth Broadsides in Early Modern England. In Printing and Parenting in Early Modern England, edited by Douglas A. Brooks, 221-236. Aldershot and Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2005. Parsons, James. A Letter from James Parsons, M.D. F.R.S. to the Royal Society, Giving a Short Account of his Book Intituled, A Mechanical Critical Inquiry into the Nature of Hermaphrodites. London, 1741. in 8vo. In Philosophical Transactions (1683-1775), 650-652. 91 vols., London, 1739-41. , A Letter to the President Concerning the Hermaphrodite Shewn in London. In Philosophical Transactions (1683-1775), 142-145. 91 vols., London, 1751-52. Watt, Tessa. Cheap Print and Popular Piety, 1550-1640. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1991. Wilson, D. B. Signs and Portents: Monstrous Births from the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment. London and New York: Routledge, 1993. Whitney Dirks-Schuster is a PhD Candidate at The Ohio State University. Her dissertation is tentatively titled Monstrous Births and the Spread of Knowledge in Early Modern Britain.

Female Monsters in Kabyle Myths and Folktales: Their Nature and Functions Sabrina Zerar
Abstract This article seeks to explore the nature and functions of female monsters in Kabyle myths, which are primarily a male cultural production, and folktales, which mostly constitute the cultural capital of traditional Kabyle women in Algeria. Using Leo Frobeniuss (1921, 1996) three-volume collection of traditional Kabyle narratives as a corpus, and adopting a feminist and dialogic perspective, the investigation has resulted in the realization that the representation of the Kabyle woman as monster is a predominant feature in the myths, and even more so in the folktales of the monstrous produced by women. It is argued that the excess of female monstrous representations and the attractive and complex manner in which these representations are made in the folktales signify much more a symbolic resistance than a reproduction of the Kabyle mans mythologies about gender power relations. The monstrous female figure of Teryel is taken as an illustrative example of resistance to diverse types of patriarchal monstrification of women in the myths. Teryel is such a familiar presence in the folktales of the monstrous that the reference to them as Teryels folktales would not be a misnomer. I hold Teryels saliency in the folktales as an indicator of a culturally predetermined preference dictated by the clash of Kabyle woman and Kabyle man over the referent of monstrosity. In response to mans monstrification processes, the Kabyle women elaborate an orature of terrorism in order to empower their oppressed sisters, and to instil fear and terror in their male counterparts, who want to exclude them from the public sphere. Key ords: representation, monsters, Kabyle, myths, folktales, fertility, female resistance, male domination ***** 1. Introduction To the Kabyles, the monstrous [] is so predominant in the folktales in general as well as in embellished adventure narratives that I consider my decision to place the second volume [of kabyle folktales entitled The Monstrous] before the third one devoted to animal fables and magic folktales completely justified (Trans. Mine). 1

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__________________________________________________________________ This is what the German anthropologist Leo Frobenius (1921) writes in the introduction to his Contes Kabyles: Le monstrueux. There is nothing particularly remarkable about this culture-specific marker of Kabyle folktales. As Steven Jones Swann aptly remarks, though folktales are common to all mankind in various genres, folktales that are popular for one ethnic community, or in one cultural area are not necessarily so for another. Jones argues that folktales are culturally marked by the context of their collective production and consumption, which shows in the saliency accorded to certain motifs and stylistic features in folktales indicating culturally predetermined preferences of the audiences across ethnic communities. 2 Apart from this general cultural preference of the Kabyles for folktales of the monstrous noted by Frobenius, there is a more significant preference related to the popularity accorded to folktales containing female monsters over those which do not. Among these Kabyle female monsters, the figure of Teryel is so popular that Kabyle folktales are closely associated with her name. Though Frobenius had drawn attention to the significant role that the monstrous plays in Kabyle folklore, nearly a century ago, thus far the sole studies devoted to Kabyle monsters are those undertaken by Camille Lacoste Dujardin. 3 In her most recent work, Lacoste Dujardin (2010) argues that Kabyle women do not totally consent to masculine domination as her fellow French sociologist, Pierre Bourdieu claims. 4 One of their means of critical resistance and self-affirmation is the deployment of female folkloric monsters in some sort of symbolic violence directed against the patriarchal order of things. Lacoste Dujardins insight into the function of monstrous representation as critical resistance is to the point. However, in her analysis, she overlooks the various mythic processes of female monstrification that Kabyle men originally employed to legitimate unequal gender power relations, and the redeployment of an excessive feminist representation of the monstrous in the folktales in response to Kabyle mans monstryification of women in the myths. In what follows, I would argue that unless we understand the mythic monstrifying processes of females first, we can easily miss the subverting drive of Kabyle folktales of female monsters like those of Teryel. 2. Results and Discussion The social monstrification of women is the first type of monstrification to surface in Frobeniuss first volume of Kabyle folktales also referred to as myths in the authors Introduction. 5 The first myth tells us that the Kabyle Adam and Eve originally lived in the depths of the earth where they gave birth to 50 daughters and 50 sons. This rather large progeny of the first Kabyle parents emerged out of two separate holes to the surface of the earth, an action signifying some sort of chthonian birth which solves the problem of incest in the myth. It happened that two of them, one from each gender group refused to subscribe to the first social charter that regulated sexuality through the formation of the family, the institutional site of social reproduction par excellence. As a consequence, they are

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__________________________________________________________________ discursively metamorphosed into human flesh-eating monsters, the female one called Teryel, and the male one Izem, lion in English. At first sight, this myth places the female monster and male monster on the same footing. Yet, looking closely at it in the light of myth 18 in the Kabyle mythic system, recounting how 7 orphans reared by lions in the forest were restored to civilization to become the first seven Kabyle Kings, one realizes a marked gender difference in the mythic process of monstrification. The case with Teryel is totally different. Once expelled to the social margins in the myth of origins, she does not re-appear in the mythology, except in the form of another social monster the setut (sorceress) with whom she shares a belly full of wind. Obviously, Teryels monstrification is completely negative and immutable. On the contrary, the lions social monstrosity is redeemable and sheds positively and indistinctly on all Kabyle men if the noble values attached to this lion monster, often euphemistically referred to as argaz elali (the noble man) in English are considered. In the Kabyle myth of origins, men took their respective female partners to their houses after a mythic battle of the sexes won by women. Once in their homes, they made this fundamental provision in the patriarchal charter: It is not right that a woman lies on a man. Henceforward, when we make love to our women, it is we men who will sit upon you, women. In this way, we shall become your masters (Trans. mine). 6 Clearly, Teryels breach of this provision about procreative sexuality in the service of a newly established patriarchal system condemns her to an irredeemable monstrosity. As an anomalous being, she is condemned to live outside the organised and safe world of Kabyle territory, in the other less familiar world inhabited by lawhush, meaning both monsters and wild animals in Kabyle. 7 The mythic monstrification of rebelling women also occurs at the political level. Myth 9 recounts how at advanced age, out of resentment against those who doubted of her magic knowledge and power, the first woman of the world breaks wind on a pile of wood that was magically carrying her back home. Not only did this monstrous act outrage the pile of wood, which stopped moving on the spot, it also resulted in the loss of communication with all animate and inanimate objects, the confusion and birth of languages, conflicts and the separation of human beings into distinct peoples. This monstrous act of breaking wind is not left unpunished because, since then, elderly women have lost the right to rule over the Kabyle community. The myth closes with the reminder that thus was power [understand male power], powerful nations and empires were born. 8 To put an end to the anarchy loosened upon the world, the ant (a cultural heroine for the Kabyles) advised the elderly males imgharen izemnyen in Kabyle to guide and assign a separate and definite national territory to various groups of people. This myth of

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__________________________________________________________________ the political monstrification of women, allegedly thirsty for absolute political power takes its full significance only if set within the context of that political and social organization the tajmait (village assembly in English) through which the Kabyles exercise political power. The elderly women are denied access to the tajmait because the myth declares them to be too polluting at an advanced age not to constitute a danger to the management of political affairs. 9 What has to be observed in this myth about how the first woman of the world is toppled down from political power is that the relation of knowledge to power and age is rendered differently for the two sexes. Seniority makes the males assume an epistemological respect that entitles them to the exercise of an allegedly rational and democratic form of political power. On the contrary, the factor of seniority inevitably leads women to an epistemological excess that metamorphoses them into political monsters (setut) whose dominant feature is political intrigue, personal aggrandizement, unconscionable appetite for power, and the refusal of politics as a democratic game. To complete the exclusion of women from the public sphere, Myth 16 entitled Gods message and his gifts to people lets us know that god banned women from the economic domain because his first female messenger committed the monstrous act of making the Kabyles the poorest people on earth by pouring down on them two bags of lice, and handing one bag of money and another of lice to the Arabs and two bags of money to Europeans. Furious with this mismanagement, God is quoted saying: This is how because of a woman, suspicion and bad faith were born on earth! Women were more intelligent than men. But they acted so badly in committing this mistake [mismanagement of Gods gifts] that in the future, they will have to stay at home (Trans. Mine). 10 Where there is power, there is resistance, Michel Foucault tells us. 11 This universal dialectic of power and resistance is best reflected in the relation that Kabyle myths hold with the folktales of the monstrous. What is remarkable in this relation is the resurgence of Teryel in the folktales after her brief appearance but quick effacement in the myths. One of the consecrated expressions in referring to Teryels independence in the folktales is that vav bukhem thnesth, literally meaning that the owner of the home is she. The same expression can be extended to include the folktales themselves as Teryels proprietary narratives. To paraphrase Roland Barthes in a Kabyle context, Teryel is the heroine in her own sphere of action that is the indigenous folktale. 12 The narrative process of female monstrification in the myths is subverted in favour of women in the folktales. The first type of monstrosity to be undermined in these folktales is the domestic or social monstrosity. On the whole, the folktales offer us a representation of Teryel as a social non-conformist, a discontent with

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__________________________________________________________________ mans civilisation, to use Sigmund Freud. They sometimes delineate Teryel as a single aged woman reigning singlehanded over her home and her fields; sometimes as a single mother or parent with just one daughter, the beautiful Loundja or the ugly Aicha Boutliss; sometimes, as married to an ogre with no children at all; and still at other times, as a dominating wife to a henpecked husband. All these antifamily types are monstrified forms of the Kabyle family type marked off by patriarchy, patrilinearity, and the production of a huge number of male children. 13 Against the miserable fate of the self-denying and self-sacrificing idealized mother who die at a young age exhausted by her many pregnancies, with no voice of her own in the folktales to affirm, Teryel often lives to a healthy advanced age because of her practice of birth control. More significantly, the saliency of Teryels presence in the folktales is rendered in an attractive manner denying the conservative urge that some sociologist like Boudieu assign to Kabyle women. This deconstruction of the patriarchal model of family is also accompanied by the critique of the home as it is conceived in the myths. Folktale 16, for example, shows us Teryel involved in the socially symbolic act of throwing outside her home objects highly venerated by the traditional Kabyle community. One of these objects is a beautiful woollen blanket or carpet used as bedding, and that Teryel has stretched out on her fence on a sunny day before she goes away to work in the fields. Taking advantage of her absence, Mkidesh the title trickster hero puts needles in the carpet. At night, dead tired because of hard work, Teryel feels a prick of resentment at the uncomfortable feeling caused by the little needles in her bedding. So she angrily throws it out of the window. Waiting outside under cover of darkness, Mkidesh runs away with it to his home, takes the needles out and beds down comfortably on it. Clearly, Teryel does not throw away the carpet, so much as its prickle, a symbol of the sexual activity and the fertility in children that it connotes for her covetous male neighbour. The second object that our female monster throws out at Mkideshs instigation is the domestic grinder mentioned in the Kabyle myths as the first kitchen utensil to be originally handed to Kabyle women in order to transform the grain produced by their men into flour, a transformed ingredient necessary for making food. Disturbed by the noise of the grinder that Mkidesh keeps turning through a hole dug in one of the walls of her house, at a late hour in the night, Teryel gets up and throws it out of the window. As in the first case, Mkidesh takes it to his home. Imensi in Kabyle community is the last and most important meal of the day that all the members of the family often take together in the evening. It is in the context of this meal time that the dismissing gesture of Teryel throwing the grinder takes its full significance. What she refuses to comply with in this case is the transformation and nourishing activity assigned to women in Kabyle homes. Such a daily routine or ritual activity does not fit in well with her independent character as a huge property owner.

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__________________________________________________________________ In folktale 32, The Agile Hunter and the She-ogre, Teryel invites herself to the village assembly in search of a fleeing hunter caught poaching on her territory full of game. Metamorphosed into a beautiful woman, Teryel takes seat next to the hunter before she rises up to announce that she will marry the assembly man who will wrestle her down to the ground. In their response to the challenge, the assembly members are beaten up one by one in front of the frightened hunter. At last, she comes back to the latter shaming him to take his chance like the other village assembly men, which he finally does. Teryel falls on purpose at the first touch. The irony of it all is that he the agile hunter who is supposed to be a protector of the village from external danger finds himself married to Teryel and obliged to submit to her rule. In this tale, it is the political monstrosity on which Kabyle mans mythologies have constructed the patriarchal system that founders. Teryels defiance of the tajmait and her conquest of the agile hunter reverse or rather subvert the sexual roles and the values that the same political organization has assigned to men and women. 14 3. Conclusion It follows from this discussion that female monsters in Kabyle folktales are not simply, to paraphrase Pope, frightful representations of vice exposed to the public eye in order to incur moral outrage. 15 If this is true for those male folktales referred to as myths in Frobeniuss text, the case is significantly different with womens folktales of the monstrous. I have detected an iconoclastic tendency in the latter in their opposition to the mythic iconography of rebellious women as social, epistemological, political and economic monsters. In the folktales of the monstrous, it is less a matter that Kabyle women's v(o)ices are represented as monsters, and more a question of the prominence or saliency given to resisting female monsters, as well as the complex and attractive manner in which they are presented by the predominantly female storytellers. By displaying female monsters like Teryel in a complex and attractive manner, it is what the patriarchal system castigated as female vices (female independence, birth control, single parenthood, etc,) rather than virtues (recognition of male ownership of female fertility, domesticity, etc,) that are promoted as contesting feminist voices. So female Kabyle narrators are not solely guardians of traditions acting in favour of a patriarchal society by initiating young children into adult roles, but underground rebels who undermine the prevalent unequal gender power relations, through monstrous representation in that art of subversion, that is the indigenous Kabyle folktales of Teryel. 16

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Notes
Leo Frobenius, Contes Kabyles, Tome II, Le Monstrueux, trans. Mokran Fetta (Aix-en-Provence: Edisud, 1996), 5. 2 Steven Jones Swann, The Fairy Tale: The Magic Mirror of the imagination (New York: Routledge, 2002). 3 Camille Lacoste-Dujardin, La Vaillance des Femmes: Les Relation entre Femmes et Hommes Berbres de Kabylie (Alger: Editions Barzakh, 2010). 4 Pierre Bourdieu, La Domination Masculine (Paris: Liber le Seuil, 1998). 5 Leo Frobenius, Contes Kabyles, Tome I, La Sagesse, trans. Mokran Fetta (Aixen-Provence: Edisud, 1996). 6 Ibid., 32. 7 Mircea Eliade, The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion, trans. Willard R. Trask (San Diego: Harcourt Brace, 1987). 8 Ibid., Leo Frobenius, Contes Kabyles, Tome I, La Sagesse, 76. 9 Mary Douglas, Purity and Danger: An Analysis of the Concepts of Pollution and Taboo (London: Ark Paperbacks, 1984). 10 Ibid., Leo Frobenius, Contes Kabyles, Tome I, La Sagesse, 66-67. 11 Michel Foucault, History of Sexuality, Vol. 1, trans. Michael Hurley (New York: Pantheon, 1978. 12 Roland Barthes, Structural Analysis of Narratives, in Roland Barthes, Image, Music Text, ed. and trans. Stephen Heath (London: Fontana Press, 1977). 13 Souad Khodja, A Comme Algriennes (Alger: ENAL, 1991). 14 Youcef Allioui, Contes du Cycle de l'Ogre: Contes Kabyles, (Paris: lHarmatan, 2002), 26-33. 15 Alexander Pope, Essay on Man, in Alexander Pope's Collected Poems, ed. Bonamy Dobre (London: Everymans Library, 1965), 195. In the verses I paraphrased, Pope says what follows: Vice is a monster of so frightful mien/ As, to be hated needs to be seen. 16 Jack Zipes, Fairy Tales and the Art of Subversion (London: Routledge, 2006).
1

Bibliography
Allioui, Youcef. Contes du Cycle de l'Ogre: Contes Kabyles, Timucuha. Paris, lHarmattan, 2002. Eliade, Mircea. The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion. Translated by Willard R. Trask. San Diego: Harcourt Brace, 1987. Barthes, Roland. Structural Analysis of Narratives. In Roland Barthes, Image, Music Text. Edited and translated by Stephen Heath. London: Fontana Press, 1977.

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__________________________________________________________________ Bourdieu Pierre. The Sentiment of Honour and Share in Kabyle Society. In Honour and Shame: The Values of Mediterranean Society. Edited by J. G. Peristinay, 191-241. London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 1965. Chebel, Malek. L'Imaginaire Arabo-Musulman. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1993. Douglas, Mary. Purity and Danger: An Analysis of the Concepts of Pollution and Taboo. London: Ark Paperbacks, 1984. Foucault, Michel. History of Sexuality. Vol. 1. Translated by Michael Hurley. New York: Pantheon, 1978. Frobenius, Leo. Contes Kabyles, Tome I, La Sagesse. Translated by Mokran Fetta. Aix-en-Provence: Aix-en-Provence, Edisud, 1996. . Contes Kabyles, Tome II, Le Monstrueux. Translated by Mokran Fetta. Aix-en-Provence: Edisud, 1996. . Contes Kabyles, Tome III, Le Fabuleux. Translated by Mokran Fetta. Aixen-Provence: Edisud, 1996. Khodja, Souad. A Comme Algriennes. Alger. Enal, 1991. Kirk, G. S. Myth: Its Meaning and Functions in Ancient and Other Cultures. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998. Lacoste-Dujardin, Camille. La Vaillance des Femmes: Les Relations entre Femmes et Hommes Berbres de Kabylie. Alger: Editions Barzakh, 2010. Pope, Alexander. Essay on Man. In Alexander Pope's Collected Poems. Edited by Bonamy Dobre. London: Everymans Library, 1965. Propp, Vladimir. Morphology of the Folktale. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1994. Swann, Stephen Jones. The Fairy Tale: The Magic Mirror of the Imagination. New York: Routledge, 2002. Zipes, Jack. Fairy Tales and the Art of the Subversion. London: Routledge, 2006.

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__________________________________________________________________ Sabrina Zerar is a matre de confrences at Mouloud Mammeri University English Department in Tizi-Ouzou, Algeria. She has been teaching English for these last 26 years, first at High School, and then at the University. She is currently directing a research team in Cultural Studies for the Algerian Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research. In addition to her teaching and research activities, she chairs the English Department Scientific Committee and sits at the Senate of the Faculty of Letters and Languages.

Dangerous Creatures: Brahmin Widows as Monsters in Twentieth-Century India Sarah Rangaratnam


Abstract In the Indian cultural imaginary of the twentieth century, widows were constructed as physical and spiritual monsters as a way of validating the inhumane treatment that they were forced to sustain. Indian society cited religious reasons for such marginalization, but it has become clear that money, or want of it, was the underlying cause. This chapter will discuss high-caste, Brahmin widows from both ends of the financial spectrum, as they are represented in two works set in early twentieth century India: Deepa Mehtas film Water and Padma Viswanathans novel The Toss of a Lemon. Physically, the widows in both works are branded as monsters according to the dictates of the Hindu religiontheir heads are shaved, they are dressed in a uniform of white, they are forced into seclusion and they are refused any physical contact. Spiritually, these women are demonized in three conflicting ways: they are simultaneously represented as sexual deviants, as celibate paragons of the Hindu faith, and as dangerous bad omens. This chapter will also explore how the widows manage their own personal conflicts between faith and conscience in a time of such great political and social transformation. As their identity and their religious rituals are so powerfully connected, when change finally arrives, the widows are not relieved, but are instead left desperately wondering who they are. The women depicted in Water and The Toss of a Lemon are representative of a large population of widows who were regularly demonized and socially alienated in India at the turn of the century. There are estimated to be over 30 million such widows in India today, still struggling under the monstrous identity constructed for them by society. Key Words: Widows, India, caste, women, monsters, hindu. ***** In Indian society, sons are kept close to home and considered valuable assets, as they can provide financial support to the family, and can inherit land. Daughters, on the other hand, are not attributed equal value. In fact, before 2005, women in most states in India were not legally permitted to inherit property. 1 A daughter was therefore raised mainly to marry and to become part of someone elses family someone elses financial burden. Although daughters in low-income and lower class families did often work outside the home and contribute to the household finances, women in higher caste families were usually prevented from such outside work, and were kept in isolation at home in what is known as purdah. Being able to afford to keep women in

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__________________________________________________________________ purdah was traditionally indicative of a familys wealth and status, and is a practice that continues to this day. 2 There was another benefit to keeping women in purdah: having them secluded and close at hand was a way to exert sexual control and ensure purity of lineage. This was of particular importance for upper class families who had bloodlines to maintain. While an unmarried woman was a financial (and social) liability for her parents, a widow was legally the responsibility of her in-laws. However, if she had no sons to continue their bloodline or inherit their property, they were unlikely to continue to support her. In the lower classes, widows did sometimes remarry, or were able to find work to support themselves. However, as families in the upper echelons of society were intent on maintaining their status in the community, whether or not they actually had the wealth to support it, widows, as all women, were prevented from leaving the home in search of work, or a new husband. Many families would rather delete a member of the household before they would jeopardize their status in the community by breaking purdah. To achieve this, they would abandon their widowed daughters-in-law at ashrams where they were housed in seclusion, usually in dire conditions. Hindu society, grasping for reasons to justify the rejection of these women and the inhumane conditions in which they were forced to live, deformed them, disgraced them, demonized them, and claimed that ancient scriptures dictated for them a life of self-deprecation to absolve their sins. Deepa Mehtas film Water tells the story of a group of widows in an ashram in the 1930s. Although Hindu society found ways to marginalize widows in general, the widows of Water were particularly vulnerable to demonization because they were childless. Tense relationships between women and their in-laws are not unique to India, but in this culture it was not unheard of for families to engage in bride burnings of daughters-in-law who had not lived up to their end of the matrimonial bargain, so to speak. When motherhood was considered the norm for a woman of childbearing age in India, a childless woman was considered deviant and was therefore demonized in her community. 3 But what happens to a widow who does have children? In Padma Viswanathans The Toss of a Lemon, Sivakami is a child bride who becomes a widow when she is eighteen years old. Of her two children, the youngest, Vairum, is a boy, and Sivakami spends the rest of her life in the role of protector of his inheritance. Only as Vairums guardian is Sivakami permitted to reside in her late husbands home. She therefore lives modestly in order to safeguard her sons birthright. Much care is also taken to protect the familys status, for the purpose of maintaining Vairums future social standing. Sivakami therefore, like the widows in Water, lives a life of self-deprecation and isolation, and is demonized by her community. Through Mehtas camera lens, and Viswanathans prose, we will look at three conflicting ways in which these women have been demonized. They have

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__________________________________________________________________ been simultaneously represented as sexual deviants, as celibate paragons of the Hindu faith, and as dangerous bad omens. 1. A Sexual Deviant As the conditions in the ashrams were often so poor, many widows resorted to prostitution in order to survive. But even when this was not the case, as they had no other means of supporting themselves, it was assumed that those who were living on their own were resorting to prostitution to do so. In the Indian cultural imaginary, any single woman was a potential temptress for men in her community, and was therefore a sexual liability for her family. She needed to be controlled in order to protect the lineage. This was especially important to upper class families, who felt they had bloodlines to maintain. Widows were particularly regarded as sexually deviant, since they had no husbands or fathers to keep them in check. One way to exert control over a womans sexuality was to render her unattractive. Brahmin widows were expected to remove all jewellery, wear only a white sari and, perhaps most traumatizing, have their heads shaved. This defeminisation, although described as an almost peaceful event in The Toss of a Lemon was akin to rape for many women. As one widow wrote, [The widow] is simply helpless; she must submit to that cruel inhuman operation. She often faints, she is dumbfounded, tears flow in a flood [...] but nobody cares. Her caste people think they have achieved a great success as soon as she is disfigured. 4 The head-shavings were said to ensure that the widow would remain chaste and faithful to her dead husband, so that she may be later rewarded in the afterlife for her celibacy. But, more importantly, the physical deformation of these women was an effective way for the community to brand, and therefore keep a more watchful eye on, its perceived threats. According to Edward Harper in his article Ritual Pollution as an Integrator of Caste and Religion, other members of upper class Indian society often believed widows required the strict religious rituals in order to keep themselves in check. He quotes one man as saying: They do these pure things to prevent their doing bad things; to keep themselves [their sexual desires] in control. 5 Although the reasons usually given for preventing widows from engaging in romantic affairs involved the afterlife, families had a much more immediate reason to concern themselves with a widows sexuality: maintaining social status. The highly stratified caste system, which has been in place in India for thousands of years, had, until very recently, governed all aspects of a persons life. People are born into their caste, and social mobility is inconceivable. Brahmins, the caste of the widows in Water and The Toss of a Lemon, are at the top of the hierarchy both socially and spiritually (though not necessarily economically). In Hindu society, the only real sin that was punishable by outcasting, that is, excommunication from ones caste, was the act of sexual contact with a member of a lower caste. Outcasting, however, applies not only to the individual who is excommunicated,

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__________________________________________________________________ but to his or her family as well. If a widow had a child by anyone other than her deceased husband, as it was impossible to prove who the father may have been, she was typically punished by outcasting. 6 The backlash therefore greatly affected her family members both socially and, before land reforms in the mid-twentieth century, this often meant economically as well. Brahmins hoped that rendering a widow ugly would reduce the risk of illegitimate children, outcasting, and the social and economic downfall that would come with it. 2. A Paragon of the Hindu Faith During the time of independence, India underwent great political and social change that threatened the ancient Hindu laws involving caste and social status. In a time when womens roles were also changing, and a western way of life threatened to move in on the home and family, the Brahmin widow was set up as an example of the perfect traditional Hindu woman. Water is set on the Ganges: Indias holy river and site of several of the countrys widow ashrams. The cleansing property of water is an recurring theme: the widows bathe in the river and rejoice in the rain. The water represents life, renewal, and ultimately for Kalyani, death. But, traditionally, the water also offers religious purification. According to custom, in order to worship, Brahmins must be in a pure, or madi, state. To achieve madi they must take a ritual bath in the morning, and then avoid contact with anyone or anything that is not madi during daylight hours. 7 This includes any kind of direct or indirect contact with a person of another caste, or with a Brahmin who is not in madi. The widow, perhaps turning to her faith for guidance following her husbands death, but more likely as a result of the social pressures discussed earlier, would often develop quite orthodox adherence to these religious rituals. To do so, Sivakami retreats to her kitchen. However, despite her near invisibility, her strict adherence to Brahmin traditions earns Sivakami a certain respect among the women in her community as a paragon of Brahmin widowhood. 8 She is seen as the standard of purity that all others should try to emulate. To maintain madi, however, she gives up all physical contact with her young, grieving, children during daylight hours. Her son, Vairum, is particularly broken by this withdrawal, and lashes out in protest by purposefully touching her throughout the day, forcing to her to bathe every time he does so. Vairums sabotage of Sivakamis madi was the first step in his rejection of Brahmin traditions and caste hierarchy, a confrontation that continues between them throughout the novel. Although Sivakami does have the respect of some of her neighbours, and is able, until her son inherits his home, to live independently and manage the property, she might be an exception to the standard of treatment of widows in her time. In Sivakamis region of South India, Havik Brahmins, a specific subcaste, referred to a widow who maintained madi and who followed orthodox religious

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__________________________________________________________________ practices as prniwhich literally means animal. 9 These women, if not abandoned at ashrams, were sometimes allowed to stay with the family, but were treated as near slaves. They were referred to as it, made to work long and difficult hours, kept under close surveillance and were given, grudgingly, very little to eat. This treatment came regardless of their age, and from both their natal families and their in-laws. In general, widows were not believed to be entitled to any better. 3. A Danger to Others In the Indian cultural imaginary, rife with superstition, a widow was bad luck. She was the cause of her husbands death, no matter how it actually happened, and was paying for that sin for the rest of her current life. Society shunned widows to contain the bad luck, and to prevent them from endangering others. Throughout the novel, Sivakami does her best to stay out of sight of her neighbours. She leaves her home only to bathe at dawn, and does so early enough so that she is able to do it unseen. However, her self-policing is further enforced by a community that purposefully avoids her out of fear. She is particularly unwelcome at auspicious occasions, such as the weddings of her own children, as her presence might curse the newlyweds. This sentiment is echoed in Water, when the priest admonishes Shakuntala Watch it! Dont let your shadow touch the bride! 10 In general, a Brahmin widow was expected to be invisible in her community so that she would not spread her bad luck around. Thus the monstrous image of the widow was constructed. She was so powerful as to be dangerous: if she was not contained, she would seduce men and bear bastard children, or she would curse others with her bad luck. On the other hand, widows who maintained madi were considered too pure and holy to even be looked upon or, paradoxically, referred to as animals and treated with scorn. Then again, although the widows in these works are certainly victims of demonization and monstrous socio-cultural constructs, they do participate in creating the perception through their own support of the cultural and religious beliefs that perpetuate the image. With independence, the lower castes began to demand equality in government and society. The slow dismantling of Indias social hierarchy led liberal-minded Brahmins to associate with members of other castes, but the widows, believing these other castes to be dirty and unholy, make a conscious choice to avoid contact with them in order to secure for themselves a better place in the next life. The widows in Water also segregate Kalyani so they will not be polluted by her uncut hair and her clients. 11 The widows obsession with purity, both racial and religious, is the force preventing them from accepting the social and political changes occurring in India. Of course, the caste system was only one force at work. Perhaps more important are the patriarchal aspects of Indian society and the Hindu faith. The widows in Water may be from high caste Brahmin families, but they were mostly illiterate and, like most upper class women, were kept in the seclusion of purdah

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__________________________________________________________________ from a very young age. Faith, social structure and way of life were inseparable, and so strongly enforced in Indian patriarchal society, that these women, some widowed when they were only children, had experienced nothing else. The widows in Water believed that they needed to ensure their own purity in order to be closer to the gods, and rewarded in the next life. And what was that ultimate reward? As Shakuntala remarks at the death of a friend, God willing, shell be reborn as a man. In The Toss of a Lemon, the dismantling of the caste system leaves Sivakami grasping for her sense of self. Legally, and spiritually, she exists only for her son Vairum, and has spent over 40 years maintaining her madi state for his spiritual well-being. So, when he turns away from these traditions, Sivakami sees her life unravel before her. Her identity and religious rituals are so powerfully connected that she is lost without the caste hierarchy. In Ricoeurs dialectic of idem (sameness) and ipse (selfhood), he explains that the identity of a person or a community is made up of these identifications with values, norms, ideals, models and heroes, in which the person or the community recognizes itself. Recognizing oneself in, contributes to recognizing oneself by. 12 As an orthodox Brahmin widow through most of the novel, Sivakamis idem and ipse largely overlap. But, when she is removed from her familiar Brahmin community and transplanted into a busy train station, idem and ipse separate, and she is forced to consider her selfhood without the support of sameness. The identity crisis is devastating. Having had the strict rules of widowhood forced upon her at such a young age, and having spent so many years in complete devotion to those traditions, Sivakami cannot find her ipse without the idem. Her reaction is to cling even more tightly to her Brahmin customs. Her loyalty to this idem is so tragic because she never realizes that it is from this group in particular that she has been ostracized all along. The community with which she identifies herself is the very one that has constructed and represented her as a monster all these years. While Indian society has always cited religious reasons for the demonization of these women, it has become clear that money, or want of it, has been the underlying cause. However, as their identities and their religious rituals are so powerfully connected, when social and economic changes finally came to be, the widows of these two works are left desperately wondering who they are. There are estimated to be over 30 million such widows in India today, still struggling under the monstrous identity constructed for them by society.

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Notes
T. K. Viswanathan, Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act of 2005, Human Rights Law Network, 15 September 2005, http://hrln.org/admin/issue/subpdf/HSA_ Amendment_2005.pdf, viewed 27 September 2011. 2 Elisabeth Bumiller, May You Be the Mother of a Hundred Sons: A Journey Among the Women of India (New Delhi: Penguin Books India, 1991), 80. 3 Catherine Kohler Riessman, Stigma and Everyday Resistance Practices: Childless Women in South India, Gender & Society 14.4 (February, 2000): 111135. 4 Quoted in Uma Chakravarti, Social Pariahs and Domestic Drudges: Widowhood among Nineteenth-Century Poona Brahmins, Social Scientist 21 (1993): 130-158. 5 Edward Harper, Ritual Pollution as an Integrator of Caste and Religion, The Journal of Asian Studies 23 (1964): 151-197. 6 Ibid., 172. 7 Ibid., 152. 8 Padma Viswanathan, The Toss of a Lemon (Toronto: Random House, 2008), 135. 9 Harper, Ritual Pollution, 176. 10 Deepa Mehta, Water (Mongrel Media, 2005). 11 Ibid. 12 Paul Ricoeur, Oneself as Another, trans. Kathleen Blamey (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1992), 121.
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Bibliography
Agarwal, Bina. Landmark Step to Gender Equality. The Hindu. 25 September 2005. http://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/mag/2005/09/25/stories/2005092500050 100.htm. Viewed 28 April 2010. Bean, Susan S. Toward a Semiotics of Purity and Pollution in India. American Ethnologist 8.3 (1981): 575- 595. Bumiller, Elisabeth. May You Be the Mother of a Hundred Sons: A Journey Among the Women of India. New Delhi: Penguin Books India, 1991. Chakravarti, Uma. Social Pariahs and Domestic Drudges: Widowhood among Nineteenth Century Poona Brahmins. Social Scientist 21 (1993): 130-158. Douglas, Mary. Purity and Danger: An Analysis of Concepts of Pollution and Taboo. London: Routledge, 1978.

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__________________________________________________________________ Ghosh, Swati. Bengali Widows of Varanasi. Economic and Political Weekly 35.14 (Apr. 1-7, 2000): 1151-1153. Harper, Edward B. Ritual Pollution as an Integrator of Caste and Religion. The Journal of Asian Studies 23 (1964): 151-197. Kohler Riessman, Catherine. Stigma and Everyday Resistance Practices: Childless Women in South India. Gender & Society 14.4. (February, 2000): 111-135. http://www2.bc.edu/~riessman/pdf/Stigma%20and%20everyday%20resistance%20 practices.pdf. Viewed 30 April 2010. Ricoeur, Paul. Oneself as Another. Translated by Kathleen Blamey. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1992. Viswanathan, Padma. The Toss of a Lemon. Toronto: Random House, 2008. Viswanathan, T. K., Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act of 2005. Human Rights Law Network. 15 September 2005. http://hrln.org/admin/issue/subpdf/HSA_ Amendment_2005.pdf. Viewed 27 September 2011. Water. Directed by Deepa Mehta with Lisa Ray, John Abraham, Seema Biswas and Sarala. Toronto, Mongrel Media, 2005. Sarah Rangaratnam is a graduate student based in Ontario, Canada with degrees in Translation and Comparative Literature from York University and Brock University, Canada.

Sympathy for the She-Devil: Poison Women and Vengeful Ghosts in the Films of Nakagawa Nobuo Michael E. Crandol
Abstract Nakagawa Nobuo (1905-84) is best known as the first major director of Japanese horror movies, with films such as Tkaid Yotsuya kaidan (The Ghost Story of Yotsuya, 1959) and Jigoku (Hell, 1960) often cited as major influences by the directors of Japans later international horror successes like Ringu (The Ring, 1998) and Ju-on (The Grudge, 2002). One year before completing his acclaimed adaptation of the Edo period (1600-1868) kabuki horror classic Tkaid Yotsuya kaidan, Nakagawa directed the historical melodrama Dokufu Takahashi Oden (Poison Woman Takahashi Oden, a.k.a. A Wicked Woman), based on fictionalized accounts of a famous real-life female criminal from the Meiji era (1868-1912). Despite major dissimilarities in the source material, Dokufu Takahashi Oden and Tkaid Yotsuya kaidan share a surprising number of formal and thematic points in common. Nakagawa uses the same actress, Wakasugi Kazuko, to portray Takahashi Oden and Yotsuya kaidans famous female onry (vengeful ghost), Oiwa. Moreover, the two films structure Odens and Oiwas tragic character arcs among quite similar thematic lines, building both womens narratives around a pivotal moment of monstrous transformation. While Oiwa returns from the grave as a hideous spirit intent upon revenging herself on her unfaithful husband, Oden becomes a living monster driven by the cruelties of society to swear vengeance upon the men who wronged her. By seizing upon a similar sense of nostalgia surrounding two quite different female characters from popular 19th century fiction, Nakagawa blurs the boundaries between horror and melodrama, creating a pair of complementary films in which the injustices of a patriarchal society give birth to monstrous feminine avengers. Key Words: Japan, ghosts, poison women, Nakagawa Nobuo, Takahashi Oden, Yotsuya kaidan, Oiwa, horror movies, monstrous feminine. ***** The recent global success of Japanese horror films such as Ring, Pulse, and Juon: The Grudge, has sparked unprecedented interest in the history of Japanese horror cinema. The creators of J-Horror, as these films would come to be popularly known, are quick to give credit to the work of director Nakagawa Nobuo as a major source of inspiration. Although Nakagawa directed more than 100 pictures by the time of his death in relative anonymity in 1984, it is his eight seminal works of horror filmmaking that have single-handedly secured his legacy. The bulk of these were produced between 1956 and 1960 at the Shinth studios

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__________________________________________________________________ under tight deadlines and shoestring budgets, culminating in his lauded 1959 adaptation of Tkaid Yotsuya kaidan (The Ghost Story of Yotsuya), a famous kabuki play from the Edo period (1600-1868), and his avant-garde evocation of Buddhist hells, Jigoku (Hell), in 1960. A seeming anomaly in Nakagawas oeuvre during this period is 1958s Dokufu Takahashi Oden (Poison Woman Takahashi Oden,). At a time when Nakagawa was concentrating his attention almost entirely on tales of supernatural horror, a melodrama about Takahashi Oden, the Meiji eras (1868-1912) most notorious female criminal or dokufu (lit. poison woman), may appear an odd filmmaking choice. However, Dokufu has many similarities with Nakagawas ghost story adaptations of the same period, especially Yotsuya kaidan, which are too striking to ignore. In the role of Oden, Nakagawa casts actress Wakasugi Kazuko, who portrayed the onry (vengeful ghost) in his previous years Kaidan Kasane ga fuchi (The Ghosts of Kasanes Swamp) and who would go on to appear as Oiwa, Japans most famous onry, in Yotsuya kaidan. More significantly, Nakagawa constructs Odens transformation from sympathetic anti-heroine to wrathful demon along much the same trajectory that would mark Oiwas demonification in the following years Yotsuya kaidan. While Oiwa has been portrayed as a sympathetic victim since her original kabuki appearance, the original Meiji-era newspaper serials of Takahashi Odens exploits painted her as an intrinsic bad seed whose evil behavior is genetically predetermined. 1 Although not a literal demon, the dokufu was a far more fearsome threat than the otherworldly onry, whose behavior was restricted to haunting those who wronged her in life. Yet Nakagawa conceives Oden and Oiwa as kindred spirits, iconic ghouls from the popular fiction of bygone eras who wreak vengeance upon their male tormentors, thereby reimagining the late-Edo onry of the kabuki stage and the Meiji dokufu of newspaper serial notoriety as quite similar creatures. Nakagawas Yotsuya kaidan remains largely faithful to the plot of Tsuruya Nanbokus original 1825 kabuki play, which has become Japans most famous ghost story. Both the play and Nakagawas film follow the misfortune of Tamiya Oiwa, who is poisoned and disfigured by a conspiracy involving her husband Iemon, only to return from the grave as a hideous spirit hell-bent on revenge. In life Oiwa is the model good wife, loyal to her husband despite his cruel indifference to her and their newborn son. Yet once the extent of Iemons treachery is made plain, Oiwas spurned virtue gives birth to palpable rage. With her dying breath Oiwa curses her faithless husband, and a horrific female monster arises from the ashes of a mutilated and cast-aside feminine ideal. Both Nanboku and Nakagawa present their audience with a gruesome haunting as Oiwas ghost causes the deaths of Iemon and all of those complicit in her demise. Exploited and abused while alive, she can find redress only in death and monstrous transformation. Nakagawas take on Takahashi Oden, meanwhile, bears little resemblance to the historical criminal or the contemporary fictionalized accounts of her exploits.

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__________________________________________________________________ Little is known about the real Oden, who became the last woman in Japan to be executed by beheading on January 31, 1879 after being convicted of murdering her lover in a Tokyo inn. The same year of her execution, novelist Kanagaki Robun began writing a fictionalized serial of Odens life, Takahashi Oden yasha monogatari (The Tale of the Demon Takahashi Oden). Robuns tale presents Oden as a sexual deviant whose insatiable lust for men compels her toward an unrepentant life of crime. Born out of wedlock to a gambler and a prostitute, Odens wicked nature is genetically predetermined, and as an adult she is driven by uncontrollable sexual urges that lead to the murder of her husband and subsequent lovers. 2 Nanbokus Oiwa was the ghost of murdered traditions, the good woman ruined beyond hope of recovery. Robuns Oden, meanwhile, was the specter of a terrifying future in which traditions had been cast aside and the bad woman let loose to destroy society. Vast differences remained in the original conceptions of these characters, but by the postwar era both Oiwa and Oden had become nostalgic figures, iconic bogeywomen from a romanticized Japanese past. The time was right for Nakagawa Nobuo to remake Takahashi Oden in Tamiya Oiwas image. Yet Nakagawas Yotsuya kaidan and Dokufu Takahashi Oden share much more than a general sense of romanticism and nostalgia for the preceding century. A key element appearing in both pictures is what film scholar Colette Balmain identifies in Nakagawas horror films as the valorization of the maternal. 3 Yotsuya kaidans Oiwa is not only the model wife, she is a model mother, and her unwavering devotion to her infant son becomes an essential component of her ultimate salvation in Nakagawas version. In Dokufu Takahashi Oden, Odens relationship with her young daughter offers similar hope for redemption. Tragic figures of ruined femininity, Oiwa and Oden transform into monsters of vengeance whose chances for salvation lie in the bond between mother and child. When we first meet Takahashi Oden in the films opening sequence she is already a criminal, evading the police with uncanny speed and cunning that suggests thematic affinities with the supernatural. But Nakagawa quickly humanizes his protagonist, as we learn that Oden turned to a life of crime after leaving her first husband Jinjurowho drank gambled, and whored everything away. Her second marriage to Takahashi Ryonosuke offers no solace; Ryonosuke is an upright man but has become bedridden with consumption, and Oden has resorted to thievery to support her sick husband. The thankless Ryonosuke, who has grown suspicious of his wifes frequent and unexplained absences from home, angrily accuses her of infidelity and threatens to take her life. Like Oiwa in Yotsuya kaidan, Oden remains with and cares for a husband who rewards her devotion with verbal and physical abuse. But if Oden strives to be the traditional good wife in the Oiwa mold, she goes about it in bad girl fashion. Oden has in fact entered into an extramarital affair with a naive young police officer who catches Oden in an act of thievery, only to be seduced into complicity by her

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__________________________________________________________________ charms. She also becomes involved with an unnamed crime boss, who first rapes her and then forces her to become an accomplice in his human trafficking operation. Despite the mounting gravity of Odens crimes, Nakagawa holds out hope for redemption in the form of her daughter from her previous marriage, Omitsu. A meeting with her first husband early in the picture reveals Oden left behind her newborn child when she abandoned the deadbeat Jinjuro, a matter of agonizing regret for Oden which Jinjuro exploits to extort drinking money from his ex-wife on the pretext that the girl needs medical attention. Odens guilt over leaving Omitsu and her continuing concern for the childs well-being keeps the audiences sympathies squarely with Oden, who is no longer the heartless murderess of the Meiji serials but rather a conflicted mother figure. Nakagawa builds audience sympathy for Oiwa in much the same way in Yotsuya kaidan by emphasizing Oiwas maternal sense of duty to her newborn son. In Nakagawas version Oiwa refuses to be parted with her child even in death, lamenting, You poor child! How could I leave you with a man like Iemon? Die with your mother! I could never enter paradise if I left you behind! With her dying breath Oiwa falls on the child, smothering him. Although such action might seem reprehensible out of context, in the world of Yotsuya kaidan the act represents an oddly touching (if disturbing) valorization of the maternal, and her dedication to the child provides the means for her final salvation. Odens relationship with her own child proves more problematic. Although she exhibits tremendous love for her daughter, Odens prior abandonment of the child represents an irreconcilable failure to live up to her maternal obligations, a point which will come back to haunt her. Perhaps the most explicit parallel between Nakagawas versions of Oiwa and Odenapart from Wakasugis portrayal of both charactersis their moment of monstrous transformation. The pivotal scene in Dokufu Takahashi Oden occurs when Oden discovers that the money she has given Jinjuro to take care of their daughter was squandered on booze, resulting in the malnourished childs death. To this point in the film Oden has remained an essentially decent woman, forced by cruel circumstances to commit increasingly serious crimes, but the last vestiges of her morality die with her child. After learning of Omitsus passing, Oden not only embraces her life of crime, she devotes herself wholeheartedly to bringing about the demise of her male tormenters. Nakagawa stages Odens figurative death scene almost exactly in the manner he would film Oiwas literal death scene in Yotsuya kaidan. In a dingy Tokyo hovel, Wakasugi as Oden learns of her daughters passing and falls to her knees, staring in shock at Omitsus memorial tablet, assuming a pose almost identical to the one she strikes in Yotsuya kaidan when Oiwa discovers she has been poisoned, staring in shocked horror at her own disfigured reflection in her mirror. As Oden, she makes explicit that any hope of escaping her life of crime died with her

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__________________________________________________________________ daughter, telling the memorial tablet, I was going to take you away, where we could be respectable, just the two of us. Forgive me for not being a mother to you. Odens statement represents a notable inversion of Oiwas ultimate pledge of motherhood to her son, in which Oiwa refuses to let death separate parent and child. Following their heartfelt declarations to their respective children, Oiwa and Oden go on to the moment of monstrous transformation. Iemon, you heartless and cold-blooded brute, do you think I will leave you with this debt unpaid?! Oiwa shrieks, swearing otherworldly vengeance upon the husband and the father. When next we see Oiwa, she has become the monstrous feminine onry, empowered by death to exact her revenge on those who wronged herand her childin life. Her ghost first appears to Iemon on his wedding night to his new lover. All traces of Oiwas long-suffering devotion to her heartless husband have vanished, and the death of the good wife is externalized by the once beautiful Oiwas ghastly, blood-splattered visage. Her words to Iemon make explicit her dying curse and establish Oiwa in her onry form as a transformed monstrous feminine avenger: Iemon, how could you give me poison to drink? I will visit my hatred upon you be sure of that!.... I will make an end to the blood of the Tamiya line! Odens moment of transformation, while not a literal metamorphosis, hinges upon an identical vow of retribution upon the husband and father, I swear the man who did this to us will pay for it! Afterwards Oden immediately becomes a monster of vengeance, as did Oiwa. The film flashes forward one year, and reintroduces a drastically changed Oden who has at last wholly embraced her criminal lifestyle. As the head madam of a gambling parlor/brothel, she has traded her traditional kimono and Japanese coiffure for a slinky cheongsam outfit and her back has been emblazoned with a fierce oni demon tattoo. Such tattoos carry blatant associations with the criminal underworld in Japanese culture, but Odens has an added significance. An image of the female demon hannya, Odens bodily emblem serves as a literal symbol of the female monster she has become. Even Wakasugis performance has changed, and gone are Nakagawas frequent closeups of Odens tormented face as she laments the circumstances that force her to commit her crimes. Now Oden appears to enjoy her work, and her smug attitude as she gambles with her patrons and plots the murder of her enemies recalls the truly monstrous Oden of Robuns serial. Like Oiwa, Nakagawas Oden must undergo the death of the good woman if she wishes to have her revenge, a point underlined late in the film when she exclaims, The Oden you knew is dead! Oden completes her vendetta, shooting both her first husband and the crime boss dead in the pictures climax, yet Nakagawa denies her the final peace in death he ultimately grants Oiwa. Once Oiwas curse finally succeeds in bringing about Iemons demise, Nakagawa concludes his version of Yotsuya kaidan with a shot of Oiwas ghostno longer hideously deformed, but beautiful as she once wasat peace with her infant son. Oden, meanwhile, cannot be allowed to truly die. As the

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__________________________________________________________________ cops raid the gambling den in the aftermath of the double-murder, Oden attempts suicide but is thwarted at the last second. Let me die! Please let me die! she pleads as the police wrest the sword from her hands. In sharp contrast to Yotsuya kaidans final shot of the once-wrathful onry at rest, Dokufu Takahashi Oden ends with Oden in handcuffs, despondently gazing out a train window as she is being transported back to Tokyo to face punishment for her crimes. It is significant that Nakagawa chooses to end his film here, rather than go on to address Odens trial and execution. Despite their similarities, it seems Oden has made a mistake that Oiwa has not, one that condemns her to live on in suffering rather than enjoy the repose of the grave that Oiwa finally attains. A crucial difference in the valorization of the maternal as represented in Yotsuya kaidan and Dokufu Takahashi Oden explains Odens final damnation, which stems from her failure as a mother. Had she not lost her child, she would not have lost her essential humanity, which Oiwa retains even after becoming an onry, as evidenced by the closing shot of mother and son at peace. Odens fatal mistake lies in allowing death to separate the parent from the child, something Oiwa explicitly avoids by taking her child with her to the land beyond. Nanbokus original kabuki script pays little attention to the child, who survives his mothers death only to be devoured in a stage direction by the ghost of another of Iemons victims. 4 The play ends with no mention of the onrys ultimate fate, but Nakagawas Oiwa still has a child to care for, which proves the final salvation of a monster almost utterly consumed by rage and vengeance. As a living monster, Oden can no longer protect her dead child, and reflexively the deceased Omitsu cannot redeem her mother. Without the ties of love between parent and child, nothing remains to prevent Oden from completely embracing her dissolute lifestyle. The onry Oiwa is a monster and a mother, but the dokufu Oden tragically becomes just a monster. In light of Odens fate, Oiwas dying declaration to her child, I could never enter paradise if I left you behind, rings especially true. In conclusion, by Nakagawas day the differences of two quite distinct female monsters, the onry and the dokufu, had been blurred by the passing of time. His Oiwa and Oden are both female avengers who undergo death (literal or figural) and monstrous transformation as a means of empowerment to enact vengeance upon their male tormentors. But Oiwa remains a maternal figure throughout, while Oden fails to live up to her maternal obligations and thereby loses her chance at salvation along with her daughter. Despite the many parallels Nakagawa draws between the onry and the dokufu, the contrasting denouements of Yotsuya kaidan and Dokufu Takahashi Oden reinforce the fundamental difference in the traditional conceptions of these female monsters. Oiwa remains the ghost of a lost, idealized past, the good woman cast aside. Oden too has become a monster from the past, but she continues to function ultimately as a specter of an immoral future where the good woman has ceased to exist.

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Notes
Christine Marran, Poison Woman: Figuring Female Transgression in Modern Japanese Culture (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, 2007), 9. 2 Ibid., 5-11. 3 Colette Balmain, Introduction to Japanese Horror Film (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University, 2008), 62. 4 Tsuruya Nanboku IV, Tkaid Yotsuya kaidan, trans. Mark Oshima, in Early Modern Japanese Literature: An Anthology 1600-1900, ed. Shirane Haruo (New York: Columbia University Press, 2002), 871.
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Bibliography
Ayakashi Samurai Horror Tales: Yotsuya Ghost Story. Directed by Imazawa Tetsuo. Tokyo, Geneon, 2006. DVD. Balmain, Colette. Introduction to Japanese Horror Film. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2008. Building the Inferno: Nobuo Nakagawa and the Making of Jigoku. Jigoku. Tokyo, Criterion, 2006. DVD. Dokufu Takahashi Oden. Directed by Nakagawa Nobuo. Tokyo, Shinth, 1958. DVD. Jigoku. Directed by Nakagawa Nobuo. Tokyo, Shinth, 1960. DVD. Kaidan Kasane ga fuchi. Directed by Nakagawa Nobuo. Tokyo, Shinth, 1957. DVD. Marran, Christine. Poison Woman: Figuring Female Transgression in Modern Japanese Culture. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2007. Oshima, Mark. Ghosts and Nineteenth-Century Kabuki. In Early Modern Japanese Literature: An Anthology 1600-1900, edited by Shirane Haruo, 843-844. New York: Columbia University Press, 2002. Tkaid Yotsuya kaidan. Directed by Nakagawa Nobuo. Tokyo, Shinth, 1959. DVD.

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__________________________________________________________________ Tsuruya Nanboku IV. Tkaid Yotsuya kaidan. Translated by Mark Oshima. In Early Modern Japanese Literature: An Anthology 1600-1900, edited by Shirane Haruo, 843-844. New York: Columbia University Press, 2002. Michael E. Crandol is a graduate student in the Asian Literatures, Cultures, and Media program at the University of Minnesota.

Part 3 Monsters and History

Tracing the Monsters in Ottoman Turkish Novels: Reification in Halid Ziya Uaklgils Novels Baak Deniz zdoan
Abstract: Monsters in modern Turkish literature are usually symbol of a swift transition to a period when the monsters, ghosts, jinns are superstitious and peoples of modern Turkey must acquire a positivistic worldview and they must believe in science. This was the new idea at the end of the 19th century which prepared new modern secular Turkey. Many Ottoman Turkish writers such as Ahmed Midhat and Hseyin Rahmi based their stories on monsters for supporting the idea of positivism. However, one of the leading figures of Ottoman literary circle, who is usually regarded as the founder of Ottoman novel by literary critics, Halid Ziya Uaklgil had a different point of view about monsters. In Uaklgils novels, the monstrous is demonstrated neither for the sake of positivism nor for decorating the story plot with some fantastic elements. In his novels, the monstrous is the symbol of the reification; he places the money problem at the core of his novels. His realistic novels depict a grand picture of the 19th century Ottoman working life and they draw a picture of petit bourgeoisie life and its mentality with the help of objects and things. Specifically he focuses on descriptions of young womans rooms and living problems of protagonists. These protagonists who usually fall in love with the rich and always have a monetary problem. These protagonists always calculate, that is to say, calculation creates beasts and beasts invite insanity. This calculation is presented with the depiction of objects in young womans rooms in a gothic atmosphere, an atmosphere if the objects in these rooms and money are monsters and they will kill someone. In this chapter, I want to focus on reification in the 19th century Ottoman novel specifically based on the novels of Halid Ziya Uaklgil. Key Words: Halid Ziya Uaklgil, Ottoman novel, reification, Ferdi and His Partners, money, accounting, spectres, monsters. ***** 1. Introduction Nineteenth century was a period of reforms and regulations in Ottoman Empire. One of the significant aspects of nineteenth century was in literary space; Ottoman intelligentsia was in search of new ways of literature as a result of ongoing and increasing relationships with the Western world. It was a period of integration with the Western civilization. Hence literature was also modernizing in both terms of adopting new genres and new contexts, correspondingly, the novel as a genre first appeared within this century for Ottoman Empire. First novels were aspiring to be

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__________________________________________________________________ didactic, realistic and positivistic accordingly, the narration in these novels was intrusive. Instead of being based on their stories superstitious or fantastic stories, they tried to picture real life. If there are some fantastic or superstitious elements such as monsters, spectres or jinns in these works, it was for supporting the idea of positivism, and the importance of scientific knowledge. This is true for especially authors such as Hseyin Rahmi Grpnar and Ahmet Mithat. Specifically Grpnar was teasing the false beliefs within the society. Supernatural figures occur in his novels as a means of displaying a game of some evil people to dominate or to control some money or some mansion benefiting the false beliefs of ignorant people. However, one of the leading figures of Ottoman literary circle, who is usually regarded as the founder of Ottoman novel by literary critics, Halid Ziya Uaklgil had a different point of view about monsters and monstrous. In Uaklgils novels, the monstrous is demonstrated neither for the sake of positivism nor for decorating the story plot with some fantastic elements. In his novels, the monstrous is the symbol of reification. His realistic novels depict a grand picture of the 19th century Ottoman working life and they draw a picture of petit bourgeoisie life and its mentality with the help of objects and things. His protagonists are usually from the poor part of the society who has a desire for wealth and property. Accordingly, this desire for property accompanied by the persistent monetary problem leads the story in a chaotic atmosphere which invites insanity. As I said, Uaklgil was a very distinctive intellectual figure at the end of the nineteenth century who was an author, translator, writer, and a poet, and additionally he had close relationships with the Ottoman palace, and became a head clerk of Sultan Reads palace between the years 1910-1912. He involved in a path breaking avand-garde literary magazine called Servet-i Fnun, The Wealth of Knowledge, which shaped contemporary modern Turkish literature. Uaklgil advocating literary realism states in his works that the main concern in writing should be depicting the man of 19th century a history of the senses of the time. 1 He particularly portrays petite bourgeoisie life contradicting it with the ordinary poor part of the society. The main setting is always a big city, Izmir in his first novels and in the following ones it is always Istanbul the capital city of the Ottoman Empire. He exhaustively depicts Ottoman mansion life that is to say family habits and relationships within these big houses and interior decorations and ornaments of the rooms inside the mansions. I am going to recover these topics in relation with a novel of him, Ferdi and His Partners (Ferdi ve rekas). Unfortunately he is not translated to other languages except German as far as I know so any translation from his novels within this chapter belongs to me. 2. Money Whistles Ferdi and His Partners is Uaklgils third novel and it is like a transition novel between his first and master works. It was serialized in a newspaper called Hizmet

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__________________________________________________________________ in 1892 and after a few years it was published. In his memoirs, Uaklgil confesses that his fathers and grandfathers trade house and his bank memoirs were inspiration for Ferdi and His Partners realistic working life sceneries. 2 Ferdi and His Partners takes place in a trading house. The story focuses on an accountant, Ismail Tayfur, who has financial problems and in love with a very poor foster girl called Saniha. As the novel opens, the protagonist Ismail Tayfur is just one of the accountants in Ferdi and his partners trading house but later, he becomes the son-in-law of Ferdi who is the owner of the trading house. After his fathers death, Ismail Tayfur discontinues his education and takes his fathers position as an accountant in Ferdi and His Partners Trading House. The owner of the trading house, Ferdi is a lonely man who lost his wife years ago and lives with his daughter Hacer in a big mansion just next to the trading house. He is very rich and as it is expressed in the novel he is committed with passion two things in his life, one is his money and the other is his daughter Hacer. One day, while Hacer is away, he reads her diary and learns that she loves Ismail Tayfur desperately. For Ferdi, Ismail Tayfur is a very hardworking, thrifty and respectful man who deserves to be Hacers husband. The next day, he calls Ismail Tayfur and offers him a marriage with Hacer which will make him very rich and the head of the trading house. At this point, the novel begins focusing on Ismail Tayfur. He is very surprised and confused of this offer. He is actually in love with another woman called Saniha so he does not want to marry Hacer but his co-worker Hasan Tahsin Effendi who is a very distinctive figure for the novel in underlining the monstrous characteristics of the working life persuades him to marry Hacer, insisting on the idea that love is not enough to be happy. For Hasan Tahsin Effendi a fact should not be sacrificed for a dream. However, money does not bring happiness to Ismail Tayfur, he keeps on loving Saniha desperately. And the novel closes with Ismail Tayfurs insanity: He sets fire the mansion with Hacer and looses his mind forever. The novel opens with a significant scene in the trading house where the accountants are looking for the reason of a small difference in one of the accounting books so they keep on counting numbers which makes a very itchy whistling sound. We hear the sound of numbers: as if they are meaningless, empty, nothing and annihilates everything. Accounting and this sound makes the accountants miserable. In these first pages of the book, the narrative has a whistling sound and it becomes erratic and irritating at the end of the novel. Money, accounting, temperance are related to each other and they are represented as a kind of ghost or a bloodsucker, a kind of vampire. Only money talks in the novel, the other voices are under the suppression of whistle of money, number and accounting. Money reifies everything and everybody, includes everything into its economy and vocabulary. It contorts, distorts, makes dry, exploits, squeezes and kills. Here is an excerpt from the novel:

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Tracing the Monsters in Ottoman Turkish Novelss There are some moments that I want to express my ideas with numbers Numbers have much more place in my mind than language! [...] If I proceed in this idea, I could say four and four is sixteen instead of saying I am hungry. Since numbers have made me forget all existing things and made my feelings dull, I can not feel and understand the refreshing perfume of the flowers and the inward feelings and can not see the illuminating colours of the blue skies. 3

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Numbers are also inventions like letters and words to speak. They do not refer a meaningful idea, a thought or a feeling; numbers are just for accounting and money. The numbers which are proceeding by expanding, waning, vibrating as if weird shadows makes everything meaningless. The numbers which are like ghost of money in disguise takes over the soul, feelings and even language. Ferdi and His Partners depicts feisty scenes of working life which does not have anything to talk but money. There is only work in the office, only thing the accountant do is working, functioning, and operating as if machines. The narrator describes the trading house purely and simply as wandering area of numbers. In that sense, Uaklgil differs in describing the officials and working life from other writers of the period. Officials in Uaklgils novels do not work happily or their dreams about a better and richer life do not come true as in the novels of other Ottoman writers. Realist vision of Uaklgil strolls through the offices, bureau of officials, and their struggle to earn a living. Ferdi and His Partners indicate that even a prosperous marriage promising hope does not bring happiness. There is no way for ordinary people to change their lives or to be rich, on the contrary they will work hard till the end of their lives and will be exploited as if Ismail Tayfurs father who perished on the calculation sheet by parching. Money recalls the spectres and ghosts through counting, accounting, and numbering in the novel. And the novel articulates the spectres of forthcoming century: spectres, which are in an interminable trouble of earning life, rushing for nothing, selling his labour and gaining nothing. As Ismail Tayfurs accountant friend Hasan Tahsin Effendi expresses it: Whenever I am alone in the office in a downfall of numbers I presume that those numbers, those stringent, as if they are some peculiar creatures which are flying from the tip of my pen, spreading on the paper how do I express it? [] How can I describe this feeling? As if I am a kind of monster and these peculiar creatures have been perking up and originating from my body [.] This mood is inherited from an illness. It has been four years [] Do you know what I have seen when I have had an attack? Bulky, bold, small, slim, and in various shape and

Baak Deniz zdoan size, thousand of numbers in large crowds! [...] Numbers are flashing in my eyes as if piles of beetles or a cloud of supernatural creatures eights are with sevens and threes are with twos arm in arm or a five has just fallen down to head of a six, or a nine rides on a four while my illness was keeping, this phantom had ripened. After a while I was scaredAbove all, one day I jumped out of my skin by screaming Help help! Six! because I was so scared of a six which is looking at me as if it was smiling. If you narrate this someone else who does not know numbers might suggest that you are crazy. I do not know if I or they are right but the only reality is that there is not anything but numbers which welcome insanity. 4

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In these lines, Hasan Tahsin Effendi manifests how the workers and officials become just things, nonentities, and pale figures. Phantom of the numbers and money capture the mind, the logic and the feelings; the result is insanity. And even insanity is not an escape or salvation, Ismail Tayfur is not able to evade numbers. He attempts to change his life by a promising marriage but he just welcomes insanity. In the closing scene of the novel, we see Ismail Tayfur in a resting room, signing constantly on the blank papers as on behalf of Ferdi and His Partners Trading House, Ismail Tayfur which signifies insanity will be lasting. 3. Spectres of Money As I said before, Halid Ziya Uaklgils novels are full of scenes and pictures of indulgence in things and goods of bourgeoisie. 5 In that sense his way of describing the world of the novel resembles with other realist fictions. He particularly focuses on young women rooms, the objects inside these rooms and their decoration For instance daughter of Ferdi, Hacer has a well-furnished room which is described with these words: soft, as if made of foam or cloud, mild, as light as a feather. All these adjectives refer to nonentity, emptiness and ephemerality of commodity and the world it signifies. In this context, reification is the main theme of the novel. The thing reified annihilates. Timothy Bewes describes reification as the process of the approval of the given world as the real world, 6 and he refers reification to the moment that a process or relation is generalized into an abstraction, and thereby turned into a thing. 7 Thus, representation of the reality substitutes for the truth, for the real world. In Ferdi and His Partners, given world is the world dominated by the spectres of money. Money becomes the truth. This is what Marx was talking about when saying personification of things and reification of persons. 8 I would argue that besides the realistic view of Uaklgil, this is the reason why he describes objects and things in detail. He takes objects as if they have some kind of existence some kind of being. He gives an essence to things and objects.

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__________________________________________________________________ In his most celebrated novel Forbidden Love (Ak- Memnu), the young and beautiful female protagonist marries with an old man with children for his great mansion near the Bosphorus dreaming the jewellery and fashionable clothes: Marriage with Mr. Adnan means one of the biggest sea mansions near Bosphorus; while passing by the mansion, it means the chandelier, heavy curtains, engraved Louis XV chairs made of walnut, huge fur capped lambs, gilded chairs and tables, a skiff blanketed with white clean cloth and a boat made of mahogany, seen from its windows. Whilst the image of the mansion has been rising with all her splendorous dreaming before Bihters eyes, fabrics, laceworks, colours, jewellery, and pearls are sprinkling; and a rain composed of all adored things unaffordable and the things for which are longed desperately have been showering and filling her eyes. 9 In Elaine Freedgoods words, each of these objects, if we investigate them in their objectness, was highly consequential in the world in which the text was produced. 10 Abstracting the marriage into the objects, Bihters eyes commodify the real persons, her dreams and even her body. Due to same reason, in a scene just after Bihters cheating on Mr Adnan with his young and handsome nephew, all these splendorous things seem to observe her or haunt her imagination as monstrous shadows. In his another novel called Miserable Woman (Sefile) he depicts a miserable woman prostituting because of poverty, possessing nothing even her body. When she falls in love, she possesses her boyfriend as if a kind of commodity. This possession of love destroys her, deprives of her humanity she becomes a vampirelike. The novel closes with a very violent scene. She attacks her boyfriend and sucks his blood and kills him and looks at the dead body of her boyfriend some blood around her lips and some crazy, inhumane and monstrous look in her eyes. Like the whistling sound of the money, closing scene of Miserable Woman has a very remarkable sound: growling of an anima- like woman. 4. No Exit Aristotle charges finance with making something out of nothing or out of nothing natural. 11 Being aware of money is nothing, Uaklgil takes seriously the finance and unlike the other writers of the period he focuses on things and goods. He mentions volatile, fluid and ephemeral relationships for personal economical interests in his novels. Ferdi and His Partners is very distinctive in this sense but his all novels concerns reification and thingism mainly. Other significant novelist of the same period such as Ahmed Midhat Effendi also mentions about the importance of money but he just advises how to spend money or the advantages of

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__________________________________________________________________ saving money. At the end of the 19th century trade and business were promoting, the cities were growing and transforming, with the help of new railways distances were shortened and above all, state monopoly on property was limited by new regulations in Ottoman Empire. The preeminent economic historian of Ottoman Empire, evket Pamuk evaluates the second half of the 19th century of Ottoman Empire as a period of integration to the world markets and capitalism. 12 Uaklgil devoting himself reality, depicts how the money conducts the social relations. Peter Brooks in Realist Vision emphasizes that the social relations are regulated by money ties in 19th century. 13 He, inspired by Marx, underlines what money represents is the fluidity. Similarly, Uaklgil represents the ghosts of money and by the detailed description of objects he focuses on lives composed of things. In that sense Ferdi and His Partners implies a world which is defined through the language of finance. The name of the novel is also an indicator of the same mentality which reifies everything. We do not see any partner but just Ferdi and the title brilliantly indicates that Ferdi and his partners are everywhere now. Everything is measured by a partnership. As Marx underlines in The Communist Manifesto: All that is solid melts into air, all that is holly is profaned, and man is at last compelled to face with sober senses, his real conditions of life, and his relations with his kind. 14 The voice of the money is just an irritating whistle in Ferdi and His Partners but in forthcoming century it turns into a roaring which surrounds the entire city.

Notes
Halid Ziya Uaklgil, Hikye (stanbul: YKY, 1998), 20. Halid Ziya Uaklgil, Krk Yl (stanbul: Ozgur, 2008), 447. 3 Halid Ziya Uaklgil, Ferdi ve reks (stanbul: Hilmi, 1945), 12. 4 Ibid., 13-14. 5 In this respect I should note that the Turkish word for thing is ey which is basically Arabic and the word for goods is eya which is actually plural form of ey in Arabic. 6 Timothy Bewes, Reification (London and New York: Verso, 2002), 4. 7 Ibid., 3. 8 He mainly mentions these concepts in his grand work Capital. 9 Halid Ziya Uaklgil, Ak- Memnu (stanbul: Ozgur, 2008), 44-45. 10 Elaine Freedgood, The Ideas in Things: Fugitive Meaning in the Victorian Novel (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006), 2. 11 It is cited by Marc Shell in Money, Language, and Thought (London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993), 15. 12 evket Pamuk, A Monetary History of the Ottoman Empire (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000), 20.
2 1

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__________________________________________________________________ Peter Brooks, Realist Vision (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2005), 14 14 Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, Manifesto of Communist Party in Marx/Engels Selected Works, Volume One (Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1969), 98-137. http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/download/pdf/Manifesto.pdf.
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Bibliography
Bewes, Timothy. Reification: The Anxiety of Late Capitalism. London and New York: Verso, 2002. Brooks, Peter. Realist Vision. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2005. Freedgood, Elaine. The Ideas in Things: Fugitive Meaning in the Victorian Novel. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006. Marx, Karl and Frederick Engels. Manifesto of Communist Party in Marx/Engels Selected Works, Volume One. Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1969, 98-137. http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/download/pdf/Manifesto.pdf. Pamuk, evket. A Monetary History of Ottoman Empire. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000. Shell, Marc. Money, Language, and Thought. London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993. Uaklgil, Halid Ziya. Ak- Memnu. stanbul: Ozgur, 2008. . Hikye. stanbul: YKY, 1998. . Ferdi ve reks. stanbul: Hilmi, 1945. . Krk Yl. stanbul: Ozgur, 2008. . Sefile. stanbul: Ozgur, 2006. Baak Deniz zdoan is a PhD student in the Department of Turkish Language and Literature at the Boazii University, Istanbul, Turkey. Her research area is mainly 19th-century Ottoman novels and the history of reading.

From the Monstrous to the God-Like: The Pacification of Vengeful Spirits in Early-Medieval Japanese Handscrolls Sara L. Sumpter
Abstract In the thirteenth-century handscroll set Kitano Tenjin Engi emaki (The Illustrated Legends of the Kitano Tenjin Shrine), the storys climactic scenes are expressed via startlingly garish depictions of intense violence. The scrolls depict the life, death, and posthumous revenge of the ninth-century courtier Sugawara no Michizane (845-903), and in their most iconic illustration a bright red, muscular, animal-faced demona manifestation of Michizanes wrathflies over a scene of utter chaos, dispensing retribution from a swirl of roiling black clouds. The demonic Michizane is roasting his former rivals with piercing bolts of lightning, and they are shown dead or dying, some of them still on fire. Despite this startling representation of such a monstrous act, the end of the tale depicts the transformation of Michizane into a patron deity through the placatory acts of the people he has terrorized. This narrative development reflects the distinctive Japanese conceptualization of monstrous creatures, which operates under the assumption that monsters can sometimes be made into gods through human agency. The spirits that animate these beings are neutral and liminalat once the subject of mankinds whims and the judge of our behaviourand consequently they cannot always be considered monsters in the traditional sense. In this chapter I argue that the depiction of the transformation of such spirits from dangerous to benevolent characters is integral to the act of placation that took place with the creation of the handscrolls. Rather than being a mere metaphor for placation, the painted representation of such spirits is itself a pacifying act. Through a careful examination of this handscroll and analysis of the early Japanese religious practice of spirit pacification, my investigation will shed light on the uniquely mutable character of such monsters in early medieval Japan. Key Words: Sugawara no Michizane, Kitano Tenjin Engi emaki, Japanese handscrolls, spirit pacification beliefs, vengeful spirits, monsters, medieval Japan, Heian period, Kamakura period. ***** When contemplating things of a monstrous nature, it is often tempting to assume an inherent, characterizing evil that can be cleanly juxtaposed against an angelic goodness. The Japanese conceptualization adheres to a far more fluid perception that admits no simple binary but instead operates under the assumption that monsters can be made into gods through human agency. Equally possible is the ability of gods to become monsters through human inaction. The spirits that

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__________________________________________________________________ animate these beings are therefore neutral and liminalat once subject to mankinds failures and judges of our behaviour. Consequently, they cannot always be considered monsters in the traditional sense. One of the best examples of this phenomenon is the process of legend-building that surrounded the ninth-century courtier Sugawara no Michizane (845-903) from the time of his death in the early-tenth century through the production of a set of handscrolls illustrating his story in the thirteenth century. During this roughly three-hundred-year period, the image of Michizane ran the gamut from vicious, retribution-seeking vengeful spirit to benevolent patron deity and back again. This perception of his character as a changeable thing and the subsequent processes by which his image shifted back and forth between seemingly polar opposite roles is indicative of the general view of gods and monsters during the early medieval period. 1 Sugawara no Michizanes liminality is plainly represented in the handscroll set that illustrates the story of his life, downfall, death, posthumous revenge against those who conspired against him, and development into a kindly deity who assists those who believe in him. Despite the fact that Michizanes vengeful spirit appears midway through the tale in the form of a monstrous thunder god, dispensing fiery, bloody retribution, ultimately Michizanes spirit is appeased by the rituals undertaken on his behalf and transforms into a heavenly entity that afterwards works for the good of the faithful. Over the course of the illustrated story, the image of Michizane shifts from monstrous to god-like with equal fluidity. In this chapter, I argue that the depiction of such liminal spirits transitioning from dangerous to benevolent characters, typified by the Michizane example, is integral to the act of placation that took place with the creation of the handscrolls. Rather than being a mere metaphor for placation, the painted representation of such spirits is itself a pacifying act. I will begin with a brief account of Michizanes life and death within the context of Heian period spirit pacification practices, then I will examine the thirteenth-century handscroll set, Kitano Tenjin Engi emaki (The Illustrated Legends of the Kitano Tenjin Shrine) and suggest a reason for its having been produced some three-hundred years after Michizanes death. Sugawara no Michizane was born into a family of low-ranking aristocrats. Both his father and grandfather achieved relative success as scholars, and Michizane followed in their footsteps. 2 He entered the court university at eighteen and progressed speedily. He occupied a variety of bureaucratic positions within the court government before returning to the university to serve as a professor of literature. Near the end of his bureaucratic career, he rose through the ranks to achieve an astonishing level of power. In 899, at the age of fifty-four, he was appointed to the post of Minister of the Right, the third highest position at court. Michizanes considerable elevation in status, which was not without danger, was mainly due to the patronage of the retired Emperor Uda (867-931; r. 887-897), who saw in the modest politician the means to maintain a balance of power at

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__________________________________________________________________ court. Rivals of Michizanes, who resented the role he played in court politics, conspired to have him removed. In 901, the anti-Michizane faction, led by Minister of the Left Fujiwara no Tokihira (871-909), managed to convince the ruling emperor, Daigo (885-930; r. 897-930), that Michizane was planning to force him to abdicate in favour of the crown prince. Branded a traitor and would-be usurper, Michizane was exiled to Dazaifu on Kyushu and died there two years later in disgrace. In the years after Michizanes death, ominous events began to occur in the capital city of Heian-ky (present-day Kyoto). Fires, floods, and epidemics bombarded the city, and one-by-one the men who had been involved in the plot to disgrace Michizane diedof illness or by accidentand their descendants began to die as well. Tokihira sickened and died in 909 at age thirty-nine, and his nephew, who was the crown prince and a son of Emperor Daigo, died in 923 at age twenty-one. Tokihiras grandson, afterwards named crown prince, died in 925 at only five years old. In 930, Emperor Daigo himself fell ill and passed away after lightning struck the palace and set it afire, killing four courtiersamong them the conspirators against Michizanein the process. 3 The fearful court, familiar with the machinations of pestilence deities and vengeful spirits, began to suspect that Michizanes wrath lay behind the ongoing difficulties, and they set about pacifying his spirit through means developed in the preceding centuries. The process by which spirit pacification beliefs evolved is difficult to trace, as much of the development took place before the advent of writing in Japan. However, we do know that spirit pacification rites, known as gory e (ceremonies for the august spirits), most likely derived from early cultic activitiesprobably imported from the continentthat were centred on pestilence deities and related to the prevention and cessation of plagues and natural disasters. 4 The supposed earliest occurrence of a gory e, which took place in 863, is recorded in the Nihon sandai jitsuroku (An Authentic Account of Three Generations in Japan). In this ceremony, members of the court attempted to placate the vengeful spirits of six men and women who had died in the midst of political intrigue and who were believed to be responsible for an epidemic that was devastating the countryside. This ceremony was not the first religious rite to be undertaken in an attempt to end the epidemic; in fact the court had already tried a combination of unsuccessful rituals, Buddhist and otherwise, to end the plague. 5 This proliferation of spiritual practices indicates not just the degree to which Japanese of this period believed themselves capable of influencing the behaviour of monstrous beings but also their willingness to try anything when faced with challenges from the volatile unknown. Once the reoccurring fires, floods, and epidemics were attributed to Michizane, the court hastily set about placating him. After the death of the first crown prince in 923, Michizane was posthumously pardoned, reinstated, and promoted to a higher rank. These attempts at pacification, however, were not sufficient, and problems

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__________________________________________________________________ persisted. In 941, a Buddhist priest named Nichiz claimed to have interacted with Michizanes spirit while in a trance state. In his report to the court, Nichiz alleged that he had met Michizane in one of the heavenly realms. There Michizane explained that he still bore great anger towards those who had wronged him, and that he would punish them unless he was made a Buddha. 6 One year after Nichizs report to the court, a woman named Tajihi no Ayako received an oracle from Michizane stating his desire to be venerated at a site called Kitano, at that time a meadow-land just outside the precincts of the capital. 7 The court fulfilled Michizanes request in 947, founding a shrine for him at Kitano that would be extensively expanded in 959. From that point on, court patronage of the site continued with a fair degree of regularity. In 976, the Sugawara clan was awarded control of Kitano Shrine in what was likely a further act of placation. By the late 980s, scholars were visiting Kitano to make offerings to Michizane as a god of literatureMichizane had been a noted poet in his dayand the shrine was added to a list of nineteen government-sanctioned Shinto shrines. Ultimately, Michizane was offered additional posthumous promotions and raised to the position of Grand Minister. In 1004, Emperor Ichij (980-1011; r. 986-1011) himself made a pilgrimage to Kitano. Thus, by the start of the eleventh century, the spirit of Michizaneonce a monstrous force to be contended withhad been placated and thus converted into a benevolent patron deity. Michizanes continued position as a patron deity in the eleventh century is reasonably well-catalogued. Literary collections from this period often contained introductory prefaces and dedicated poems that attested to Michizanes erudition in life and status as the patron deity Tenjin (lit. heavenly deity) in the afterlife. e no Masafusa (1041-1111), one of the most noted and powerful scholars of his time, was a particular proponent of this new cult of Tenjin writing several poems about and prayers in praise of Michizane. 8 Masafusas poems provide a valuable insight into worship of Michizane in the eleventh century; in particular, they demonstrate that while the events of the tenth century were somewhat remembered, the perception of Michizanes role in them had become diluted by this point. Now a god of literature and scholarly pursuits, Michizanes earlier penchant for murder and mayhem were effectively forgotten. This turnabout leads us to a necessary question. Given Michizanes obvious development into a patron deity of bureaucrats and scholars in the tenth and eleventh centuries, why then does he appear in monstrous form in a set of handscrolls that were painted in the thirteenth century? The answer may lie in the socio-political situation of the period in which the handscroll set was produced. The end of the Heian era was a particularly fraught time period. Beginning in the mid-1100s, a series of political disturbances and uprisings, battles over imperial succession and disputes between rival military clans, began to eat away at the fabric of the society. The precarious political atmosphere degenerated completely in 1180 with the beginning of a prolonged

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__________________________________________________________________ conflict that would come to be known as the Genpei War. Though the war, which was more properly a series of skirmishes between warring military families, did not impact every corner of the Heian state, it did wreak havoc in the capital and its surrounding environs, and in its aftermath the imperial court found itself effectively without power. 9 As we have seen, spirit pacification practices were often undertaken in response to situations that threatened the stability of the statemost often epidemics or natural calamities. Given this underlying perception of cause and effect, it is not unreasonable to suppose that the Japanese of this period believed supernatural forces to be a factor in the growing lack of socio-political stability and that they would have attempted to pacify the spirits, once allies of the court, but now perceived to be displeased. The act of producing the Kitano Tenjin Engi emaki hereafter referred to as the Tenjin scrollswhich concern the life and death of a figure that previously had been transformed into a patron of the courtier class through placatory rituals, seems likely to be a prime example of such pacification attempts. Sets of the Tenjin scrolls began to be produced in the late-twelfth or earlythirteenth century and are thought to have been based on a late-twelfth-century text. Production continued through the nineteenth century, and today there are some thirty extant examples. 10 Complete handscroll sets break Michizanes story down into three chronological sections comprised of thirty-one episodes: the first thirteen episodes relate his life, achievements, downfall, and death; the middle nine episodes concern the revenge exacted by his angry spirit; the final nine episodes illustrate the steps taken to placate him and his subsequent conversion into a benevolent deity that protects those who worship him. The depiction of Michizane in the middle portion of the tale is particularly gruesome. He appears in a variety of guises: as a ghost, as a thunder god, and as pair of snakes invading the body of rival on his deathbed. In each of the cases, his malevolent intent is specifically alluded to in the accompanying images. As a ghost, Michizane engages in an aggressive magical competition with a Buddhist priest. As a thunder god, he attacks the palace and courtiers within itsetting both wooden structure and human bodies aflame with bolts of lightning. As a pair of snakes, he emerges from the ears of a sickened rival to insist upon the cessation of prayers that might otherwise save the mans life. His various machinations are both relentless and terrifying. Nevertheless, in the end, Michizane is shown to have been converted. The building of the Kitano Shrine leads to his transformation into a compassionate higher power that protects not just erudite members of the court but also those who cannot protect themselves. 11 Scholars have long considered the possibility that certain handscroll sets were produced in order to placate specific people believed to have become restless spirits. Said production is thought to have operated in much the same way that Buddhist sutras were often produced to generate merit for oneself or ones loved

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__________________________________________________________________ ones. 12 However, such a process does not explain the appearance of graphically violent imagery in the Tenjin scrolls. If the purpose of these handscrolls was merely to appease the spirit of Sugawara no Michizane there would likely have been no need to recall the ugliness of past legends. By contrast, if the handscroll sets themselves represent a tangible performance of the placation process, the violent imagery they contain seems to have more relevance. Perusal of the entire handscroll set takes the viewer through roughly one-hundred-and-fifty years of Michizanes various existences. He is born, excels, is betrayed, dies, returns to punish his enemies, and at last is made content through the placatory actions of the court. The illustration of the actual acts of placation undertaken by the court in the tenth century is significant, as is the further illustration of the eventual result of those acts. Taken together, they represent a symbolic repeating of a performance that could not be made again in reality. In the thirteenth century, the Kitano Shrine could not be built for Michizane again in fact, but it could be built for him again in fiction. In the Tenjin scrolls we see a reenactment whereby the volatile spirit of Michizane is once more made quiescent. In this chapter, we have explored the spiritual culture of Heian period Japan and specifically considered how the inherent liminality of monstrous spirits impacted the development and modification of legends surrounding the courtier Sugawara no Michizane. In keeping with prevailing beliefs about the fundamental nature of spirits, the perception of Michizanes character shifted regularly in response to socio-political changes over the course of three centuries and resulted in repeated and varied pacification attempts. While Michizane was viewed as a kindly patron of literature during the eleventh and early-twelfth centuries, when the court was in a period of relative stability, the perception of his temperament changed as more and more chaos engulfed the capital and the courtiers who had once put their faith in him. This chapter represents only a single case study, and many fascinating questions about the role of handscroll production in early medieval spirit pacification practices remain. Do other handscrolls from this period reveal similar trends of spiritual behaviour? And if so, how might we best make use of these historical documents to reconstruct socio-religious practice in this period? Furthermore, how does Buddhist demonology, often a major subject in Japanese painting of the early medieval period, impact the development of these beliefs about monsters? Nevertheless, even from this brief examination, it is clear that early-medieval Japanese perceptions of the monsters surrounding them were exceedingly complicated and far more intertwined with daily life than may previously have been suspected.

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Notes
For the purposes of this chapter, the early medieval period is considered to cover the end of Heian (794-1185) period and the beginning of the Kamakura (11851333) period; roughly the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. 2 The details of Michizanes life, death, and deification have been extensively researched by Robert Borgen. Unless otherwise noted, subsequent statements about Michizanes life should be regarded as deriving from his study. Please see Sugawara no Michizane and the Early Heian Court (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1994). 3 Accounts of these calamities can be found in Borgen, Sugawara no Michizane, 307-336, and in the writings of Herbert Plutschow. See Fujiwara Politics and Religion: Gory Cult and the Kitano Tenjin Engi and Kitano Tenjin Engi Emaki, in Florilegium Japonicum: Studies Presented to Olof G. Lidin on the Occasion of His 70th Birthday (Copenhagen: Akademisk Forlag, 1996), 215-228; and Tragic Victims in Japanese Religion, Politics, and the Arts, Anthropoetics 6.2 (Fall 2000/Winter 2001): http://www.anthropoetics.ucla.edu/ap0602/japan.htm. 4 The development of spirit pacification practices is discussed at length in Neil McMullin, On Placating the Gods and Pacifying the Populace: The Case of the Gion Gory Cult, History of Religions 27.3 (Feb 1988): 270-293. A more general discussion of religious practices in Heian period Japan can be found in Donald H. Shively and William H. McCullough, Religious Practices, The Cambridge History of Japan Volume 2: Heian Japan (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), 517-575. 5 Cited in Kuroda Toshio, The World of Spirit Pacification: Issues of State and Religion, trans. Allan Grapard, Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 23.3-4 (1996): 323-325. 6 Nichizs account of his travels in the afterworld is translated in Carmen Blacker, The Catalpa Bow: A Study of Shamanistic Practices in Japan, 2nd Edition, (London/Boston: G. Allen & Unwin, 1986), 191, 194-196. 7 The records related to the oracle received by Tajihi no Ayako have not been translated into English, they can nevertheless be found in the original Japanese. See Kitano, Shint taikei: jinja hen, Vol. 11, ed. Makabe Toshinobu (Tokyo: Shint Taikei Hensankai, 1978), 8-10; 30-32; 87; 603-605. 8 An in-depth exploration of Masafusas adoption of Tenjin worship and the reasons behind it can be found in Robert Borgen, e no Masafusa and the Spirit of Michizane, Monumenta Nipponica 50.3 (Autumn 1995): 357-384. 9 Much has been written on the Gempei War. See in particular G. Cameron Hurst III, Insei: Abdicated Sovereigns in the Politics of Late Heian Japan, 1086-1185 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1976), and Jeffrey Mass, Yoritomo and the
1

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__________________________________________________________________ Founding of the First Bakufu: The Origins of Dual Government in Japan (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1999). 10 The earliest extant example is the Jky version, so named because it is believed to have been produced during the Jky era (1219-1221), but it is generally not considered to be the first version of the handscroll set as it is incomplete. For a complete discussion of the scrolls genealogical relationship to one another, see Murase Miyeko, The Tenjin Engi Scrolls: A Study of Their Genealogical Relationship, PhD Dissertation, Columbia University, 1962. 11 The egalitarian nature of Michizanes patron deity role is captured in one memorable episode from the scrolls in which Michizane, as Tenjin, rescues two abused girls and helps them to make successful marriages. 12 Kevin Gray Carr, introduction to Explaining the Mystery of Ban Dainagon ekotoba, Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 28.1-2 (2001): 103-106; Matsuo Kenji, Explaining the Mystery of Ban Dainagon ekotoba, trans. Kevin Gray Carr, Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 28.1-2 (2001): 107-131; Herbert Plutschow, Chaos and Cosmos: Ritual in Early and Medieval Japanese Literature (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1990).

Bibliography
Blacker, Carmen. The Catalpa Bow: A Study of Shamanistic Practices in Japan, 2nd edition. London: G. Allen & Unwin, 1986. Borgen, Robert. Sugawara no Michizane and the Early Heian Court. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1994. . e no Masafusa and the Spirit of Michizane. Monumenta Nipponica 50.3 (Autumn 1995), 357-384. Carr, Kevin Gray. Introduction to Explaining the Mystery of Ban Dainagon ekotoba. Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 28.1-2 (2001): 103-106. Hurst, G. Cameron III. Insei: Abdicated Sovereigns in the Politics of Late Heian Japan, 1086-1185. New York: Columbia University Press, 1976. Kitano. Shint taikei: jinja hen, Volume 11, edited by Makabe Toshinobu. Tokyo: Shint Taikei Hensankai, 1978.

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__________________________________________________________________ Kuroda Toshio. The World of Spirit Pacifications: Issues of State and Religion. Translated by Allan Grapard. In Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 23.3-4 (1996): 321-351. Mass, Jeffrey. Yoritomo and the Founding of the First Bakufu: The Origins of Dual Government in Japan. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1999. Matsuo Kenji. Explaining the Mystery of Ban Dainagon ekotoba. Translated by Kevin Gray Carr. Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 28.1-2 (2001): 106-131. McMullin, Neil. On Placating the Gods and Pacifying the Populace: The Case of the Gion Gory Cult. History of Religions 27.3 (Feb 1988): 270-293. Murase Miyeko. The Tenjin Engi Scrolls: A Study of Their Genealogical Relationship. PhD Dissertation, Columbia University, 1962. Plutschow, Herbert. Chaos and Cosmos: Ritual in Early and Medieval Japanese Literature. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1990. . Fujiwara Politics and Religion: Gory Cult and the Kitano Tenjin Engi and Kitano Tenjin Engi Emaki. In Florilegium Japonicum: Studies Presented to Olof G. Lidin on the Occasion of His 70th Birthday. Copenhagen: Akademisk Forlag, 1996. . Tragic Victims in Japanese Religion, Politics, and the Arts. Anthropoetics 6.2 (Fall 2000/Winter 2001), http://www.anthropoetics.ucla.edu/ap 0602/japan.htm. Accessed January 25, 2008. Shively, Donald H. and William H. McCullough. Religious Practices. In The Cambridge History of Japan Volume 2: Heian Japan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. Sara L. Sumpter is a PhD student in the Department of the History of Art & Architecture at the University of Pittsburgh. Her research explores the impact of socio-political strife on the development of Japanese horror iconography through Heian and Kamakura period handscrolls.

Changing Skin: The Monstrous in Liaozhai zhiyi Sarah Dodd


Abstract A core figure in Chinese storytelling from myth to folk-tales has been the shapeshifterfrom fox demons to flower spirits; supernatural beings have stalked oral tradition and written records with their true natures disguised under human skin. And it is skin which this chapter examineshow it is transformed, disguised, possessed. Taking the theme of changing skin as a starting point, the chapter examines the figure of the shape-shifter as portrayed in Liaozhai zhiyi or Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, a seventeenth-century collection of tales of ghosts, foxes and strange metamorphoses by Pu Songling (1640-1715). It takes Pus tales as a canonical text, which straddles the centuries, still being read and adapted today, mutating into new forms in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Skin is the most sensitive boundary, where body and world meet, and where the monster functions as readable. Yet skin in the stories also highlights the failure of reading; it brings uncertainty, unsettling the boundaries of accepted knowledge. However, it also brings a transformative, regenerative energy, whether it is the monster disguising itself in human skin, or the human transforming itself with the help of an animal skin. Key Words: China, Liaozhai zhiyi, Pu Songling, skin, monsters. ***** 1. The Historian of the Strange I would like you to imagine a dark night, in the mountains of Northern China, in the winter of 1679. A man sits alone in his writing studio. By the light of a single flickering lamp takes up his pen, and pours out all his loneliness to the ghosts that surround him in the darkness. In the daylight, he is a failed scholar named Pu Songling, a man of thwarted ambitions, trapped by the rigid rules of the Confucian system. By night, he writes himself as The Historian of the Strange, possessed by the anomaly tales of Chinese history, by the demons and transformations of Buddhism and Daoism, and by his own fertile imagination. He calls his collection Liaozhai zhiyi, or strange stories from Liaozhai, the name of his studio. The Historian of the Strange tells tales of horror, of wonder, and often, of comedy. Men fall in love with beautiful fox spirits or meet ghosts in abandoned temples; corpses walk, and men change into birds. I will discuss three stories from the collection, examining the different ways the idea of changing skin is used. I begin with a tale of horror, one of the most famous stories in the collection, called The Painted Skin. (I paraphrase each of the stories discussed): One

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__________________________________________________________________ morning, in the city of Taiyuan, a certain gentleman named Wang met a beautiful young girl. He invited her into his house, and his wife, though worried about who she was, accepted this arrangement. One day, however, Wang peered into the young girls room. He saw to his horror that she was not a young girl any more, but a hideous demon, a green-faced monster, a ghoul with great jagged teeth like a saw, and she was touching up a human skin with a paintbrush. When she put on the skin like a cloak, she transformed into the beautiful girl he had fallen for. Realising she had been discovered, the demon tore open Wangs chest and ripped out his heart, before fleeing the house. His wife was devastated, but she was told by a Daoist priest to ask the advice of a mad old beggar. So she went to the beggar, who lived on a rubbish heap, and he mocked her, and spat out a ball of phlegm, and made her swallow it. Later, as she mourned over her husbands body, she brought up the ball of spit, and it fell into the wound where Wangs heart was torn out, and to her amazement it became a new heart, bringing him back to life. 1 This is one of the most famous tales, and has some particularly colourful details. What is underneath the skin? is a question many of the stories ask. And more importantly, how can we ever really know what is underneath? Do not trust a beautiful woman, say the stories, for she may be a kindly spirit, come to offer rewards both physical and financial, but she may also be deadly. Of course, this is what makes the tales so exciting. The Historian of the Strange is prolificall those nights in his lonely studio make up almost 500 stories. So when a beautiful woman appears in a story, we are ready to suspect that she is not all that she seems. The skin promises something elselike clothes, it promotes the desire to remove it, to see through it. (There is hardly any nudity in the collection, but the body beneath is ever-present.) And not knowing whether what is beneath may be dangerous or wondrous only adds to the pleasure. Interestingly, in the 2008 film of this story, directed by Chen Jia, the demon is revealed at the end to be a fox spirita familiar figure from folklore and much less threatening than the motive-less demon. She is also clearly seen to be in love with the protagonist, and in the end, sacrifices the immortality she has been cultivating to save him. So monstrosity is explained and made safe in the film. 2 There is, however, another important aspect to this tale. The most horrifying aspect, to my mind, is not the discovery of the demon and her murder of the unfortunate Mr Wang, but his wifes swallowing of the mad beggars phlegm. And this leads onto the fascinating ending of the story, when she brings up the phlegm and it becomes Wangs new heart. So, I believe that in the story monstrousness is not confined to the monster itself; all the characters are touched by it. The mad beggar is a monstrous figure, dripping with mucus, who sleeps on a dunghill and possesses strange powers. The wife consumes part of the beggars monstrousness, which is then transferred to the husband, transforming itself into part of his body and bringing him back to life. So monstrousness has a regenerative function, where the grotesque bodily functionsconsuming, spittingresults in regeneration and

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__________________________________________________________________ new life. This story involves not just being monstrous but becoming monstrous. Just as the monsters themselves can shed their skin or change their body, the human protagonists themselves are changed. And becoming monstrous involves redefining the human, transformed in this case at the site of what could be seen as making us most humanthe heart. 2. The Transforming Skin So after a tale of horror, I will turn now to a tale of wonder. This is a story called Xiang Gao: In Taiyuan there was a young man called Xiang Gao, who was very close to his brother, Xiang Cheng. Xiang Cheng fell in love with a beautiful courtesan. Unfortunately, a rich man was also in love with her, and he had Xiang Cheng beaten to death on his way home. Devastated, Xiang Gao took his case to the magistrate, but the rich man had already bribed him, and the lawsuit was thrown out. So the anger built up inside Xiang Gao, and everywhere he went he carried a knife, ready to kill the rich man, should they meet. But the rich man hired a bodyguard, and there was nothing Xiang Gao could do. One day there was a huge storm, and Xiang Gaos clothes got soaked through. He took shelter in a temple, where a monk gave him a tiger-skin cloak to change into. As soon as he put it on, he grew fur, and transformed into a tiger. As a tiger, he waited until the rich man came past, then pounced on him and ate him up. The tiger was killed by the bodyguards arrow, but Xiang Gao woke up in his own human skin, and remembered his strange experience, and how he had finally avenged his brothers death. 3 In this story, it is a human who uses an animal skin as a medium for transformation. This is similar to old shamanic practices in China, which used animal skins to enact, symbolically, metamorphosis into an animal. By wearing the skin, the shaman could straddle the categories of human and animal. 4 The shaman, or in this story, Xiang Gao as the human as animal, becomes in-between neither one thing nor the other, but partly both. Rajyashree Pandey writes that; It is at the border of human and inhuman, man and beast, normal and supernatural, that horror is located. 5 And certainly, some of the stories in this collection, such as The Painted Skin, emphasize the horrific aspects of the borderthe meeting of human and inhuman, or human and animal. But stories such as Xiang Gao also illuminate the more positive aspects of border-crossing and in-between-ness. Xiang Gao becomes monstrous, and as a monster, he gains freedom and power. Within the boundaries of the Confucian world, of the corrupt, human world, crime goes unpunished and the rich can bribe their way to power. The writer of these stories, Pu Songling, understood all too well how difficult it was to escape the boundaries of Confucian societyhe spent his life trapped by his inability to pass the civil service exams, which were the only way for him to move up into an official career. In Chinese society at this time every thing and every relationship were tightly proscribed.

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__________________________________________________________________ But as a monster, Xiang Gao is able to step out of these boundaries, and achieve justice for his brother. So, to borrow from Gilles Deleuze, I argue that the becoming monstrous of the human and the human world has a positive and transformative effect. 6 This resonates with what I argue is the overall world-view of the collection; the constant state of becomingof birth, change, decay, and regeneration. It is also a concept that fits into the ancient Chinese view of human, animal, monster, and into Buddhist ideas of reincarnation. In his book, Myths of the Dogman, David Gordon White argues that one of the reasons why there doesnt seem to have been a Chinese term that could be directly translated as monster is perhaps because constant metamorphosis, rather than stasis, was the order of things. No creature was a monster in itself, because it existed somewhere along an ever-changing continuum between one sort of animal and another, or between humanity and animality. 7 3. The Reflecting Skin The final story I would like to consider is a brief comedic tale, The Duck Thief: A peasant in Bai Jia village stole one of his neighbours ducks, cooked it, and ate it. That night, his skin itched terribly, and by the next day, his whole body was covered in eiderdown. The next night he dreamed that a man came to him and said; Your illness is Heavens punishment; only if the ducks rightful owner shouts abuse at you will the down fall away. So the peasant had no choice but to go to his neighbour and tell him the truth. The neighbour did indeed shower abuse at him, but with that, his affliction was cured. 8 Here a mans crimes are written upon his skin. His becoming monstrous exposes his crime. Yet it also provides a way for him to clear his conscience and admit his guilt, and to embark on, the story suggests, a new and crime-free life. So there is a moralistic element to many of the stories of transformation. Just as the demon in the first story could not hide her true face forever (she had to keep touching up the human skin), the duck thief cannot keep his true self hidden. It is useful here to consider the traditional concept of the Chinese medical body. Bodies were (and are) conceived of as a complex network of qi, or energy. This involved the idea of constant movement and transformation. So the Chinese concept of the body was as a dynamic force, possessed of a transformative energy. 9 Interior and exterior were also conceived dynamically, each engaging with the other. 10 So the duck thiefs secret knowledge of his crime is reflected onto his skin. And in other stories, animal or insect demons transformed into humans are given away by some aspect of their original form still left on their bodythe tiny waist of a hornet, the scent of the musk deer. So, the combination of horror, wonder and humour in the collection is particularly striking. It brings to mind Mikhail Bakhtins work on grotesque realism. For Bakhtin, the essential principle of grotesque realism is degradationit

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__________________________________________________________________ turns its subject into flesh. 11 There is both ridicule and repulsion in the stories. The grotesque body is debased so that it may be reborn. Wangs body is debased and then reborn through encounters with the monstrous demon and the monstrous beggar. The weak and helpless Xiang Gao is transformed into a tiger, then when it is killed by an arrow he is reborn again human. The duck thief is degraded and only reborn as completely human when he has cleared his guilt. Then there are various other stories of death, a journey into the underworld, and rebirth. Sometimes the protagonist emerges from the underworld unscathed. Other times, they are reborn as a child into another family. So I argue that the changes of the stories resemble this grotesque realism, in which; The bodily element is deeply positive.... It is presented not in a private, egotistic form, but as something universal. 12 In Liaozhai skins can be put on and shaken off, things transferred from one body to another; the monstrous encounter brings the isolated, Confucian individual into connection with the world. 4. Conclusion In conclusion, the skin in Liaozhai zhiyi encompasses the key theme of change and regeneration. The changing skin links the human and the monster, the artificial, man-made Confucian society and the natural world. It provides a portal, an opportunity, allowing the collection as a whole to build up a picture of a world in flux; far from the ordered, Confucian society, where everything was kept firmly in its place, Pu Songlings stories suggest a world where boundaries can be crossed, where bodies are not fixed in one form. And so his monsters do not only bring horror, but also a transformative, regenerative energy. Pu Songling never did achieve the success he craved in his official career. Some say that ghosts and foxes gathered round him in the examination room and distracted him from his essay-writing. He himself wrote, in his prologue to his tales, that a kind of madness gripped him, and forced him to write of demons, and strange things. And the collection was only fully published years after his death. But the lonely man who writes in his studio in the middle of the night would perhaps be consoled to know that his stories are still read, and loved. Like the strange transformations within his tales, his stories have been changed and adapted by successive generations, made into films, comics, TV series, and even a musical, until they themselves are as strange a hybrid as some of the monsters within his pages.

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Notes
Zhang Youhe, ed., Liaozhai zhiyi huijiao huizhu huiping ben (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chuban she, 1962), 119. 2 However, this may have to do with not only commercial reasons, but the involvement of SARFT (The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television), which restricts the depiction of monsters, spirits, and other such content. 3 Zhang, ed., Liaozhai zhiyi huijiao huizhu huiping ben, 831. 4 See Roel Sterckx, Animal and Daemon in Early China (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2002), 188. 5 Rajyashree Pandey, The Medieval in Manga, Postcolonial Studies 3.1 (2000): 21. 6 See Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia, trans. Brian Massumi (London: Athlone, 1988). 7 David Gordon White, Myths of the Dogman (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991), 20. 8 Zhang, ed., Liaozhai zhiyi huijiao huizhu huiping ben, 687. 9 Angela Zito Body, Subject and Power in China, eds. Tani Barlow and Angela Zito (Chicago, London: University of Chicago Press, 1994), 110. 10 Ibid. 11 Mikhail Bakhtin, Rabelais and His World (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1984), 19. 12 Ibid.
1

Bibliography
Bakhtin, Mikhail. Rabelais and His World. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1984. Barlow, Tani and Angela Zito. Body, Subject and Power in China. Chicago, London: University of Chicago Press, 1994. Deleuze, Gilles, and Felix Guattari. A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia. Translated by Brian Massumi. London: Athlone, 1988. Pandey, Rajyashree. The Medieval in Manga. Postcolonial Studies 3.1 (2000): 19-32. Sterckx, Roel. Animal and Daemon in Early China. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2002.

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__________________________________________________________________ White, David Gordon. Myths of the Dogman. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991. Zhang Youhe. Liaozhai zhiyi huijiao huizhu huiping ben. Shanghai: Shanghai guji chuban she, 1962. Sarah Dodd is a PhD student in the Department of East Asian Studies at the University of Leeds. Her thesis is on monstrosity in Liaozhai zhiyi.

Who Mourns for Godzilla? Gojira and De-Asianization of Postwar Japan Steven Nardi and Munehito Moro
Abstract In one memorable scene from the first Godzilla (1954), the monster advances on a broadcasting tower. A TV reporter within, reporting live, screams: Dear audiences; this is neither a theatrical performance nor movie! This self-referential moment underscores a neglected aspect of the film. Godzilla is a movie acutely aware of itself as a media event. Critics argument that the film repeats the trauma of the atomic bombs does not, therefore, go far enough. Released nine years after the end of WWII and on the cusp of the countrys economic miracle, the media event pictured in Godzilla enables a radical revision of the countrys identity. Tokyos destruction, instantaneously reported and tracked through electronic media, stages a collective mourning for the losses from World War II. The common interpretation of monster as bomb leaves unexplained an element that the film stressesthat the monster is indigenous to Japan. Godzilla, we are told, is a creature from Japans mythology transformed by an encounter with radioactivity. The palaeontologist in the film refuses to endorse the monsters destruction; Godzilla should be preserved, he says, for it is the precious life form that has manifested only in Japan. This strange insistence on ownership reveals what is at stakethe origin of the new Japan itself. In the monster, traces of the violent transition from imperial to modern Japan are both invoked and expelled. The film therefore demonstrates the vanishing point at which old Japan both falls into an ambivalent and violent oblivion, yet never ceases to haunt the emerging future superpower whose imaginary body is covered by countless electronic eyes. Key Words: Japan, Asia, Godzilla, World War II, media, psychoanalysis. ***** Our argument is about the 1954 film Gojira, which was released in a completely reedited version in the United States as Godzilla: King of the Monsters in 1955. The monster Godzilla has become a camp icon, but the original film in its Japanese release terrified audiences; it retains that power. Our focus here is specifically on this 1954 original, which was only released in the US a few years ago. We are particularly interested in how the monster is used to construct a postwar narrative of Japan as a newly fashioned nation. We will take the film as a symptom of the ideological contradictions that the country faced, a symptom that is most strikingly evident in the inexplicable mourning for the monster that ends the film. Godzilla, after all, has just flattened Tokyo and left thousands dead, yet the characters treat its death as a loss. This is the problem our chapter tackles.

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__________________________________________________________________ In one of the first reviews of Gojira, a reviewer in the Japanese newspaper, Yomiuri Shinbun, compared the film with the US monster King Kong, unfavourably. The criticism revolved around the kind of monster Godzilla is, and the contrast to Kong. The films obvious flaw, the critic writes, is that Godzilla does not show any personality at all. In contrast: King Kong [...] presented the tragic character of the monster [....] However, Godzilla is frigid and far from being charming. No sense of tragedy can be seen there that it was driven out of the peaceful nest because of the H-bomb experiments. 1 In hindsight, the contrast to King Kong seems the point of the film. While Kong is deeply and indelibly human, Godzilla is impersonal. Kong is sympathetic because his rampage is motivated by emotions we can empathize withrevenge, love, and fear. Godzilla, on the other hand, without explanation or reason thunders directly into the heart of Tokyo and destroys it utterly. The monster is inhuman, faceless, elemental. Called only it, Godzilla is never even gendered. That faceless quality has made the monster an irresistible object of interpretation. Gojira has been associated with anti-nuclear sentiments, antiAmerican feeling, or with a generalized anti-war feeling, in part because the film was inspired by the exposure of a fishing boat to a lethal dose of radiation from an American nuclear test. Nancy Anisfield summarizes this tradition of critique as Humans made the bombs. The bombs created the monsters. The monsters punish the humans. 2 But these arguments assume that the monster is an invader, coming from the outside of Japan. In Gojira, however, it is clear that the monster is native. The origin stories of Godzilla attribute the monster partly to an older, fading Japanese mythology. The island where it comes from recalls Kongs Skull Island, complete with dancing natives. We are told by an old fisherman that the monster has returned partly because the old rituals of sacrificing to it have been abandoned. Professor Yamane, the palaeontologist who identifies Godzilla, argues that it is a precious life form manifested only in Japan. 3 How then to account for this monster who targets its destructive force solely on its own home? Critic Kato Norihiro argues that the monster embodies the return of Japanese soldiers killed in the Asia-Pacific War. 4 The angry dead return. He compares them to the Freudian uncanny. For Kato, the monster embodies a Japan buried with the war heroes in Yasukuni shrine, and so a history that retains a death grip on the present. The changing character of the monster, from the terror of Gojira to the domesticated friendly Godzilla later, Kato argues, represents Japan collectively working through its historical trauma. The monster had to be tamed and sterilized so that the people could come to accept it and then the past it represents. Godzilla, in other words, suggests the lingering grip of the Imperial era.

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__________________________________________________________________ Katos argument is convincing to the degree that the monster seems to represent something unresolved in the national psyche. Whether because humans have disturbed the natural order, or because Japan has left its war dead unmourned, Godzillas destruction feels like a rough kind of justice. But the unresolved does not simply seem to be a nostalgic longing for the past. It is not for nothing that the revelation of Godzillas origin in Japans ancient mythology is shunted asideput in the mouth of an old man whom the crowds tease for being backwards. Certainly Godzilla is a manifestation of a loss; however, the past conveyed by the monster is free of nostalgic attachments. On the contrary, Gojira celebrates the technological modernity of post-war Japan. This is most evident in a rarely observed habit of the filmthe outsized role that the electric media system plays in mediating the viewers knowledge of the monster. The media serve as the movies eyes and ears. When Godzilla is first seen, the monster is shot from the neck up as it emerges over a ridgea perspective equated with the camerawielding journalists in the crowd of witnesses. The media perspective is the point of view of the film itself. Throughout the film, reporters appear as characters, advancing the story and filling in plot holes, while the camera often supplies the point of view. Godzillas arrival is pulsed through radio transmission; people witness the burning destruction via television monitors; evacuation orders are announced through radio. In other words, the world presented in Gojira anticipates what Guy Debord calls the society of the spectacle. 5 The monster is always an effect of the media. Further, the film is quite self-conscious about its play with the medias gaze. This is most strikingly true of the scene where Godzilla attacks Tokyo. The skyline view of the city burning at first seems to be merely a camera angle, but it is later revealed to be footage shot from a television tower. We realize that the footage is a live broadcast being watched by the characters in the film. As Godzilla advances towards the tower, a TV reporter within, reporting live, screams: Dear audiences; this is neither a theatrical performance nor movie! This self-referential joke would have been particularly striking in 1954; because of the care with which Tokyo was recreated in the film, the first audiences were often sitting in the same Tokyo movie theatres that were being destroyed on the screen. Gojira invites audience to confuse the cameras eye with a direct record of history, reducing the latter into an imaginary fiction. Of course, celebrating Japans modernity means superimposing an image of a connected accelerated Japan over the actual historical context of 1954. Back then, Japan was still struggling to account for the memories of the pre-war Empire and its expansionist policies. Gojira acknowledges war trauma, for example in a scene during Godzillas attack where a war widow clings to her children. She reassures them that they will all soon be with their father in death. But these figures of memory are marginal and fading. The Japan of the film is already an alternate

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__________________________________________________________________ present in which the war years have been left behind. This Japan is fully rearmed, unhampered by Article 9, the US-imposed disarmament clause. In this Japan, there is no foreign military left behind, nearly no foreign presence at all. The superconnected, ethno-techno-logical society the film portrays seems complete within itself. The abrupt entry of Godzilla disrupts this superimposed surface. When the monster enters the scene, it does so as the very thing that is excluded from the new societys field of vision. Despite the penetration of the electronic gaze of the new media systems, Godzilla is able to appear and disappear, dropping off the radar, reemerging, at will. The monster remains something outside of the new technological system of knowing. In this sense, Katos argument identifying it as something in the past, which has now been lost, is inadequate. Godzilla is irreducibly outside the national gaze. It is pure it. Its inhuman presence, then, is something that could never have been integrated at all. Against Katos suggestion, it could be better said that the monster represents the return of the Emperors faceless victims, rather than his dead soldiers. Those humans who constituted the empire by remaining immutably outside of it. Historian John Dower, in Embracing Defeat, notes that the victims of the Japans soldiers represented an extremely difficult loss for the nation to come to terms with. He writes, The millions of deaths inflicted by the Emperors soldiers and sailors [...] remained difficult to imagine as humans rather than just abstract numbers. The non-Japanese dead remained faceless. There were no familiar figures among them. 6 Like these victims, Godzilla embodies the inhuman. In Gojira, Japan tries to uproot itself from its own past. Through electronic mediation, the film seeks new ways to reorganize the nations shattered parts and leave the expansionist ideologies of the Empire behind. As Kato suggests, the monster, then, does represent the subversive return of wartime memory; nonetheless, what that memory is, remains irreducibly elusive. The monster, in other words, occupies the place of the loss of a loss, that is, the loss of an aspect of the collective self that the self had been unable to integrate. Godzilla itself of course, represents this aspect of monstrosity, but there is a second figure twinned with GodzillaDr. Serizawa, the brilliant scientist who eventually provides a way to destroy the monster. Serizawa is a figure deeply linked to the dark memories; an ex-soldier, maimed in the war, he carries the past engraved on his body. In the post-war world, he is uneasy and ambivalent. His research has secretly stumbled upon the development of a new weapon of mass destruction, which, even in the face of Godzillas violence, Serizawa refuses to reveal. More than Godzilla, it seems, Serizawa fears a Japan wielding a new form of mass destruction. He is more afraid of reawakening Japans expansionist ambitions than he is of the monster. This ambivalent and over-determined relationship to the object lost explains one of the frequently noted oddities about Gojiraas we mentioned at the

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__________________________________________________________________ beginning, the tone of the ending is mysteriously elegiac. Even though Godzilla has been defeated and Japan saved, there is no sense of triumph in the last few minutes of the film. Instead, there is only a sombre sequence of mourning. Although, on the face of it, the lost object is Serizawa, it is also clear that the monster itself is also being mourned. Godzilla, of course, is a singularly inhuman and so un-empathetic character, so why mourn the monsters passing? Ultimately, Gojira operates according to a model of mourning, which paradoxically allows a new sense of self to be discovered. In this state of mourning, the mediated, national ego opens up a socio-ethno-visual field upon which post-war Japan stands with its transparent subjectivity. Ultimately, the state of mourning which ends Gojira is productive. It is the foreclosure of the disruptive presence that both Serizawa and Godzilla represent that enables the new Japan to emerge. In the film Japan emerges from disaster as fertile, productive, and young. This subplot is realized in the emergence of a modernized Japanese couple out of what seems like an impossible entanglement. In this subplot, Emiko, Professor Yamanes daughter, and Ogata, his young friend, have fallen in love; but Emiko has already been arranged to marry Serizawa. This subplot has a slightly comic undertone. In several scenes, Emiko and Ogata are preparing to tell the truth to her father Professor Yamane and Serizawa, but just as they work up the courage, they are interrupted by Godzillas attacks. The monster therefore functions as a psychological and sexual block. But, despite the comedy, the subplot also raises what was, in the 1950s, a serious social conflict. Although arranged marriages were still widely practiced among middle-class workers, dating was beginning to be popular among young people; Andrew Gordon notes that slowly the ideal of the love marriage won the day. 7 Emikos choice, in other words, aligns her with a tendency to abandon tradition in favour of a more modern lifestyle. Serizawa represents the past, whereas Ogata the future. The pathos of the end of the film is that Serizawa realizes that he, as much as Godzilla, is an impediment. Because his mind contains the secret to fulfilling the Imperial ambition of aggressive conquest, his very existence blocks the new and democratic Japan from emerging. He needs, therefore, to be removed from the national bodynot simply purged but completely obliterated. His elimination, he realizes, is also necessary to allow a new, heteronormative, Japan to emerge. His unwillingness to step aside has hindered the development of the healthy modern heterosexual relationship between Emiko and Ogata. Serizawa, therefore, finally allows the weapon to be used, but he ensures that it cannot be reproduced. He destroys his own notes and makes sure that he, as well as Godzilla, both die in the detonation. For Emiko and Ogata, of course, this is very convenient. Serizawas selfsacrifice allows them to consummate a heterosexual relationship unbounded by arranged marriage. As Serizawa legitimizes the young couples desire, he also

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__________________________________________________________________ withdraws himself from the post-war heterosexual matrix. He does not belong to the new world that he opened up. By enabling Ogata and Emiko to practice postwar love marriage, Serizawa consequently destabilizes the legacy from the older generations; he resolves the libidinal attachment to the past, whose neurotic shackles were hindering Ogata and Emikos romance. For both the personal and the social, then, Serizawa plays the role of post-war Japans psychoanalyst. He removes Godzilla with his bomb, but also removes the impediment that he himself has become. He carries out transference because of his possession of secret knowledge: the transference that has to be resolved eventually for the patientyoung Japanto be emancipated from the past. At this point, Serizawa and Godzilla begin to merge with each other, for they are both rooted in a time totally incommensurable with the new era. As the past memories must be lost, traces of their beings must also be consigned to oblivion. The object being mourned, in other words, is not incorporated into the newly formed social whole as a transitional object, but actually eliminated from it. The social imagination has to be maimed when a new social norm is placed. The postwar society builds itself upon the loss of the loss; it no longer recognizes what it is mourning for. The faceless, impersonal, aspect of both Godzilla and Serizawa is exactly what enables this act of mourning to be productive. Their physical death does not suffice: in addition to obliterating material bodies, the history of their existence must be consigned to the darkness of the national unconscious. The true object of mourning in Gojira is Japans ability to imagine itself connected to the region it used to dominate. The loss is that of memories of having been a part of Asia. Gojiras symbolic universe, covered by cutting-edge media systems, does not contain any references to other Asian nations. Although the country was apparently striding forward, from out of the Asia from which Japan is pulling itself, a monster arrives. It is only the monstrous rupture, the disjunction of history, which reveals that something has been left out. And the nation would keep mourning for the region of the faceless, wishing its return even in a form of the monstrous.

Notes
Mimono wa tokushu satsuei dake: Kaiju eiga Gojira, Yomiuri Shinbun, November 3, 1954. 2 Nancy Anisfield, Godzilla/Gojira: Evolution of the Nuclear Metaphor, The Journal of Popular Culture 29.3 (1995): 53-62. 3 A main character in Godzilla movie series, Professor Kyohei Yamane, Japanese palaeontologist involved with investigations into and strategies to repel the kaiju Godzilla in 1954 and a second Godzilla in 1955. 4 Norihiro Kato, Sayonara, Gojira Tachi (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 2010).
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__________________________________________________________________ Guy Debord, Society of the Spectacle (Detroit: Black & Red, 1983). John W. Dower, Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II (New York: WW Norton & Company, 1999), 486-487. 7 Andrew Gordon, A Modern History of Japan: From Tokugawa Times to the Present (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), 255.
6 5

Bibliography
Anisfield, Nancy. Godzilla/Gojiro: Evolution of the Nuclear Metaphor. The Journal of Popular Culture 29.3 (1995): 53-62. Dower, John W. Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II. New York: WW Norton & Company, 1999. Debord, Guy. Society of the Spectacle. Detroit: Black & Red, 1983. Gordon, Andrew. A Modern History of Japan: From Tokugawa Times to the Present. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009. Gojira. Directed by Honda Ishiro. Japan: Toho Visual Entertainment, 2009. BluRay. Kato, Norihiro. Sayonara Gojira Tachi. Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 2010. Steven Nardi is an Assistant Professor at Medgar Evers College, a college of the City University of New York in Brooklyn. He has a PhD from Princeton University. He was selected for a Fulbright in Japan in 2009-2010. His publications include work on Langston Hughes and the Harlem Renaissance, as well as contemporary American poetry. He is working on a book titled The Stars Pulled Down: Technology and Poetics in the American New Poetry and the Harlem Renaissance. Munehito Moro studied literary criticism at the University of Tokyo from 2002 to 2005. He is currently majoring in media studies at International Christian University, collaborating with his academic advisor on building a framework of communication ecology.

Specters of Capitalism: Ghostly Labour and the Topography of Ruin in Post-Industrial Japan Norihiko Tsuneishi
Abstract The rocky outcropping of Hashima, off the coast of Nagasaki in Japan, has been a ghost island since its coalmines stopped operations in 1974. Abandoned ferroconcrete structures dot the islet, colloquially known as Gunkanjima (Battleship Island) in reference to its jagged skyline, which, seen from the distance, resembles a military vessel. The desertedness and dilapidation of the place has attracted many tourists in recent years, furnishing a prime example of what some Japanese commentators describe as a ruins boom. However, the phantom nature of Hashima is a matter of more than just visual aesthetics. This chapter uses monster theory to analyse various kinds of labour that, across Japans modern history, have shaped Hashima into a deeply scarred physical space as well as a rich site of post-industrial phantasmagoria. This chapter looks at a contemporary movement by a group of former island residents to transform Hashima into a World Heritage Site. In monumentalizing Hashimas industrial debris, the memorial movement renders the islands grotesque past(s) into a symbolically flattened history. Memorialists seldom touch upon Hashimas significant role in building an imperial nation-state despite Hashimas ownership and day-to-day administration by the industrial conglomerate Mitsubishi, a de facto government agency until after WWII. Disquietingly, the movement submerges various labours, including that of wartime colonial subjects who worked like slaves in Hashimas coalmines. Instead, the memorialists narrative glorifies the post-war era when the island reached an economic zenith as a sort of always-already vanished ideal home. At the same time, the memorial movement commodifies Hashima even further as a tourist attraction, extracting spectral labour out of the islands historically more palatable forms of ghostliness. Capturing the kaleidoscope of historical as well as contemporary labours still existing on the island, the chapter analyses modernity as a phantasm that haunts and continually re-enchants Japans capitalist landscape. Key Words: Urban ruins, history, tourism, grotesque monstrosity, spectral labour. ***** 1. Introduction The Angel of History, the protagonist of Walter Benjamins historical materialism, sees the past as the colossal debris of a single catastrophe, which keeps piling wreckage upon wreckage. 1 Despite the angels attempt to awaken the dead from the dilapidated landscape of history, the storm emanating from paradise, which Benjamin calls progress, keeps blowing him away from it,

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__________________________________________________________________ submerging the dead into the heap of rubble. This imageryhistory as the catastrophic ruin of the deadprovides a fantastical gateway to unravel the topography of Hashima, a rocky islet off the coast of Nagasaki in Japan. Colloquially known as Gunkanjima (Battleship Island) in reference to its jagged skyline delineated by abandoned Ferro concrete structures, Hashima has been a ghost island since its coal mines stopped operations in 1974. The ruin aesthetic of this locale has attracted many tourists in recent years as photographs of its abandoned landscape were introduced as the fantastic locus in various media. However, the phantom nature of Hashima consists of more than its appearance. In order to give contours to the spectral nature of this locale, this chapter uses the grotesque monstrosity postulated by Mikhail Bakhtin as a theoretical optic to analyse various kinds of labour that have shaped Hashima into a deeply scarred physical space as well as a phantasmagoric site. Focusing on a contemporary movement by former island residents to monumentalize Hashima into a World Heritage Site, the chapter argues that their labours transmogrify the grotesque history of this locale to a symbolically flattened historical narrative through the institutional framework of UNESCO. In so doing, the analysis unfolds the polymorphic as well as the transformative peculiarity of the islands grotesque past by unravelling the tragic novel written by Han Soosan, which unlocks a multivalent colonial monstrosity from Hashimas historical abyss: Japans wartime imperial capitalism. Lastly, the chapter examines the memorialists portrayal of post-war Hashima when it reached an economic zenith as their always-already vanished ideal home. While superscripting over the grotesque history and submerging the dead, i.e., colonial workers, memorialists surface this phantom image of their desired home not only to save but also to remodernize this locale as a tourist attraction by extracting spectral labour from the islands historically more palatable forms of ghostliness. Capturing these various forms of monstrosity, the chapter analyses modernity as a phantasm that continually re-enchants Japans capitalist landscape. 2. Hashima: The Grotesque Body In Rabelais and His World, Mikhail Bakhtin identifies the transformative and the polymorphic as characteristics of the grotesque body. In contrast to an entirely finished, completed, strictly limited body 2 of the new canon that emerged in sixteenth-century France with the advent of a more censored language, the grotesque body is constantly in the state of becoming and is at the threshold between species. It is dynamic, ambiguous, and thus always incomplete without an end, operating against the more sanitized body of the new canon. Given this imagery of the grotesque, Gunkanjimas topography is quintessentially the embodiment of a becoming body. The original shape of this reef is described by Goto Keinosuke of the memorialist group as the fossil foot of a dinosaur, 3 with a size of approximately 125m x 300m. The island was a natural uninhabited reef

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__________________________________________________________________ until coal was found on the site in 1810. Starting at that time, its footprint was gradually transmogrified in parallel with Japans industrialization, which accelerated in the second half of the nineteenth century onward, turning the site into a battleship, or, in Karl Marxs words, the mechanical monster [] bursts forth in the fast and feverish whirl of its countless working organs. 4 Utilizing slag produced from the sorting of coal, Mitsubishi launched a series of land reclamations to produce a flat plain attached to the original jagged landscape, which allowed for construction of various industrial buildings. This deck was guarded by colossal retaining walls that protected the circumference of the islet from raging waters. As a result, the size of the island grew to 160m by 480m, three times larger than the original reef. Furthermore, reinforced concrete high-rise apartments, among the earliest of their kind in Japan, were constructed on the island as early as 1916. By the 1920s, this precipitous artificial landscape had accorded to Hashima a resemblance to the Japanese military vessel Tosa, hence the tag Gunkanjima (Battleship Island), which was given to the island at that time. 5 New buildings continued to be built until the 1960s, further transforming the skyline of the island. Once oil replaced coal as energy fuel Gunkanjima, set adrift under the hegemony of Mitsubishi in 1974, became nothing more than a death ship. Its abandoned concrete landscape was relentlessly exposed to sea wind and tossed in heavy swells. Without access to maintenance, the structures on the island deteriorated and in fact are still deteriorating today. Hashima thereby has been and always will be in a state of becoming. Beyond this transformability of Hashima, Bakhtins grotesque imagery as polymorphic landscape offers a crucial schema. In contrast to the more censored new body, a grotesque body is open, rough and penetrable, forming a flexible, if not ambiguous, boundary, which leads beyond the bodys limited space. 6 It presents, as Bakhtin continues, mountains and abysses, such is the relief of the grotesque body; or speaking in architectural terms, towers and subterranean passages. 7 Hashimas physical topography indeed expresses physically and symbolically this polymorphic landscape as the mining tunnels of the island go as deep as 1000m underground, creating an abyss, and yet the mine is colloquially referred to as mountain (yama). Furthermore, despite soaring concrete structures on the site, Hashima as a whole is conceived as an underworld. The architectural historian Akui Yoshitaka expressed the difficulty in identifying the level on which he was standing when working on his land survey on the island. The spatial disorientation was due to the way in which the buildings were erected; jostling each other on the steeply rugged terrain and creating a gloomy labyrinth-like space. Consequently, Akui set up the virtual ground level of the island at the roof level of the buildings. 8 This strategy conceptually reconfigured all the levels below the roof as underground space. Hashima thus involves this elevation dialectic: an abyss that is mountain, and towers that are subterranean passages at the same time. Conceiving the transformation and polymorph as essential constructs of Hashima,

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__________________________________________________________________ the following sections use them as theoretical categories in unfolding the historical topology of this island. 3. Memorialists Hashima: Flattened History In 2003 a group of former residents of Hashima formed a NPO organization called Gunkanjima for World Heritage Site. As part of their efforts, the group produced several publications on Hashima, including the book The Legacy of Gunkanjima in 2005. The book was co-authored by the groups core members, Goto Keinosuke and Sakamoto Dotoku. In the first three chapters, the book overviews Hashimas history as well as Sakamotos actual lived experience there as a child during the 1960s. The following chapter then highlights the distinctive urban and social characteristics of the island, which have been attracting scholarly attention in various intellectual fields. As a whole these studies have become, Goto claims, the Gunkanjima Studies. The book concludes with the authors argument for why Hashima is worthy of consideration for a world heritage status that represents universal value, satisfying the requirements set forth by UNESCO. 9 While the books depiction of Hashimas history is valid, its portrayal of the island as a whole represents a strategic build-up to petrify its history into the framework of UNESCO. It forms a sanitized, flattened historyequivalent to Bahtkins body of new canonthat underplays the intrinsically transformative and polymorphic character embedded in Hashimas history. One of these tactics can be found in chapter 4, which stresses the aforementioned Gunkanjima Studies to highlight the historical, scholarly, and thus universal value of this locus. The authors list urban engineering, architecture, sociology, and the history of industry as disciplines that emerged as Gunkanjima Studies. The book, however, does not seek other potential studies that Hashima could entail. For instance, discussing the concrete apartment structures as a type of building that illustrates significant stages of human history, which is one of UNESCOs criteria, the memorialists situate the significant stage only within architectural history, and not within the much larger human history to elicit the greater symbolic nature of these towering edifices. Furthermore, while addressing the islands cultural significance, they focus on the culture of coal mining while neglecting other potential cultures to extract from Hashima. This narrow focus is reflected upon their rather light touch on the history of the island during the war period. Hashima could provide an ideal site for study of Colonial History, or of the Fascist Culture of Wartime Japan, as it symbolized the Japanese militarism. 10 The first critical point for Hashima came in 1890 when the industrial conglomerate Mitsubishi Corporation took over operation of the coal mining industry and Hashima, equipped with a modern mechanized technique, began producing the largest amount of coal among the neighbouring coal mining islands. Japans industrialization relied heavily on coal energy from the last half of the nineteenth to the mid-twentieth centurythe fossil foot of a dinosaur,

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__________________________________________________________________ transformed into a vital organ for imperial Japan by the 1930s and was administered by the wartime de facto government agency Mitsubishi. The Legacy of Gunkanjima briefly touches upon this becoming during the wartime period, but it does not fully uncover how Hashima insidiously became the state organ for the colonial economy by sucking coal, and thus, capital out of colonial labourers who worked in the islands underground tunnels. 11 Those subterranean workers have been forcibly buried under the memorialist universal history delineated through a peculiar upward perspective. 4. Downward Gaze: Colonial Monstrosity on Hashima In one of the memorialists publications, Sakamoto emphasizes air corridors and roof gardens as the distinctive architectural component for Hashimas community formation. 12 Sakamotos family lived during the 1960s mostly on the top floors of concrete high-rises; although having lived on lower floors, he confesses, I do not have much memory there, except that unlike the ninth [top] floor, the room was damp and clammy. 13 Thus, the memorialist gaze tends to be drawn to the upper realmthe towerof Hashima, not the space underneath it, contriving their surface narrative. While the memorialists gaze still resides in the upper realm of post-war Hashima, there was one moment where their flattened history plunged into the islands damp and clammy space through a Bakhtinian grotesque element: human excrement. Sakamoto explains that as there was no flush toilet system in their towering apartment, plopping toilets were installed at each floor connected via sewage pipes. Without flushing water, the system was inadequate to scavenge the excrement collected within the pipes. Consequently, the lower it [excrement] reached, the worse the smell and noise were. 14 Subverted by the downward movement of duns and urines, 15 their sanitized gaze reveals the glimpse of Hashimas polymorphismthe tower and the abyss. By way of further situating their flattened history within the regime of the polymorphic grotesque, the following investigation will excavate the colonial monstrosity buried in Hashimas historical abyss through unravelling the work of the Korean writer Han Soosan. In his novel Gunkanjima, originally written in 2003, Han elucidates the deadly working conditions of Korean labourers at Hashima, which were imposed by the imperialist capitalist Mitsubishi during WWII. 16 For this, the islands topography of abyss and tower becomes the embodiment of a colonial hierarchy. 17 Han shows the colonial-spatial polymorphism of Hashima consisting of two regimes: numbing and thinning monsters of subterranean labourers, and blood-sucking vampires of super-structural imperial capital. This relationship captures the monstervampire dialectic set forth in Franco Morretis readings on Marxs conception of capitalist production, in which vampires, brutal beings of capital, are sucking living labour out of the workers who eventually lose their sensuousnesstheir humannessand turn into monsters. 18 Furthermore, as Marx conceived capital as dead labour, or the

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__________________________________________________________________ dead itself, it further dehumanizes workers to become part of the dead, while [o]nly vampires find anything sensuous in the dead. 19 There are many scenes in Hans novel where Koreans workers felt that they metamorphosed into dehumanized creatures. The most vivid example of this becoming was expressed through the imagined body of Chisung, one of the protagonists in the story. Exhausted by the work in Hashimas mining tunnels, Chisung himself felt his entire body was becoming numb, losing sensuousness and turning into a hairy creature. Han writes, Although only a few days have passed, he [Chisung] had transformed so much. He could almost see himself crawling like a worm. 20 The once-human Korean metamorphosed into the alienated worker, a dehumanized species. Crawling body also plays a crucial role here, shifting the spectators gaze toward the ground. In contrast to the soaring concrete high rises, the life of marginalized labourers on the lands surface is placed within the realm of the abyss. This is exemplified in the scene where another protagonist, Myonguku, looking up at those apartments, remembers the words of his fellow worker: You are at the very bottom, like a worm. If someone spits on you, you receive it on your foreheadthose who live up there [concrete apartments] cannot see as humans. 21 By doing so, Han further transmogrifies the alienated labourer into the subterranean monster. While Japanese occupied the upper floors of the concrete apartment towers, many foreign workers were placed at the lower part of the island during the colonial period. This spatial demarcation indeed reflects the colonial hierarchy, which was reinforced by Han in his depictions of some of the tower people as vampires. As one worker in the novel says, Isnt Human blood the vampires favourite? The people in the company [Mitsubishi] are the vampires themselves, arent they? 22 Hans use of the vampire for Mitsubishi personnel through the words of subterranean monsters is strikingespecially when immediately following this scene comes the description of Chisung definitely getting thinner, 23 symbolizing the monster-vampire dialectic. Unlocking these various forms of colonial monstrosity mediating between Hashimas tower and abyss, Hans novel attempts to awaken the oppressed dead of this post-industrial debris. 5. The Present: Spectral Labour in Ruins Since all the monsters and vampires left Hashima in 1974, the site lost its useexchange value for a while. However, this spectacle of ruins has recently lured many spectators on 4000-yen cruising tours and has become a tourist commodity. The memorialists are also part of the sightseeing organization and their movements no doubt put the island in a different mode of production. In a sense, the memorialists have become capitalist-vampires themselves. However, there is only the dying ruin, no bodily labourers. As such, these rather passive vampires instead live by sucking spectral labour out of this post-industrial ruin. Through a magical

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__________________________________________________________________ necromancy, they further fetishize the island of the dead to the fantastictheir vanished ideal home, as though the dead appear alive. 24 Goto suggests that Hashimas distinctive community had a strong sense of neighbourhood and should be an ideal for a contemporary Japanese society that has lost such a sense. Sakamoto calls this particular Hashima his home (kokyo). This move to extract an ideal home from the dilapidated site is akin to the way in which the home rhetoric was previously used in Japan. Here the word kokyo connotes, according to Marilyn Ivy, the distant place, threatened with disappearance by various forces, yet nostalgically operating as phantasmatic constituents of Japanese identity. 25 Theorizing what she coins as discourses of vanishing, Ivy shows that the 1920s Japanese folklorist discourse was revisited in the 1960s. Largely induced by the tourist industry and mass media, the recursive discourse placed the rural village in the realm of Japans home, in which Japans national identity was believed to remain unchanged. As Japans modernization was thought to have erased national authenticity, these peripheral villages insured a static identity and, ironically, became tourist places, working as a phantom image of Japans interiority. This rhetoric is identical to the memorialists: locating what had disappeared within post-industrial urbanity in the vanishing remote island. However, the significant difference is that while their predecessors returned to modernitys before 26 as a locus of the home immune from modernity, the memorialist, by contrast, draws our gaze to, in effect, modernity as past. 27 Amidst post-industrial capitalism, the once symbolic locus of Japans modernity has been fossilized in the space of fifty years. In turn, Hashima has been fetishized into a vanished ideal home by erasing other forms of the islands past. Before vampire-like capital entirely moulds the island into a homogenized body by further exploiting the spectral labours of the ruins, this site and its history should be situated in the realm of the grotesque. 28 Always transforming, polymorphing and transgressing, the grotesque, somewhat counter-intuitively, prevents Hashima from becoming an enchanted place where vampires are constantly working to construct the magically static image of the one and only vanished hometown. It instead provides a means for visualizing its heterogeneous monstrosity, which could possibly challenge the totalizing commodification. Doing so allows for the disenchantment of this debris by representing the island as it is. Hashima is, after all, the habitat of countless historical, yet still-living monsters.

Notes
1

Howard Eiland and Michael W. Jennings, eds. Walter Benjamin Selected Writings, Vol. 4, 1938-1940, trans. Edmund Jephcott et al. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2003), 392.

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__________________________________________________________________ Mikhail Bakhtin, Rabelais and His World, trans. Hlne Iswolsky (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1984), 320. 3 Keinosuke Goto and Doutoku Sakamoto, Legacy of Gunkanjima, 2nd Edition (Nagasaki: Nagasaki Shinbunsha, 2010), 33. 4 Karl Marx, Capital Volume 1 (Penguin Classics, 1990), 503. 5 Their visual alignment was, as Brian Burke-Gaffney describes, so uncanny that a local newspaper reporter dubbed it Gunkanjima (Battleship Island), a nickname that soon replaced the official name in common parlance. See Brian BurkeGaffney, Hashima: The Ghost Island, Cabinet Magazine (Summer 2002), http://www.cabinetmagazine .org/issues/7/hashima.php. 6 Bakhtin, Rabelais, 317. 7 Ibid., 318. 8 This strategy, as Akui describes, made it easier to understand the spatial composition as well as floor levels. See Yoshitaka Akui and Shiga Hideitsu, Gunkanjima Land Survey Collection, 3rd Edition (Tokyo: Tokyo Denki Daigaku Shuppankyoku, 2010), 596. 9 See UNESCO World Heritage Convention, Criteria for Selection, http://whc.unesco.org/en/criteria. The UNESCO World Heritage Centre states that to be included on the World Heritage List, sites must be of outstanding universal value and meet at least one out of ten selection criteria. 10 Minato Kawamura, Commentary on Gunkanjima, Gunkanjima, Volume 2, 4th Edition (Tokyo: Sakuhin-sha), 470. 11 Goto, Legacy of Gunkanjima, 51. By 1943 there were approximately 500 Koreans and 240 Chinese working virtually as slaves in the islands mines. These forced labourers also included women who worked as prostitutes and in brothels administered by Mitsubishi. For the information on Mitsubishi-administrated brothels, see Eidai Hayashi, Letters to Deaths (Tokyo: Meiseki Shuppan, 1992), 191-192. 12 Gunkanjima for World Heritage Site, Gunkanjima: Memory of Living (Nagasaki: Gunkanjima wo Sekai Isan ni Surukai, 2008), 1. 13 Ibid., 18. 14 Goto, Legacy of Gunkanjima, 107. 15 Bakhtin, Rabelais, 336. 16 See Hayashi, Letters to Deaths, 3-4. 17 Akui Takahiko claims, the living space for the islands residents was clearly defined based upon the job classification system. Yoshitaka, Gunkanjima Land Survey, 636. 18 Franco Moretti, Signs Taken For Wonders (London: Verso, 1988), 91. 19 Mark Neocleous, The Monstrous and the Dead: Burke, Marx, Fascism (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2005), 53.
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__________________________________________________________________ Soosan Han, Gunkanjima, Volume 1, 4th Edition, trans. Minato Kawamura et al. (Tokyo: Sakuhin-sha, 2010), 206. The book was originally published in Korean in 2003, and was entitled Khamagui (Raven). 21 Han, Gunkanjima, Volume 1, 249. 22 Ibid., 217. 23 Ibid., 217. 24 Neocleous, The Monstrous, 54. 25 Marilyn Ivy, Discourse of the Vanishing: Modernity Phantasm Japan (Chicago, The University of Chicago Press, 1995), 31 26 Ibid., 15. 27 Memorialists tactic, locating Japan-ness in their vanished home, may be placed within a double-structure of modernity discourse. See Harry Harootunian, Japans Long Post War, in Japan After Japan, ed. Tomiko Yoda and Harry Harootunian (Durham: Duke University Press, 2006), 110-114. 28 I should mention here that the memorialists website does include links to articles published by newspapers and other media that cover the islands colonial past. See their website, http://www.gunkanjima-wh.com/npo/katudou.html. The voice of the memorialists themselves on this subject matter is, however, quite muted on the website.
20

Bibliography
Akui, Yoshitaka and Shiga Hideitsu, Gunkanjima Land Survey Collection, 3rd Edition. Tokyo: Tokyo Denki Daigaku Shuppankyoku, 2010. Bakhtin, Mikhail. Rabelais and His World. Translated by Hlne Iswolsky. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1984. Benjamin, Walter. On the Concept of History. In Walter Benjamin Selected Writings, Volume 4, 1938-1940, edited by Howard Eiland and Michael W. Jennings, 389-400. Translated by Edmund Jephcott, et al. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2003. Brian Burke-Gaffney, Hashima: The Ghost Island. Cabinet Magazine. (Summer 2002). http://www.cabinetmagazine .org/issues/7/hashima.php. Goto, Keinosuke and Sakamoto Doutoku, Legacy of Gunkanjima, 2nd Edition. Nagasaki: Nagasaki Shinbunsha, 2010.

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__________________________________________________________________ Gunkanjima for World Heritage Site, Gunkanjima: Memory of Living. Nagasaki: Gunkanjima wo Sekai Isan ni Surukai, 2008. http://www.gunkanjima-wh.com/ npo/katudou.html. Harootunian, Harry. Japans Long Post War. In Japan After Japan, edited by Tomiko Yoda and Harry Harootunian, 98-121. Durham: Duke University Press, 2006. Hayashi, Eidai. Letters to Deaths. Tokyo: Meiseki Shuppan, 1992. Ivy, Marilyn. Discourse of the Vanishing: Modernity Phantasm Japan. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1995. Marx, Karl. Capital, Volume 1. Penguin Classics, 1990. Moretti, Franco. Signs Taken For Wonders, Revised Edition. London: Verso, 1988. Neocleous, Mark. The Monstrous and the Dead: Burke, Marx, Fascism. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2005. Soosan, Han. Gunkanjima, Volume 1, 4th Edition. Translated by Minato Kawamura, et al. Tokyo: Sakuhin-sha, 2010. . Gunkanjima, Volume 2, 4th Edition. Translated by Minato Kawamura, et al. Tokyo: Sakuhin-sha, 2010. UNESCO World Heritage Convention, Criteria for Selection. http://whc.unesco. org/en/criteria. Norihiko Tsuneishi is a PhD student at Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, Columbia University, USA, studying architecture history and theory. His research looks at the socio-political implication of space in twentieth century Japan.

Part 4 The Monstrous and the Normal

Reclaiming the Sexual Psychopath: Sadomasochism and the Post-War Male Crisis in Jim Thompsons The Killer Inside Me Patricia Ann Grisafi
Abstract The conflation of violence and normative male sexuality demonstrates how, during the 1950s, the representation of white, American male sexual identity was both problematized and sanctioned by the figure of the psychopath. In particular, sex crime panics and theories of sexual psychopathy created fears about the potential violence that lurked beneath the surface of seemingly ordinary men. Jim Thompsons first-person psychopathic narrative The Killer Inside Me explicitly addresses this problem from a pulp fiction perspective. Like many men, narrator Lou Ford struggles with violent impulses, questions his power, and experiences conflicting attitudes towards women. However, unlike most men, he acts upon his impulses and commits murder. Despite his violent compulsions, Lou is described as a sexually attractive and generally likable character, indeed, as a kind of alternative hero. By connecting The Killer Inside Me to its contemporary climate of male crisis and sex crime panic, I suggest that Lou Ford is designated as an extreme model of masculine behaviour and, judging by the high sales of The Killer Inside Me upon publication, I would also argue that men in crisis found a kindred spirit in Lou Ford and an outlet for their own frustrations in the explicit sadomasochism of the text. Thus, by discussing the book in terms of its pornographic elements, I intend to connect Thompsons literary project to the larger social project of masculine recuperation, which included an avalanche of pornography, violent comic books, crime magazines and male-directed massmarket paperbacks. Key Words: Jim Thompson, masculinity, the sexual psychopath, detective fiction, cold war, pornography, sadomasochism. ***** In his 1957 essay, The White Negro, Norman Mailer romanticizes the psychopath as a countercultural rebel yearning for apocalyptic orgasm. The psychopath, he writes, is better adapted to dominate those mutually contradictory inhibitions upon violence and love which civilization has exacted of us...not every psychopath is an extreme case, and ... the condition of psychopathy is present in a host of people. Mailers conflation of violence and normative masculinity demonstrates how, during the 1950s, the representation of white American male sexual identity was both problematized and sanctioned by the figure of the psychopath. Jim Thompsons first-person narrative, The Killer Inside Me, explicitly addresses this problem from a pulp fiction perspective. Despite his

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__________________________________________________________________ violent, sexually fuelled compulsions, Lou Ford is represented as an alternative hero and described as a sexually attractive and generally likable character. By connecting The Killer Inside Me to its contemporary climate of male crisis and sex crime panic, I suggest that Lou is designated as an extreme model of masculine behaviour. Judging by the high sales of the novel upon its publication, I also argue that men in crisis identified with Lou and used the explicit sadomasochism of the text as an outlet for their own frustrations. By discussing The Killer Inside Me in terms of its pornographic elements, I intend to connect Thompsons literary project to the larger project of masculine recuperation, which included an unprecedented avalanche of pornography, violent comic books, crime magazines, and maledirected mass-market paperbacks. Cultural historian James Gilbert defines male crisis as the moment when observers begin to notice that assumptions about masculinity and expected male behaviour are being undercut by circumstance and social and psychological changes. 1 While by no means an isolated incident in American history, the postwar masculinity crisis was remarkable due to a number of factors that occurred within a relatively short span of time. The prevalence of war-related psychological trauma collapsed the myth of the heroic American soldier and revealed a hidden fragility beneath militaristic bravado. The Great Depression created economic conditions that led to vast unemployment, fostering sentiments of shame, helplessness, and emasculation among men who lost the capacity to provide for their families. Gender conflicts also contributed to mens anxiety over their sexual, domestic, and occupational roles. The increase of women in the workforce, the rise of companionate relationships, and the nuclear family and burgeoning reproductive and sexual revolutions placed women in a position of unprecedented power. And while Cold War rhetoric promoted an image of a strong, virile America that had to be aggressive in order to fight Communism, parenting manuals emphasized paternal patience, understanding, and tolerance in the domestic domain. Andrea Friedman suggests that this gender paradoxmen having to simultaneously possess a hard masculinity for defending the nation and a soft masculinity as the foundation of the homewas at the root of the 1950s controversies regarding pornography 2 and sexual expression. Entrenched within this larger male crisis was a specific anxiety regarding sexuality, particularly mens capacity for sexual violence. This anxiety manifested itself in several ways, most notably through sex crime panics and revisions of sexual psychopath statutes. These panics influenced radical reformulations of psychiatric theory, criminal law and, as Estelle Freedman notes, provoked a redefinition of normal sexual behaviour. 3 Instead of designating sexual aggression as socially unacceptable, the sex crime panic helped legitimize less violent, but previously taboo sexual acts while it stigmatized unmanly ... behaviour as the most serious threat to sexual order. 4 The diagnosis of psychopathy, which did not have a specific sexual connotation until the 1930s, was originally given to prisoners who

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__________________________________________________________________ did not fit under the definitions of insanity or organic mental dysfunction. As a result of this liberal taxonomy, a staggering number of criminals were diagnosed as sexual psychopaths, which caused widespread fear among American citizens. Who were these sexual predators, they wondered, and could they be living among us undetected? The idea that apparently ordinary Americans were committing sex crimes terrified men and put them on the defensive. This defensive attitude can be discerned in the critiques and revisions of psychopath statutes and sex crime laws. Between 1935 and 1965, commissions established to examine sex crime transferred power from the courts to psychiatric institutions, and a man accused of rape if diagnosed as a sexual psychopath could receive an indeterminate sentence to a psychiatric, rather than a penal, institution. 5 Perhaps more tellingly, as Freedman notes, almost every legal definition of sexual psychopathy inevitably contained the phrase, utter lack of power to control his sexual impulses. 6 This emphasis on uncontrollable urges implies that, in the eyes of lawmakers, an aggressive male sex drive is normal, natural, and instinctive. Men are posited as ultimately not culpable for their sexual indiscretions, and instead of being punished by the penal system, they should be treated by psychiatrists. By emphasizing the psychological dimension of sexual psychopathy, lawmakers and psychiatrists removed blame from the act and attributed sexual violence to something intrinsic and irrepressible in all men. This defence of aggressive sexuality indicates that the psychopath was not conceived of as a figure of fear and hatred but as representative of sexual power and dominance. Attitudes towards the sexual psychopath also influenced the redefinition of rape as not only a male psychological aberration, but also as an act in which ... women ... contributed to their own victimization. 7 Critics of the psychopath laws suggested that, in the words of one state report, aggression is a normal component of the sexual impulse in all males. According to this supposition, as long as he did not murder his victim, the rapist might be considered almost normal. In his influential 1951 text, Sex and the Law, Morris Ploscowe argues for a complete reformulation of sex crime law based on his own understanding of sexuality as a natural force, an understanding supported by the Kinsey reports. In Ploscowes conception of naturalized sex, there is little room for violation; his reorientation puts men first and severely disables women. He condemns existing rape laws for being unreasonable and urges legal reform that would make rape harder to prove. Ploscowes rapists are often unjustly convicted, he argues: They may be lacking in ethical or moral principles...they may be immature men who believe that sexual conquest is a sign of adulthood and virility. They may be emotionally disturbed men who are seeking an outlet for frustrations in sexual activity. 8 By characterizing rapists as products of arrested development, merely guilty of youthful folly, Ploscowe undermines the severe nature of the crime as well as

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__________________________________________________________________ ethical sexual behaviour. As such, his claims seek to normalize, even sanction, aggressive behaviour. If the American rapist is just the sexually frustrated man next door, then Lou Ford is his psychopathic neighbour: Lean and wiry; a mouth that looked all set to drawl. A typical Western-country peace officer, that was me. Maybe friendlier looking than the average. Maybe a little cleaner cut. But on the whole typical. 9 Lous All-American good looks, his laid-back demeanour, and his respectable profession designate him as a representative, even idealized version of white masculinity. As the Sheriff of Central City, Lou is respected and trusted by his colleagues and powerful men in the community. The self that Lou projects gentle, respectable and helpful, but a little slowconceals his inner rage at women and small-town politics. When local prostitute Joyce Lakeland assumes that Lou is not going to assault her during an informal interrogation, she expresses disappointment: I know you wont. Anyone can see youre too easy-going. Lou doesnt disappoint, however; after he hog-ties Joyce and beats her with a belt, she begins fumbling at my tie, my shirt; starting to undress me after Id almost skinned her alive. 10 If female victims are portrayed as willing participants in their abuse, Joyce actually exceeds this formulation, enters the realm of instigation and is named as the source of Lous reinvigorated sickness. Throughout the text the possibility of Lous sickness is always shifted to the periphery. No one wants to believe that Lou is capable of his crimes because it would challenge conceptions of normalcy as well as destabilize cherished values of trust and familiarity. This disconnect between performance and authenticity illustrates contemporary fears related to sex crime about beast lurking withinof the apparently normal man who harboured abnormal desires. 11 Because she is a prostitute, Joyces sexuality and masochism are not entirely problematic, nor do they deviate from crime fictions tradition of the femme fatale. Lous respectable fiance Amy, however, complicates the issue of womens desire. Though she is one of the nicest ladies in town 12 Amy engages in extra-marital sex as well as sadomasochistic practices. Amys behaviour exemplifies one of the themes embedded in psychopath and sex crime literature: that women were paying a high price for the modern recognition of their sexual desire and the removal of female purity as a restraint on male sexuality. 13 Because of the increasing frequency of extramarital, non-procreative, companionate sexual relationships, nice young ladies encroached upon territory previously occupied only by disreputable women. When Amy accuses Lou of having sex with Joyce, the transgression she is most outraged over is that he has been putting her dirty insides inside of me, smearing me with her. 14 Despite Amys middle class respectability, she and Joyce are linked together by a particularly vulgar formulation of female essentialism; Amy literally contains Joyce within her. Thus, it is hardly surprising that Amy shares Joyces penchant for sadomasochism. During a sexual encounter

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__________________________________________________________________ with Lou, Amy suddenly wanted something else worse and tells Lou that he should be angry with her: She lay back down again, turning on her stomach, spreading her arms and legs. She stretched out, waiting, and whispered: Very, very angry.... Sure, I know. Tell me something else. Tell a hophead he shouldnt take dope. Tell him itll kill him, and see if he stops. She got her moneys worth. It was going to cost her plenty, and I gave her value received. Honest Lou, that was me. Let Lou Titillate Your Tail. 15 Here, Amy is graphically positioned as soliciting Lous violent sexual attentions. She displays herself, coaches Lou through her language and waits for the desired response. Not only does Thompson invoke the language of sexual psychopath laws in their articulation of uncontrollability, but he also manipulates the language of economics. The link between sex and money continues to link Amy with Joyce, a connection reinforced when Lou casually remarks that Amy and Joyce seemed pretty much alike. As a respectable woman, Amys desire for sadomasochistic sex removes its stigma and eliminates Lous culpability. The obvious popularity of tough detective tales so well larded with sex and sadism evoked disturbed comment from many quarters, 16 and worried censorship activists such as Frederic Wertham, who infamously attacked the comic book industry in his 1954 expose Seduction of the Innocent, and was convinced that the violent sex in comic books was corrupting the youth and creating sexual psychopaths. Comic booksand by extension, detective fictionWertham asserted, were emblematic of the new pornography, the glorification of violence and sadism. In detective fiction, image and language often reinforce each other in an effort to entice the potential reader, who would trust that the sex and violence depicted on the cover would be featured in the narrative. Often, book sales were highest when the cover illustrations were their most graphic. Published for Lion Books, a sideline of the Magazine Management Company (which also included Marvel Comics and mens sporting and adventure magazines), The Killer Inside Me was specifically intended for a male reading audience. Instructed by their publishers, mass-market paperback writers of the 1950s focused on the shifting relations among state, society, and representative figures of the common man. 17 Indicating his universal appeal, an editorial memo at New American Library noted, Jim Thompson is a special writer and yet, though it appears to be a paradox, is a writer for hundreds of thousands of readers. His short prose serves to illuminate events in which the passions of men and women are revealed in their naked, primeval fury 18. This laudatory statement addresses the mass-market attraction of Thompsons work and suggests that Thompsons heroes were conceived of as exaggerated emblems of ordinary men.

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__________________________________________________________________ Thompson makes use of the new pornography by substituting sadomasochistic photographs and illustrations with their linguistic representations and by encoding a framework of desire within the narrative structure itself. Since the narrative techniques of detective fiction are akin to those of pornography or erotica 19, by approaching The Killer Inside Me from an erotics-of-narrative perspective, it becomes evident that Thompsons plot trajectory, sentence structure and diction drive the readers simultaneous desire and frustration. In The Orgiastic Pattern of Fiction Robert Scholes suggests that what connects fiction...with sex is the fundamental orgiastic rhythm of tumescence and detumescence, of tension and resolution, of intensification to the point of climax and consummation. 20 Scholes formulation also touches upon a key component of sadomasochism; the suspension of sexual fulfilment to the point of frenzied agony: much of the art consists of delaying climax within the framework of desire in order to prolong the pleasurable act itself 21 In his treatment of the work of Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, Gilles Deleuze remarks upon this element of anticipation as well: Waiting and suspense are essential characteristics of the masochistic experience ... the whip or the sword that never strikes, the fur that never discloses the flesh, the heel that is forever descending upon the victim. 22 For Deleuze, masochism dwells in a realm of suspended possibility not unlike that of the dynamic of crime fiction. Thompsons own use of narrative delay replicates the impulse behind the sadomasochistic act: I jerked the jersey up over her face and tied the end in a knot. I threw her down on the bed, yanked off her sleeping shorts, and tied her feet together with them. I took off my belt and raised it over my head ... I dont know how long it was before I stopped, before I came to my senses. 23 In this passage, Lou strips Joyce, binds her with her own clothing and presumably beats her with his belt. The reader, however, is not privileged to witness the actual occasion of violence; Thompson titillates and then refuses to allow access. Thompson involves the reader in a complicated sexual framework that allows the reader to identify with Lou the sadist and Thompson the sadistic author and orchestrate their own sadomasochistic fantasy. The Killer Inside Me does indeed end with Mailers apocalyptic orgasm. While waiting to be apprehended for his crimes, Lou douses his house with nitric acid and lights a match. As everyone gathers inside, ready to arrest him, the room exploded with shots and yells, and I seemed to explode with it, yelling and laughing and ... and....Lous annihilating explosion releases him at the same time it releases the reader, creating a sense of popular voice: Our kind. Us people. 24 Like the popular voice articulating conceptions of American masculinity, Thompsons text ultimately finds no satisfying solution to the male crisis. However, Lous act of anarchy is symbolic of revolution and rebellion and

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__________________________________________________________________ reinforces aggressive action at a time when notions of masculinity were being increasingly destabilized and reformulated.

Notes
James Gilbert, Men in the Middle: Searching for Masculinity in the 1950s (Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 2005.) 2 Andrea Friedman, Sadists and Sissies: Anti-Pornography Campaigns in Cold War America, Gender and History 15.2 (2003): 201-227. 3 Estelle B. Freedman, Uncontrolled Desires: The Response to the Sexual Psychopath, 1920-1960, The Journal of American History 74.1 (1987): 83-106, 84. 4 Ibid., 87. 5 Ibid., 84. 6 Ibid., 84. 7 Ibid., 100. 8 Qtd. in Linda R. Hirshman and Jane E. Larson, Hard Bargains: The Politics of Sex (New York & Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998), 188. 9 Jim Thompson, The Killer Inside Me, Crime Novels: American Noir of the 1950s, ed. Robert Polito (New York: Literary Classics of America, 1997), 3-160. 10 Ibid., 8 11 Friedman, Sadists and Sissies:, 219. 12 Frederick Whiting, Bodies of Evidence: Post-War Detective Fiction and the Monstrous Origins of the Sexual Psychopath, The Yale Journal of Criticism 18.1 (2005): 149-178, esp. 170. 13 Freedman, Uncontrolled Desires:, 101. 14 Thompson, The Killer Inside Me, 40. 15 Ibid., 83. 16 James C. N. Paul and Murray L. Schwartz, Federal Censorship: Obscenity in the Mail (New York: The Free Press of Glencoe, Inc., 1961), 84. 17 Sean McCann, Gumshoe America: Hard-Boiled Crime Fiction and the Rise and Fall of New Deal Liberalist (Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2000), 202. 18 Robert Polito, Savage Art: A Biography of Jim Thompson (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1995), 339. 19 Whiting, Bodies of Evidence:, 170. 20 Robert Scholes, Fabulation and Metafiction (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1979), 26. 21 Ibid., 26. 22 Gilles Deleuze, Coldness and Cruelty (New York: Zone Books, 1989), 70. 23 Thompson, The Killer Inside Me, 12. 24 Thompson, The Killer Inside Me, 160.
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Bibliography
Deleuze, Gilles. Coldness and Cruelty. New York: Zone Books, 1989. DEmilio, John and Estelle B. Freedman. Intimate Matters: A History of Sexuality in America. New York: Harper & Row, 1988. Freedman, Estelle B. Uncontrolled Desires: The Response to the Sexual Psychopath, 1920-1960. The Journal of American History 74.1 (1987): 83-106. Friedman, Andrea. Sadists and Sissies: Anti-Pornography Campaigns in Cold War America. Gender and History 15.2 (2003): 201-227. Garton, Stephen. Histories of Sexuality: Antiquity to Sexual Revolution. New York: Routledge, 2004. Gilbert, James. Men in the Middle: Searching for Masculinity in the 1950s. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 2005. Hirshman, Linda R. and Jane E. Larson. Hard Bargains: The Politics of Sex. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998. Mailer, Norman. The White Negro. Learn to Question.com: Resources Database. November 2, 2009, .http://www.learntoquestion.com/resources/database/archives/ 003327.html McCann, Sean. Gumshoe America: Hard-Boiled Crime Fiction and the Rise and Fall of New Deal Liberalism. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2000. Metress, Christopher. The Emasculation of Narrative Desire: Jim Thompsons A Hell of a Woman. Studies in the Humanities 27.1 (2000). Literature Resource Center. Gale. Fordham University Libraries. 8 Dec. 2007 http://go.galegroup.com/ ps/start.do?p=LitRC&u=nysl_me_fordham. OBrien, Geoffrey. Hardboiled America: The Lurid Years of Paperbacks. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1981. Paul, James C.N. and Murray L. Schwartz. Federal Censorship: Obscenity in the Mail. New York: The Free Press of Glencoe, Inc., 1961.

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__________________________________________________________________ Payne, Kenneth. The Killers Inside Them: The Schizophrenic Protagonist in John Franklin Bardins Devil Take the Blue-Tail Fly and Jim Thompsons The Killer Inside Me. Journal of Popular Culture 36.2 (2002): 250-263. Polito, Robert. Savage Art: A Biography of Jim Thompson. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1995. Reuman, Miriam G. American Sexual Character: Sex, Gender, and National Identity in the Kinsey Reports. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2005. Seltzer, Mark. Serial Killers: Death and Life in Americas Wound Culture. New York: Routledge, 1998. Scholes, Robert. Fabulation and Metafiction. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1979. Shorter, Edward. Written in the Flesh: A History of Desire. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2005. Thompson, Jim. The Killer Inside Me, Crime Novels: American Noir of the 1950s, edited by Robert Polito, 3-160. New York: Literary Classics of America, 1997. Whiting, Frederick. Bodies of Evidence: Post-War Detective Fiction and the Monstrous Origins of the Sexual Psychopath. The Yale Journal of Criticism 18.1 (2005): 149-178. Patricia Ann Grisafi is a PhD candidate in English Literature and a Teaching Associate at Fordham University. Her areas of interest include the Gothic, Beat literature, Confessional poetry, gender studies, and constructions of mental illness.

Fear, Monstrosity and Survival: A Gothic Reading of The Gravediggers Daughter Maria Luisa Pascual Garrido
Abstract Joyce Carol Oatess novel, The Gravediggers Daughter (2007) tells the story of the Schwart, a family of Jew immigrants fleeing Nazi Germany in 1936 and their inability to adapt themselves to American society. In different ways all the members of the Schwart family turn into monstrous beings. All except the seemingly successful female protagonist, Rebecca, who surprisingly manages to endure the cruel and hideous atmosphere of her damp home near the graveyard and escape death in her childhood. In this chapter I will try to analyse fear and monstrosity as it is found in The Gravediggers Daughter. In doing so, I will identify the nature of monstrosity in the Schwart and other less obvious cases of monstrosity. This will lead us to examining the reasons why Rebecca, the youngest and most vulnerable of the Schwart is the only member of the family who survives in such a cruel and hostile environment. Finally, Rebeccas strategies for survival and their implication will be taken into consideration in an effort to try to understand the nature of her accomplishment in the context of Contemporary American History. It is patent that Rebeccas tactics have saved her from extinction and death yet they prove a failure in her attempts to eradicate her panic of returning to a world of domestic terrors. The fact is that Rebeccas repressed fears and monsters of the past haunt Rebeccas existence as she grows into adulthood and a comfortable bourgeois life style. Key Words: Gothic-postmodernism, fear, monstrosity, survival, self-alienation, hybridity, identity, liminal existence, Oates. ***** 1. Introduction Violence, death and terror prevail in Joyce Carol Oatess production. In The Gravediggers Daughter (2007) the writer revisits themes of earlier works: abuse, anti-Semitism, dysfunctional family life and womens struggle for independence in a period that spans from 1936 to the late 1990s. As Lee Siegel notes in a review of the novel: Oatess fiction courses around the twin poles of [our national] American existence: hybridity and fluidity. 1 Indeed, The Gravediggers Daughter tells the story of the Schwart, Jew immigrants fleeing Nazi Germany and their failure to be assimilated by American society. Around the problematic issue of the immigrant hybrid identity in the mid and late 20th century, a number of apparently clear-cut oppositions (American/non-American, male/female, monstrous/natural,

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__________________________________________________________________ human/inhuman) linked to the definition of the self rise prominently in the novel to question own their validity. The Gravediggers Daughter flashes back to 1936, when Rebeccas Nazifleeing family arrives in New York where she is born an American in an immigrant boat. Once settled in rural upstate New York, Jacob Schwart descends from Math teacher in Germany to a despicable gravedigger in America. There Jacob and his family strive desperately to make a living but they are ostracized and terrorized by vandals who shout Gravedigger! Kraut! Nazi!, Jew! 2 The Schwart subsist in extreme poverty and the head of the family gradually turns into an abject unforgiving being of deformed appearance. Humiliated by racial prejudice and his debased way of living, Jacob Schwart rejects American civilisation and starts tormenting his wife and children until he finally kills her, and commits suicide in the face of his 13-year-old daughter. Later, an orphan Rebecca breaks away from the care of an obsessive Christian woman to end up in the hands of a mobster, Niles Tignor, who brutally beats up her and their 3-year-old son. Yet, once again she avoids tragedy as when she confronts Hendricks, a serial killer, only out of her most primitive instincts. Determined on survival, Rebecca progresses from poor traumatised orphan to affluent wife of a successful media tycoon. The looping narrative opens in 1959, when 23-year-old Rebecca hears in her fathers haunting voice a nagging refrain that hovers in her mind since she was a child: In animal life the weak are quickly disposed of. 3 The words reverberate at crucial moments in Rebeccas life followed by So you must hide your weakness, Rebecca. We must. It is Jacobs faith in the crude Darwinian dogma that will help Rebecca react when threatened in that first episode, when Rebecca is being followed by a strange-looking man who, in spite of his harmless exterior, turns out to be a serial killer. Persecution and fear are constant motives in the novel, for not only they bear relevance on the personalRebeccas running away from her abusing husband and the historicalthe Nazi genocide that forces her familys exile, but also on a symbolic level. Hence the archetypal myth of the Wandering Jew which emerges in Tignors speech to shame Rebecca of her origins: Your race, Rebecca. You are wanderers. 4 2. Gothic Fiction in the Era of Postmodernism Gothic terror and anxiety relate to a fast changing reality defined by violence, confusion and meaninglessness. Gothic postmodernist fiction may be said to function as as an artistic response to the different kinds of terror that currently trouble our collective unconscious but also as our yearning to deal with the darker and indefinable regions of our reality. For a long time the Gothic has provided an outlet for the expression of fears relating to terror while also playing a significant role in the creation of terror itself. 5 Botting notes that the Gothic is a writing of excess [] which shadows the

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__________________________________________________________________ despairing ecstasies of Romantic idealism and individualism and the uncanny dualities of Victorian realism and decadence. 6 Furthermore, I also agree with Miles, for whom the Gothic is neither a genre nor a style characterised by a set of well-known conventions but a discursive site, a carnivalesque mode for representations of a fragmented subject. 7 In line with Miles assertion on the value of the Gothic, Maria Beville claims that in dealing with Gothic-postmodernism it is necessary to look beyond traditional conventions and stereotypes and to recognise the discourses, themes and sublime excesses that maintain the relevance and value of the Gothic aspects of the genre. 8 Following Beville, a number of traits shared by the broad spectrum of works that are identified as Gothic-postmodernist should be mentioned. First is their ability to explore the subjective experience of terror allowing us to grasp what Baudrillard calls the real. Secondly, these texts take the concept of objectified horror to the internal unstable core of the individual subject. Thirdly, they destabilise conventional oppositions such as self/other, good/evil, and civilised/uncivilised, focusing on the postmodernist approach to reality as boundless, so as to expose the gender, sexually and racially-based prejudices of our post-modern society. And finally, in Gothic-postmodernism these prejudices are exposed by amalgamating Gothic and metafictional devices such as sensationalism, the supernatural, mystery, suspense and the fabulous. 9 Many of these are present in one way or another in Oatess naturalistic novel. As is well-known Burke claimed in 1757 that terror is in all cases whatsoever, either more openly or latently, the ruling principle of the sublime. 10 Since the 18th century the sublime has had an essential role in the construction of Gothic aesthetics and has directed the attention toward the dark side of human subjective experience. In Gothic literature then the sublime experience must also be present for it extends the domain of the perceptible, and as Beville remarks [t]error, in its deepest sense of experience is a fundamental preoccupation of Gothicpostmodernism, so much so, that it could be defined as a guiding principle. 11 I contend that The Gravediggers Daughter explores the sublime experience of terror as it relates to the central problem of subjectivity and being in our postmodern world. The knowledge and existence of the self is problematized in Oatess novel for the identified self of the heroine, Rebecca Schwart, is always anotherYou are one of them. Born here, says her father. 12 As Rebecca changes names, she mutates her social identity and but the conflict about the nature of her true self (half German, half American, one of us, one of them) increases, transforming her self-identity in an unattainable object of knowledge for the subject. 3. Monstrosity Violence, monstrosity and her taste for the gothic pervade in Oatess fiction. 13 In The Gravediggers Daughter the gothic setting is ubiquitous. It is manifest in

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__________________________________________________________________ the ruined, dark smelling cottage at the graveyard where the Schwart settle in America but also in most other places in Rebeccas early lifethe putrid boat of her birth, the hell-hole of the factory where workers erupt as bats out of hell, the falling house where she is battered, or the desolate towpath where she is tracked by Hendricks, the serial killer obsessed with Hazel Jones. In Oatess novel the gloomy castle of gothic tales turns into a cottage by the graveyard while the labyrinth is transformed into a culvert opened into a fetid marsh and a path where the horizon was unnaturally close. 14 Apart from that setting, the most conspicuous Gothic element is the presence of grotesque monsters. Following Stephen Asma the label of monster [] is usually reserved for a person whose actions have placed him outside the range of humanity. 15 And a careful examination of the Schwart family reveals that all its members show traits of inhumanity. Their alienated life in America gradually transforms them into beasts unfit to survive in a seemingly superior world. At first, monstrosity is associated with the low animal-like instincts developed in the Schwart. Yet, this straight-forward view will be challenged by Oates as she depicts other characters who, underneath a civilised appearance, hide all sorts of deviations from humanity or different degrees of monstrosity as the first encounters with Tignor and Hendricks will suggest. Hence, it is Jacob Schwart who embodies the physically monstrous: A troll-man, Jacob Schwart was. Like a creature who has emerged from the earth, slightly bent, broken-backed and with his head carried at an awkward angle so that he seemed always to be peering at the world suspiciously, from the side. 16 Socially, Jacob appears as a proud outsider, unable to command English, prone to violent outbursts of anger, suspicious of the others. And in the privacy of his home Jacob is cruel, aggressive and aloof. He is vicious to his wife, whom he despises for being a weak helpless female. Back in Germany, Jacob used to read Hegel, who believed that there [was] progress in the history of human kind, Schopenhauer without succumbing to his pessimism, and Feuerbachs savage critique of religion and Marx 17. Yet, Jacob gradually loses all faith of redemption in mankind and with it, all his humanity. He blames the Nazi Holocaust and believes in an American conspiracy against them: Among his enemies here in the Chautauqua Valley, Jacob Schwart would not be hypnotized. He would not be unarmed. History would not repeat itself.

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__________________________________________________________________ He blamed his enemies for this, too: that he Jacob Schwart, a refined and educated individual, formely a citizen of Germany, should be forced to behave in such a barbaric manner. He, a former math teacher at a prestigious boys school. A former respected employee of a most distinguished Munich printing firm specializing in scientific publications Now, a gravedigger. A caretaker of these others, his enemies. 18 Jacobs sons are also brutalised in their prejudiced rural community in up-state New York and they grow as violent, ignorant and unadjusted children. Herschel becomes a dangerous fugitive at twenty-one while August is slow and shows incestuous wishes towards his little sister. Anna Schwart also undergoes a dehumanising process at her graveyard home, although she becomes a harmless spectral figure. Anna recoils in horror at the prospects of her life with a resentful husband, who thinks of her as a curse. Anna Schwart gradually drowns in her fear of being water-poisoned and attacked by others. A silent figure unable to protect anyone she loves, she virtually ceases to exist long before she is killed. Both Annas relatives, the Morgensternsrefugees of the Nazi genocide turned back by US authorities on their arrival, and Rebeccas mother share a spectral or liminal existence as they fail to join the Schwart and fall gradually into forced oblivion: Or, if these Morgenstern existed, they were but strangers in photographs, a man and a woman in a setting dried of all colour, beginning to fade like ghosts. 19 However, Niles Tignor is the most obvious source of terror in the novel. An adolescent Rebecca is seduced by this dark mysterious businessman who makes her belief they have got married in order to have sex. Leading a double life, Tignor deceives the innocent girl who reads his impulsive actions as signs of love: Niles Tignor had rescued her. Niles Tignor was her hero. Hed taken her from Milburn in his car, theyd eloped to Niagara Falls. Her girlfriends had been envious. Every girl in Milburn adored Niles Tignor from afar. 20 Yet months later Rebecca realizes Tignors betrayal and understands she has fallen under the grip of a terrifying monster physically attractive and popular but also a brutal, self-possessed man who beats a pregnant Rebecca. Examples of monstrosity abound in Rebeccas grim world but Byron Hendricks is a less patent case:

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__________________________________________________________________ He did seem harmless. [] As he was a young-old man, so he was a weak-strong man, too. A man you misjudge as weak, but in fact he is strong. [] Long ago Rebeccas father Jacob Schwart the gravedigger of Milburn had been a weak-strong man, only his family had known of his terrible strength, his reptile will, beneath the meek-seeming exterior. Rebecca sensed a similar doubleness [emphasis mine] here, in this man. 21 In my view, the mystifying duplicity functions in this novel as a stock device of Gothic fictionthe motive of the doppelganger. Those apparently popular or harmless individuals have the power of transforming Rebeccas daily life into a nightmare. It is in this way that Oates increases the readers awareness of the dangerous counter-currents that lie underneath an ordinary and civilised facade. I would also argue that an ambiguous duplicity also betrays a racially, socially and gender-prejudiced American society, for in spite of endorsing the values of democracy, the Schwart and their relatives are victimised. Such ambivalence deflates the readers convictions on stable categoriescivilised vs. savage or human vs. monstrousgenerally applied to make sense of meaningless reality. As far as monstrosity is concerned, Rebecca Schwart is a slightly different case. Despite her traumatic childhood and youth, Rebecca does not feature as monstrous and in addition she eventually becomes a prosperous American female. Yet, as a child Rebecca takes after her father, behaving in a distrustful manner against the unusual civilities of neighbours and teachers. She does neither look feminine nor helpless as her mother. Her father explains You are one of them. Born here. Indeed, Rebecca is a hybrid individual where the German-Jewish identity amalgamates with the American-gentile, and so does her masculine strength with her feminine resourcefulness: She was not a shy young woman, and she was not weak. Not in her body, or in her instincts. She was not a very feminine woman. There was nothing soft, pliant, melting about her; rather she believed herself hard, sinewy. She had a striking face, large deep-set very dark eyes, with dark brows heavy as a mans, and something of a mans stance, in confronting others. 22 As it turns out Rebeccas life-story might ideally embody the American dream, but the truth is quite the opposite: in order to survive and prosper, Rebecca has to struggle to adapt herself to an American female model both acceptable and safe. First, Rebecca Schwart becomes Rebecca Tignor, looking for the protection of a strong male in a hostile world. Later on, Rebecca adopts a new identity, that of ordinary American girl, Hazel Jones, as she struggles to escape Tignors beatings. And finally, she turns into a seductive female who attracts men like Chet

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__________________________________________________________________ Gallagher, the man who she eventually marries and provides her with the comfort she never had. This endless transformative process, forced by her need to overcome her alienated childhood as an immigrant Jew, reinforces the idea that fluidity and hybridity are pervasive qualities in Rebecca Schwart. It is only after an aged Rebecca has been diagnosed a cancer that her broken self emerges from the faultless and hermetic identity she has created as Hazel Gallagher. She finally tries to reconcile her unstable fragmented self with her original self when she decides to meet her long lost cousin, Fryeda Morgenstern. Related to the issue of identity and its definition is the command or failure to use a language properly, supporting the post-modern belief that language creates reality instead of representing it. Thus, being fluent in English allows Rebecca to get academic reward at school. Yet, when Jacob Schwart discovers that his daughter has won a Websters Dictionary at a spelling contest, he can only cynically point at the misspelled middle name of his talented daughter Rebecca Eshter [Esther] Schwart. The dictionary, which in the girls eyes symbolises personal and social accomplishment, underlines, in Jacobs view, their downfall. Likewise, the prohibition of speaking German at the Schwart and their inability to master English highlights the connections between language, identity and existence. Therefore, the Schwart failure to communicate well in English entails their alienation, and ultimately, their extinction. By way of contrast, Rebecca will achieve full integration, though at a very high cost. 4. Strategies for Survival Rebeccas strategies for survival disclose her non-apparent monstrosity, a quality that is merely self-destructive. First, young Rebeccas de-feminisation allows her to avoid the female weakness that kills Anna Schwart. However, Rebecca will later assume such frailty, much more appealing to succeed as a woman in the patriarchal culture of the 1950s in spite of the fact that this was the ancient weakness of women [] The weakness of a defeated race. 23 Secondly, by severing all human ties in denying her true identity to her brother and her second husband Rebecca undergoes a process of dehumanisation. Despite clear evidence for Gallaghers generous and trustworthy nature she will always withhold her past from him. Her incapacity for human trust is a cruel outcome of her life traumas. Thirdly, the adoption of new identity is the most obvious survival strategy. In an attempt to reassure herself of her status as a married woman she repeats I am. I am Mrs. Niles Tignor. The wedding was real. 24 Alternatively, by naming herself after a deceased woman, Hazel Jones, Rebecca conjures up a new identity, allowing herself a new existence away from terrifying Tignor. Likewise, notnaming creates the illusion of non-existence. Thus in her wish to make Tignor disappear Rebecca reflects: He, him was the danger [] He, him. This was Daddy-must-not-be named. 25

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__________________________________________________________________ In spite of the effectiveness of such strategies, Rebecca must erase her personal history, paradoxically undergoing a death that is both symbolic and emotional. Rebeccas shifts of identities also reveal an unconscious desire to reject her origins as a destitute wandering female Jew. Nonetheless, Rebecca survivors guilt will be disclosed in her correspondence with Fryeda Morgenstern, her alterego, who unexpectedly survives and ironically enjoys the prestige of a best-selling author of Back from the Dead, a Holocaust memoir. Both women suffer from a monstrous doubleness. 5. Conclusion Joyce Carol Oates examines the complex nature of hybrid beings and the process of understanding identity: historical (educated German Jewish), national (non-American/American), social (poor/bourgeois; subordinated/independent daughter-wife-widow-mother) as well as private self-identity (Rebecca SchwartTignor/Hazel Jones-Gallagher). The Gravediggers Daughter delves into a longstanding Gothic obsession: the terror provoked by the uncanny awareness of the unsteady nature of ones self. Rebeccas strategies allow her to survive yet she is cannot eradicate her sense of self-alienation and her fears of not-being.

Notes
Lee Siegel, A History of Violence, review of The Gravediggers Daughter, by Joyce Carol Oates, New York Times, 17 June 2007. 2 Joyce Carol Oates, Gravediggers Daughter (New York: Harper Perennial, 2008), 59. 3 Ibid., 2. 4 Ibid., 233. 5 Maria Beville, Gothic-Postmodernism: Voicing the Terrors of Postmodernity (Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2009), 33. 6 Fred Botting, Gothic (London: Routledge, 1996), 1. 7 Robert Miles, Gothic Writing 1750-1820: A Genealogy (Routledge: London, 1993), 28. 8 Beville, Gothic-Postmodernism, 39. 9 Ibid., 59. 10 Edmund Burke, Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and the Beautiful (London: Penguin, 1998), 101. 11 Beville, Gothic-Postmodernism, 34. 12 Oates, The Gravediggers Daughter, 49. 13 Joyce Carol Oates has not only written terrifying storieslike Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? published in 1966 and based on the Tucson serial killerbut also compiled and edited American Gothic Tales (1996), which
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__________________________________________________________________ demonstrates her taste for explorations into the darker side of human experience so prominent in gothic fiction. 14 Oates, The Gravediggers Daughter, 10. 15 Stephen T. Asma, On Monsters: An Unnatural History of Our Worst Fears (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), 205. 16 Oates, The Gravediggers Daughter, 126. 17 Ibid., 85. 18 Ibid., 156. 19 Ibid., 105. 20 Ibid., 258. 21 Ibid., 23. 22 Ibid., 11. 23 Ibid., 11. 24 Ibid., 36. 25 Ibid., 386-87.

Bibliography
Asma, Stephen T. On Monsters: An Unnatural History of Our Worst Fears. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009. Beville, Maria. Gothic-Postmodernism: Voicing the Terrors of Postmodernity. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2009. Botting, Fred. Gothic. London: Routledge, 1996. Burke, Edmund. Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and the Beautiful. London: Penguin, 1998. Miles, Robert. Gothic Writing 1750-1820: A Genealogy. Routledge: London, 1993. Oates, Joyce Carol, ed. American Gothic Tales. New York: Plume, 1996. . The Gravediggers Daughter. New York: Harper Perennial, 2008. Maria Luisa Pascual Garrido is Lecturer of English at the University of Cordoba (Spain) and she is interested in the history of Gothic fiction. Her current research is now devoted to utopian literature and the feminist writings of Mary Astell.

El Grecos Artistic Degeneration: Astigmatism, Paranoia and the Anomalous Nuno Rodrigues
Abstract On account of his work, the Cretan painter Domenikos Theotocopoulos, El Greco, was diagnosed with mind and sight deficiencies. These claims have been convincingly refuted, granted with no scientific value, biographic evidence, or artistic corroboration. Today, they are part of the mythic representation of the artist. Yet, the refutation of the artists abnormal mental and visual state does not preclude the claim, which is at the basis of the pathological construction of the painter, that his paintings depict something that normal sight and mind cannot possibly envisage, for ultimately the pathological is in the paintings. In fact, the more historically sound interpretations of Grecos humanistic representation of nature, neo-Platonist spirituality and ecstatic mysticism indicate a highly expressive, if not deviant, articulation of realism and symbolism; an articulation, to be sure, that elicits the artistic manifestation of the abnormal and the anomalous. Taking as a starting point the figuration of pathology in Grecos work, this chapter will engage in a pictorial investigation of the painters late period, focusing particularly on light modelling and chromatic tonality, in order to show how images of morbid deviance constitute the markers of an aesthetics of the anomalous, whereby human bodies, deformed and devitalized, conjoint forces with innervated draperies and skies to give a mystic sense of anti-gravitational ascension to the celestial world. Key Words: El Greco, human life, pathology, abnormality, anomalous. ***** 1. EL Greco: Mysticism, Modernity and Pathology The singular art and biographic trajectory of Domenikos Theotokopoulos, El Greco, has been an inexhaustible source of ideological misappropriation and counter-factual interpretation. El Greco started his career in Crete as a postByzantine painter of icons and concluded it in Toledo, Spain, composing altarpieces for the Spanish Church of Counter-Reformation and portraying the local elite. The art historian Jos lvarez Lopera determines three main mythical constructions of the artist in early twentieth century: the painter of Spanish mysticisma claim which had already been advanced in the previous centurythe precursor of modern painting (particularly in relation to Czanne and the expressionists) and the pathological El Greco, which attempted to demonstrate that the artist suffered from a medical condition of the mind or eyesight. 1 Lopera argues

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__________________________________________________________________ that, as myths, these theses have a particular resilience to rigorous refutation and are part of a, still on-going, romantic representation of the artist. Most of these claims have been consistently refuted by competent scholar examination and is not the purpose of this chapter to challenge them in any way. The present text attempts to demonstrate that the pressing actuality of El Grecos latest work is intrinsically related to a coherent pictorial enterprise which correlates mystical vision and the representation of anomalous life. Once the illegitimate extrapolations and projections from art to artist and vice-versa are cancelled, it is possible to argue that El Grecos mystical, pathological and modern import are the result of a consistent aesthetic project which attempts to make visible what normal sight and mind cannot envisage. This is to say that what is historically and biographically illegitimate is not necessarily aesthetically invalid. 2. Astigmatism and Paranoia It is relevant to revisit the much debased pathological construction of the artist, for it makes normal human life the criterion of not just health, but art. We will pay particular attention to two authors, doctor Germn Beritens and doctor Ricardo Jorge, who respectively found in the artists paintings a violent deviation from the correct perception of vital proportion and anatomical normality. For them, this was an artistic transgression whose nature called for medical analysis. Here, El Grecos paintings are not considered ill, but express disease; they constitute a map of manifestation of clinical signs. As a result, Beritens and Jorge are able to reach a diagnosis of the artist based on the symptomatological reading of his art (patrons and general audience are excluded from the examination). With obstinate persistence, the ophthalmologist Germn Beritens attempted, in the beginning to the twentieth century, to explain El Grecos artistic aberrations in a medical way, which he claimed to be scientific. He started by drawing a close parallel between the human visual system and the optical apparatus of the photographic camera in order to advance a mechanist determination of ocular pathology. Consequently, this allowed him to propose an optical correction of El Grecos condition. Exclusively through the analysis of a presupposed pictorial representation of reality, Beritens brought about several medical diagnoses of the visual apparatus of El Greco, asserting conclusively that the artist suffered from myopic astigmatism Beritens concludes that until his thirty-fifth birthday, El Greco paints without any imperfection and from that age on he gradually stretches the human figure in the vertical direction, culminating, in the sketchy, blurred, impressionistic, pictures of the last period, which he compares to out-of-focus photographs. For the doctor, El Grecos work symptomatically expresses the evolution of the visual mechanism of an astigmatic person who later in his life did not have the means to correct an innate deficiency. The elasticity of the visual accommodation of the young El Greco permitted the correction of a refractive fault, which the rigidity of

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__________________________________________________________________ the aged visual system brought to light. Beritens goes as far as to suggest that the lack of visual accommodation resulted in the weaken, nebulous, colour tonality of El Grecos latest work and in the eccentric retouching of the paintings as the change of position of El Grecos visual system resulted in the constantly different perception of the painting in relation to the subject painted. The ophthalmologist acknowledged that El Greco painted abnormal, hyper-elongated human figures, while accomplishing in some cases a realist and very detailed representation of reality. For the doctor, such discrepancy is the result of myopic astigmatism, which permitted the minute and proportionate representation of what is near to the observer (5 metres or less) while stretching and defocusing the perception of what was far. To prove his point, Beritens uses the photographic camera together with astigmatic and anastigmatic lenses in order to respectively distort paintings painted by artists with normal eyesightfor instance Rubensshowing them as they would have been perceived by El Greco, and to correct the pictorial deformations present in El Grecos painting, presenting them as they would have been painted if the artist did not suffer from astigmatism. Beritens finds in these optical experiments the irrefutable proof of a visual deficiency, discrediting claims about the insanity of the artist or theories which explain the elongation of the human body as the representation of the ascension of the soul to Heaven for, likewise, one would have to consider that the photographic camera had gone mad or, one should add, mystical. In 1913 the prominent Portuguese doctor Ricardo Jorge published El Greco: nova contribuio biogrfica, crtica e mdica ao estudo do pintor Domnico Theotocpuli [El Greco: new biographic, critical, and medical contribution for the study of the painter Domenico Theotocopuli], an essay which attempts to develop a medical explanation of El Grecos idiosyncratic art. Despite highlighting the scarcity of biographic documents and testimonies related to such an outstanding figure, Jorge starts by establishing some personality traits of the artistarrogance, vanity, and megalomania. The paintings are, however, the main source of his medical analysis. If the series of portraits and paintings as such as The Burial of the Count of Orgaz [1586-8] demonstrate an accomplished mastery of the craft, the late work of El Greco evidences such a pictorial abnormality that only clinical analysis can explain. Jorge clarifies: the origin and development of a pictorial anomaly of this kindfor him a clear manifestation of a morbid caseis a problem to be dealt with scientifically, i.e. medically, rather than aesthetically. Furthermore, the relation between the artist and his environmentregional, national, social, or historicalis partly dismissed by Jorge as a valid way of explaining El Grecos deviance from the artistic canon. For the doctor, it is the medical Greco that establishes the nature of the supposed artistic violation of natural law expressed in his art. Like Beritens, the Portuguese doctor attempts to give a medical explanation of the co-presence, in El Grecos work, of the most accomplished representation of nature with the most extravagant pictorial fantasy.

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__________________________________________________________________ He claims that the relation between art and pathology is not linear and, in this case, finds uneven manifestation in paintings of religious and non-religious content (portrays). Jorge firstly asserts that the monotonous repetition of theme and composition in El Grecos work indicates a kind of echography, a sign of a pathological state yet to be determined. The preliminary diagnosis is confirmed by the peculiar chromatic range of El Grecos paintings: very limited, almost discoloured, with an overall greenish hue, which conveys a sense of disease to the human subject, as if it suffered from cholera. El Grecos exaggerated angular modelling of the human body corroborates the initial assessment. According to the doctor, humans are represented in an extra-anatomical and primitive fashion for El Greco does not follow the artistic principles of the time or natural proportion. Jorge claims that the elongation of bodies and the shortening of heads betray the morphic excellence of man, that is, the cephalic pre-eminence of the human species. The reversion of human proportionality makes the artist a visionary in pathology, the creator of an infirmity never witnessed by medical investigation. Moreover, he affirms that divine figures are represented as imbecilic microcephalic creatures. For the doctor, the sustained, if not obsessive, representation of anatomical morbidity is the expression of an aesthetic regression proper to the mind of the insane. He concludes: El Greco suffered from paranoia, a condition that permitted the maintenance of his aesthetic sense for a period of time but which ultimately culminated, through the gradual evolution of the disease, in pictorial degeneracy, manifested in the painters late hyper-mannerism and primitivism. According to Jorge, the art of the paranoid concludes in the exaggeration of the appropriate artistic line, and results in the display of exorbitance, aberration, and monstrosity. It also performs an artistic regressioncontrary to the progressive evolution of the artstowards atavistic primitivism. There are many points of convergence between the optical and vital assessments of Germn Beritens and Ricardo Jorge: the simultaneity or succession of the most rigorous realism and the most fantastic unrealism, explained by the relative state of a certain pathology; the gradual development of a medical condition, culminating in an intensely pathological final period; the unnatural representation of the human figure, medically and artistically abnormal. However, the medical approaches of both doctors are different in principle and method. If Beritens reduces pictorial disproportion to a fault in the visual mechanism of the artist, which allows its metric correction, Jorge finds in the artistic representation of anatomical pathology the symptom of a morbid mind which does not abide to natural human life. Whether through the strictly metric elongation of the human body or the anatomical deviation from lifes normality, it is the legitimate representation of nature, be it mechanical or vitalist, which is being violated. It is a violation of nature that no artistic freedom, either aesthetic or symbolic, justifies and only medicine explains. In fact, neither Jorge nor Beritens position anatomical

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__________________________________________________________________ or physiological normality as the sole criteria for the evaluation of art as they do not foreclosure artistic licence in representing the human. They claim nonetheless that the depiction the human pathology is itself morbid and does not bear artistic value. In Ricardo Jorges words: Touching reality to give an illusion, is understandable; here illusion completely fails, and the perpetrated violence against the laws of life result in a series of imbecile and beast-like figures. 2 Beritens, on the other hand, claims that the universal character of art is grounded on its natural, i.e. realistic, imitation of nature or the conventional, i.e. symbolic, representation of immaterial entities. For the ophthalmologist, El Greco was a realist who painted what he perceived as he perceived it. He concludes: He left us extraordinary things because, due to his defective vision, saw extraordinary things. If his vision had been good, he would have left us normal things. 3 Here, morbid deviance translates the painters strong anti-classicism into virulent anti-naturalism. There is therefore one last point of convergence between Jorge and Beritens that needs to be stated: the fact that the human is the centre and the archetype for judging what is normal and abnormal in nature. Anthropocentrism is the inevitable result of the pathological construction of the artist. From our point of view this is not, however, a position endorsed by El Grecos art. 3. Sky, Draperies and the Human Body In paintings such as The Laocon [1610] and The Opening of the Fifth Seal (The Vision of Saint John) [1608-14] the unrealistic representation of the human body, already present in previous religious paintings, is exacerbated to a new level. A range of greys and reddish browns mould the dark soil and the human bodies that lie on it. What distinguishes the human figures from the ground is not so much chromatic selection but chiaroscuro modelling. Human bodies, devoid of the sensuous warmth of the living flesh, stand out from the dark background through the interplay of light and shade which defines their contorted positions and distorted anatomies. As many scholars have noticed, in the final period of El Grecos religious work the human body appears as a spectral ghostly figure whose materiality, if any, is not that of the human living being. It has been noted that El Greco was a painter of clouds. Apart from the conventional iconographic representation of divinity in terms of light source, emanating for example from Christ or the Dove, El Greco animates the skies of his paintings with climatic dynamism. From a pictorial point of view, the intense movement of light and darkness conveyed by the clouds confers an added dramatic effect to the paintings subject while reinforcing diagonal compositional axes. But the pictorial value of atmospheric vivacity is not ancillary. El Grecos skies lack

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__________________________________________________________________ depth; they are flat and opaque, presenting a zone of meteorological turbulence which, through material thickness and formal dynamism, adjacent to the terrestrial and celestial theme of the painting. The meteorological El Greco is not reducible to the iconographic representation of sacred Heaven and Light as paintings with nonreligious themes such as the Laocon and the View of Toledo [1597-9] attest. Here, clouds of bright white and deep greyish blue irrupt against a heavily dark blue sky, energising the top of the picture in a non-hieratic way. The sharpest chromatic contrast present in El Grecos paintings is that between the intensely colourful draperies and the overall greyish tone of the tableau. The bright reds, blues, yellows, and purples of the fabrics stand in acute contrast to the achromatic skin of the human and create a pulsating visual dialogue with the atmospheric instability of the sky. If the draperies seem to have a tonal vibrancy, a kind of chromatic life, that is absent from human flesh, they nonetheless stand, due to the intensity of such contrast, as artificial, somehow detached from the surrounding world. The chromatic agitation of draperies and the sky vis--vis the lividity of the human flesh is further complicated by light modelling. It has been remarked by many scholars that El Grecos anti-naturalist vertical elongation of the human anatomy and disregard for linear perspective is fundamentally informed by the iconographic imperative of conveying a sense of ascension, in the painting, from the terrestrial to the celestial world. It is a thesis which explains the stretching of the human body and also its spectral quality, as bodies represent dematerialised souls ascending to Heaven. However, this is an interpretation not completely reflected in El Grecos singular aesthetics as the ascending movement of devitalised human bodies does not result in their spiritual dematerialisation. On the contrary, it is the pull upwards that bestows material plasticity to a body that is no longer submitted to the norms of human structure. Here, the human body may lack adequate paint impaste and vital tonal warmth, but is not devoid of the plastic pliancy proper to a material object. Bodies do not levitate; instead, they are pulled and bent by an anti-gravitational force. They have material substance and weight. Also, light modelling reaffirms the contrast between the human body and the draperies, since it is through it that both acquire specific corporeality. The former instil a plastic sense of torsion whereas the volatile movement of the latter is imparted by quick nervous brush strokes. A similar sense of instability and transience is given to the atmosphere as clouds mark bursts of light against the opaque blue of the sky. A general sense of movement and fluidity is conveyed by an aesthetic triad composed of contorted human bodies, which have been devitalised and expose their bare materiality, innervated draperies, with vibrant unnatural colours and tense streaks of light, and turbulent skies, animated by intricate clouds. To each aesthetic material correspond a specific construction of colour, light and shade, a specific materiality, and each material bears an eccentric representation of vital

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__________________________________________________________________ energy. More than pictorial anomaly, El Greco formulates a material aesthetic of the anomalous. 4. Anomalous Life Our interest in the pathological interpretation of El Grecos work is strictly related to the way it brings forward the aesthetic presentation of abnormal life. After having categorically dismissed the illegitimate inference of the artists medical diagnosis from morbid symptoms expressed in his art, we must now put into question whether the monsters depicted by El Greco convey pathological deviance. In the The Normal and the Pathological George Canguilhem establishes a conceptual distinction between the anomalous and the pathological; the former refers to factual individual variation within a given taxonomic structure whereas the latter is related to a qualitative deviation from an established vital field within lifes normativity power. 4 Taking into account such distinction, our study of El Grecos late work points to a pictorial construction of anomaly, not pathology, as the exaggerated deformities of the human body are the result of an aesthetic displacement of life in nature and do not necessarily represent human morbidity. Artistic license makes possible the configuration of aberrant human life beyond given laws of nature, correlating anomaly and anomie. Yet, in El Grecos case, the violent transgression of natural life is not equated with the catastrophic annihilation of its normal consistency; instead, it construes organic and inorganic matter through the dislodgment of lifes natural place in nature.

Notes
Jos A. Lopera, The Construction of a Painter: A Century of Searching for and Interpreting El Greco, in El Greco: Identity and Transformation, ed. J. A. Lopera (Madrid: Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, 1999), 27-34. 2 Ricardo Jorge, El Greco: nova contribuio biogrfica, crtica e mdica ao estudo do pintor Domnico Theotocpuli (Coimbra: Imprensa da Universidade, 1913), 44. My translation. 3 Germn Beritens, El astigmatismo del Greco (Madrid: Librera de Fernando F, 1914), 39. My translation. 4 See George Canguilhem, The Normal and the Pathological (New York: Zone Books), 131-49.
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Bibliography
Alvarez, Jos Lopera, ed. El Greco: Identity and Transformation, Madrid: Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza and Milan: Skira, 1999.

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__________________________________________________________________ Beritens, Germn. Aberraciones del Greco Cientficamente Consideradas: Nueva Teora que Explica las Anomalias de las Obras de Este Artista. Madrid: Librera de Fernando F, 1913. . El Astigmatismo del Greco: Nueva Teora que Explica las Anomalias de las Obras de Este Artista. Madrid: Librera de Fernando F, 1914. Canguilhem, George. The Normal and the Pathological. New York: Zone Books, 1991. . Knowledge of Life, edited by Paola Marrati and Todd Meyers. Ashland, Ohio: Fordham University Press, 2008. Coso, Manuel B. El Greco, 3 vols. Madrid: Victoriano Surez, 1908. Davies, David, ed. El Greco. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and London: The National Gallery, 2003. Hadijinicolaou, Nicos, ed. El Greco: Documents on his Life and Work. Rethymno: Crete University Press, 1990. . El Greco: Works in Spain. Rethymno: Crete University Press, 1990. . El Greco: Altarpieces in Spanish Churches. Rethymno: Crete University Press, 1999. Jorge, Ricardo. El Greco: Nova Contribuio Biogrfica, Crtica e Mdica ao Estudo do Pintor Domnico Theotocpuli. Coimbra: Imprensa da Universidade, 1913. Wethey, H. E. El Greco and His School, 2 vols. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1962. Nuno Rodrigues is an independent researcher based in London. He is particularly interested in the interrelation between art, life and politics.

Part 5 Traditional Monsters

Bella and the Beast: A Transformative Tale Heidi Horvath


Abstract Likely originating from a Greco-Roman folktale and situated within the second century book, the Metamorphoses of Apuleius, the tale of Cupid and Psyche, equally known as Eros and Psyche, is often read as the transformative union of the soul with love and a portrayal of the alchemical process. The essence of the tale found a form in the Beauty and the Beast fable yet its spirit continues to thrive in current literature. The Twilight Saga, which also describes the relationship between an immortal and a mortal, contains alchemical analogies similar to those found in the Eros and Psyche myth. At defining moments, Psyche pricks her finger on an arrow and Bella gets a paper cut; Psyche and Bella are both abandoned and must undergo a process of reacquiring their lost loves to achieve immortality in the end. There have been several interpretations of the Eros and Psyche myth through archetypal theorists. The Jungian perspective of Eros as the puer aeternus or eternal boy matches the archetypal qualities of Edward in the Twilight Saga. Although he has walked this earth for over a century, Edward still lives with his surrogate mother and father, forever trapped in his youth. Jungians tend to regard the Eros and Psyche myth as a depiction of the awakening of consciousness. 1 Robert Johnson sees Eros as the experience of love that supplies many in this secular age their sole contact with the divine. 2 In the Twilight Saga, religion seems conspicuously absent. It is the immortal Edward who fills this spiritual void for Bella. By examining the similar numinous qualities of the vampire Edward and the god Eros, the perils of descent the protagonists Bella and Psyche encounter combined with their ascent and drastic transformation, one will see several parallels between the Twilight Saga and the Eros and Psyche myth and its esoteric foundations. Key Words: Vampires, alchemy, mythology, fables. ***** 1. The Metamorphosis of an Ancient Tale of Transformation Apuleius renowned second-century book, known variously as the Golden Ass and the Metamorphoses, follows an initiation into the mystery cult of Isis. 3 Embedded within this text is a rendition of an ancient myth, equally referred to as Cupid and Psyche and Eros and Psyche. The alternate title of this tale is simply a Roman translation of an extant Greek myth. Cupid is the Roman equivalent of the Greek god Eros and holds the same significance, right down to his quiver and bow. This tale is thought to outline the alchemical process pursued in ancient Greco-Roman initiation rites. 4 A fairly literal rendition of Eros and Psyche occurs

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__________________________________________________________________ in Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuves first modern version of Beauty and the Beast, yet the most popular version exists in the rendition by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont. 5 Beauty and the Beast falls under heading AT 425, the brides search for her missing groom, in the Antti Aarne and Stith Thompson (AT) classification system. Although classified as variant 425C, Pasquale Accardo notes in The Metamorphosis of Apuleius that Beauty and the Beast also fulfils the classification for subtype A, where the lost husband is a monster. Eros and Psyche is the earliest recorded version of this type. 6 Its legacy can be noted outside of fairy tales, a startling example of which is the Twilight Saga, Western cultures current vampire romance craze, which contains a search for the monstrous partner. Also, the stages of separation, reunion, marriage and immortality in both Eros and Psyche and Twilight correspond to those within the alchemical process. In this secular age, numinous experiences can take various unexpected forms. In the Twilight Saga, it is Edward, whose immortality derives from his status as a vampire rather than a god, who fills this spiritual void for the protagonist, Bella. By examining the similar numinous qualities of the vampire, Edward, and the god, Eros, the perils of descent that the protagonists Bella and Psyche encounter, combined with their ascent and drastic transformation, one will see several parallels between the Twilight Saga and the Eros and Psyche myth and its esoteric foundations. The alchemical term for turning the lead of experience into the gold of wisdom echoes the name of Apuleius book, the Metamorphoses. 7 Excluding the chemical wedding, there are three main classes of operations within alchemy: nigredo, albedo and rubedo. The cyclical process depicted by Uroboros, a snake eating its tale, begins in the nigredo stage with a downward motion, culminating in a journey through the underworld. It then shifts in the albedo stage to a movement upwards towards enlightenment and the rubedo stage. This pattern mimics the cycle of nature. As Northrop Frye explains in Anatomy of Criticism, the vegetable world supplies us with the annual cycle of seasons, often represented by a divine figure who dies in the autumn, disappears in winter, and revives in spring. 8 2. The Journey of Descent The journey begins with a symbolic death. In Apuleius rendition of the Eros and Psyche myth, Psyche embarks towards her funerary wedding where she is fated to marry a venomous dragon. The god Eros intercepts and takes her as his bride yet forbids her to see him in the light. In Madame de Villeneuve and Madame Beaumonts versions of Beauty and the Beast, Beauty also embarks on a journey towards a presumably unhappy fate at the Beasts palace in her fathers stead. 9 Similarly in the Twilight Saga, Bella sacrifices the likelihood of future happiness by initiating a move to her fathers home in dismal Forks. These events all represent the death of the childhood home. 10 Symbols of death and descent are prominent within this early alchemical stage, the nigredo.

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__________________________________________________________________ In The Secular Scripture, Northrop Frye describes descent from a higher world such as heaven or Eden, and an alternate descent into a subterranean or submarine world beneath this one. 11 He notes, At lower levels the Narcissus or twin image darkens into a sinister doppelganger figure. 12 In the Eros and Psyche myth, the doppelganger theme surfaces as the beautiful mortal Psyche is worshipped as Aphrodite or Venus in the tales Roman variant. Like Aphrodite, Rosalie from the Twilight Saga is described as the incarnation of pure beauty, originally meant to be Edwards partner. His love interest, Bella, has taken her place, thus paralleling the doppelganger theme in Eros and Psyche. 13 In Fantastic Metamorphoses, Other Worlds, Marina Warner uses Madame de Villeneuves version of Beauty and the Beast to link the principle of doubling with metamorphosis, Beauty in the Beasts palace is given a magic glass in which she can see the world, and she discovers there a charming youth [he] will only be revealed to be the Beasts true doppelganger at the happy ending. 14 The emergence of the doppelganger signifies the start of the process, its goal the same as most forms of magic, transformation. 15 There are other indicators of impending metamorphosis. As Martin Lowenthal notes in Alchemy of the Soul, In the first stage, a serpent or dragon appears as Eros, who is born of the dragon breed. 16 It must be emphasized here that Eros is the Cupid archetype, associated with the element of fire because his arrows engender the fire of desire. 17 His association with the dragon is due to his power to wound with his venomous arrows, passion being the venom. 18 As a venomous vampire, Edward has an association with the dragon as well. Dracula, the name of the archetypal vampire, translates in English to son of the dragon. 19 As an alchemical motif, the dragon is thought to have two paradoxical qualities of destruction and creation. 20 The destructive tendency manifests through abandonment of the protagonists following a broken taboo. In New Moon, Bella gets a paper cut and spills a little blood while visiting Edwards vampire family. This modern day finger pricking is certainly taboo amongst vampire circles. Psyche pricks her finger on an arrow before grabbing a lantern and stealing a forbidden glance at Eros in the light. Similarly, in the Twilight Saga, Edward shows Bella how the light of the sun causes his skin to sparkle. This revelation, although sanctioned, is also significant. James Gollnick sees the tale of Eros and Psyche as an allegorical dream experienced by the protagonist, Lucius in the Metamorphoses. In The Religious Dreamworld of Apuleius, he explains, The taboo against Psyche seeing Eros would be an effective way for a dream to express symbolically Lucius manner of relating

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__________________________________________________________________ to others primarily out of lust and curiosity, that is, Eros in the dark. 21 Seeing Eros in the light heralds the death of the profane, the transition where base or profane values are replaced by sacred variants. In alchemical terms, this part of the nigredo stage is referred to as calcination, the reduction of a substance to ashes. 22 As Eros and Edward are emblems of fire, who better to catalyse this process? In Fairytales in the Ancient World, Graham Anderson refers to a series of Hittite texts from the second millennium BC which relate to the broken taboo section within Eros and Psyche. 23 Telepinus, a god of passion, wanders off in a fit of annoyance and the land suffers accordingly: barley (and) wheat no longer ripen. Cattle, sheep, and humans no longer become pregnant. And those (already) pregnant cannot give birth. 24 In Eros and Psyche a seabird reports a similar state of affairs following his departure: And so there is no Pleasure, no Grace, no Wit, but everything is ugly, unkempt, and repulsive. There are no conjugal relations, and no friendships, and nobody even caresses his children. 25 An agricultural impact is also present here. As Psyche frantically seeks shelter from the wrath of Aphrodite, the goddess of the harvest resists her pleas and turns her away. 26 In The Golden Bough, James George Frazer sees the cycles of fertility gods as representing both the death and the revival of vegetation. 27 In the Twilight Saga, Edwards departure coincidentally occurs in the degenerative months of late fall and winter. Bella, in what can only be described as a vegetative stupor, finally summons up some life force and meanders to their former meadow sanctuary. She initially states that the place was not nearly as stunning without the sunlight and that it was the wrong season for wildflowers, but goes on to realize, I wasnt exactly sure what Id hoped to feel here, but the meadow was empty of atmosphere, empty of everything, just like everywhere else. 28 Here, a parallel is being drawn between Edwards absence and the regression of nature. In Vampire God, Mary Hallab notes a similarity between gods and vampires. She explains, vampires retain their compelling virility and power- not only that of death, but of life and life-giving forces- as part of their very nature. 29 She continues, Most vampires, like Dracula, rise from death over and over again in an eternal cycle- like gods of the corn and the seasons. 30 Like gods, vampires are often equipped with supernatural powers and Edward and his coven are no exception. Thus, although far away, Edward is still aware of Bellas failed cliff diving experience in which she nearly drowns. Water is associated with the dissolution aspect of the alchemical nigredo, symbolizing the capacity for change. 31 During her ordeal, Bella is rescued by

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__________________________________________________________________ Jacob, a shape shifter who assumes the form of a wolf. As noted by Lyndy Abraham in A Dictionary of Alchemical Imagery, the wolf is synonymous with the mercurial waters of life and death. 32 Jacob represents a force of nature just like the river in Eros and Psyche. Psyche attempts to end her life in this river but it has a sentient quality and returns her back to safe ground. The forces of nature are constantly guiding and protecting Psyche. As Graham Anderson states in Fairytale in the Ancient World, It also seems clear that the whole of nature is helping the soul in its search. 33 The water motif, often used as a symbolic gateway, is significant as a precursor to the underworld journey. Underworld quests can be depicted as a literal journey through Hades, as in Psyches case, or a trip to a subterranean location. 34 This is Bellas experience when she ventures to Italy to rescue Edward from the Volturi vampires, the largest and most powerful coven in the saga, and overseers of the vampire world. Once Bella locates Edward, the Volturi lead them into a subterranean lair. After enduring several tests, they are permitted to leave. In Eros and Psyche, Eros rescues Psyche from Hades. Both reunions signify the progress of their relationship from a corporeal bond to a spiritual tie. 3. The Ascension In Madame de Villeneuve and Madame Beaumonts versions of Beauty and the Beast, betrothal is a transformative process. When Beauty agrees to marry the Beast, he is released from the enchantment and is restored to his true form. 35 The occurrence in the alchemical process known as the chemical wedding is obvious in the Twilight Saga. Although there are two weddings in Eros and Psyche, the final wedding, sanctioned by the gods, proves to be the sacred chemical wedding. In alchemy, the chemical wedding is sometimes referred to as the citrinitas or yellowing stage because this is where the transformation to gold is supposed to occur. 36 The most prominent depictions of gold in the Twilight Saga are the eyes of the Cullen coven, of which Bella becomes a member. A transformation to gold occurs with Psyche as well. Ichor, the blood of Greek gods is golden. 37 Psyche is rendered immortal during her wedding festivities and is bestowed with the golden blood of the gods. The theme of ascent occurs within the albedo stage of transformation. As Mircea Eliade notes, This stage corresponds, on the spiritual plane, to a resurrection expressed by the assumption of certain states of consciousness inaccessible to the uninitiated. 38 Ascension occurs in book four of the saga. Here, Bella practically dies while giving birth to her implausible vampire baby. Her following transformation as a vampire signifies her resurrection. Once resurrected, her senses are heightened,

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__________________________________________________________________ Everything was so clear. Sharp. Defined I could see each colour of the rainbow in the white light, and, at the very edge of the spectrum, an eighth colour I had no name for. 39 The name for this spectrum in alchemy is called the peacocks tail and, as Lyndy Abraham notes, its appearance signifies the dawning of the alchemical albedo or re-animation. 40 The ascending movement within the albedo is termed fermentation. Frye notes that in this upward movement, the hero is re-enacting the ancient ritual that in Greek religion is called the anabasis of Kore, the rising of a maiden, Psyche for instance, from a lower to a higher world. 41 4. The Transformation The red elixir is attained at the final stage of alchemy and, as noted by Lyndy Abraham, has blood as one of its symbols. 42 An ancient belief in bloods capacity to transform us is described in Frazers The Golden Bough. Here, the fresh blood is sucked out of a sacrificed victim in order to attain divine knowledge and sometimes divine power as well. 43 In the Twilight Saga, blood is sustenance for vampires and has a regenerative effect. This concept of a regenerative fluid exists in Greek myth as well with ambrosia, the elixir that renders immortality and supplies sustenance for the gods. Ambrosia is generally associated with honey; however, Roger Bacons reference to the red elixirs ability to turn into a citrine colour indicates a connection with the yellowish ambrosia. 44 The alchemical stage this elixir is obtained in is called the Rubedo. This stage of alchemy is symbolized by fire and the venom Edward injects into Bellas heart to procure her resurrection has a fiery edge to it. The element of fire is also present in Psyches transformation. The god serving the ambrosia is Hermes; various terms are used to describe him and fire is one of these terms. 45 Fire plays an important role in the critical stages of alchemical transformation. As mentioned earlier, Eros is regarded as a god of fire, particularly the inner fire of the heart. 46 Edward plays the role of Eros/ Cupid when he shoots the fiery venom through Bellas heart to initiate her resurrection. In alchemical literature, the philosophers stone is sometimes personified as a female child. Renesmee, Bella and Edwards newborn, is the female child that results from this union in the Twilight Saga. A female child results from the union of Eros and Psyche as well. In the larger text of the Metamorphoses, the protagonist, Lucius proclaims his glory at the contemplation of his spiritual guide, Isis with these words: ineffable pleasure, echoing the name of Psyches child, which translates to mean pleasure. 47 In addition to the aforementioned personification of a female child, the philosophers stone has various other analogies. Chinese alchemy, for instance, refers to it as the diamond body. 48 Vampires are not known to sparkle in traditional vampire lore. Edward sparkles

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__________________________________________________________________ like a diamond because he has achieved the final goal of the process, as does Bella when she becomes a vampire. 5. Transformation Complete Similarities can be seen between the Twilight Saga and the Eros and Psyche myth. However, it is only upon unearthing the alchemical symbolism and stages of transformation within both texts that a more definitive comparison manifests. In Vampire God, Hallab observes that, The vampire has assumed the space vacated by God. 49 Edwards similarities to Eros and the vampires potential origin in fertility gods echo this sentiment. By examining the similar numinous qualities of the vampire, Edward and the god, Eros, the perils of descent the protagonists Bella and Psyche encounter combined with their ascent and drastic transformation, one will see several parallels between the Twilight Saga and the Eros and Psyche myth and its esoteric foundations. One can now understand the once unfathomable mystery behind the sparkly vampires and their implausible vampire spawn. In the realm of metamorphosis all is possible.

Notes
James Gollnick, The Religious Dreamworld of Apuleius (Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 1999), 101. 2 Ibid. 3 James Gollnick, Love and the Soul: Psychological Interpretations of the Eros and Psyche Myth (Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 1992), 5. 4 Martin Lowenthal, Alchemy of the Soul (Maine: Nicolas-Hays, Inc., 2004), 168. 5 Pasquale Accardo, The Metamorphoses of Apuleius (Massachusetts: Rosemont Publishing and Printing Corp., 2002), 69. 6 Ibid., 68. 7 Lowenthal, Alchemy of the Soul, 76. 8 Northrop Frye, Anatomy of Criticism (New Jersey: Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1973), 160. 9 Accardo, The Metamorphoses of Apuleius, 75. 10 Lowenthal, Alchemy of the Soul, 109. 11 Northrop Frye, The Secular Scripture (Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1976), 99. 12 Ibid. 13 Stephanie Meyer, New Moon (New York: Hachette Book Group, Inc., 2006), 304. 14 Marina Warner, Fantastic Metamorphoses, Other Worlds (New York: Oxford University Press Inc., 1989), 168. 15 Ibid. 16 Lowenthal, Alchemy of the Soul, 108.
1

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__________________________________________________________________ Ibid., 105. Ibid., 112. 19 Michael Burgan, Draculas Dark World (New York: Bearport Publishing, 2010), 8. 20 Lowenthal, Alchemy of the Soul, 124. 21 Gollnick, Love and the Soul, 5. 22 Lowenthal, Alchemy of the Soul, 100. 23 Graham Anderson, Fairytale in the Ancient World (London: Routledge, 2000), 64. 24 Ibid. 25 Ibid., 65. 26 Ibid. 27 Mary Y. Hallab, Vampire God: The Allure of the Undead in Western Culture (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2009), 71. 28 Meyer, New Moon, 234. 29 Hallab, Vampire God, 71. 30 Ibid., 134. 31 Lowenthal, Alchemy of the Soul, 122. 32 Lyndy Abraham, A Dictionary of Alchemical Imagery (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), 218. 33 Anderson, Fairytale in the Ancient World, 68. 34 Frye, The Secular Scripture, 99. 35 Accardo, The Metamorphoses of Apuleius, 76 and 85. 36 Abraham, Dictionary of Alchemical Imagery, 35. 37 Eric Partridge, Origins: An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English (4th Edition) (Kentucky: Routledge, 1977), 1493. 38 Mircea Eliade, The Forge and the Crucible, The Origins and Structures of Alchemy (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1978), 162. 39 Stephanie Meyer, Breaking Dawn (New York: Hachette Book Group, Inc., 2008), 387. 40 Abraham, Dictionary of Alchemical Imagery, 142. 41 Frye, The Secular Scripture, 163. 42 Abraham, Dictionary of Alchemical Imagery, 165. 43 James G. Frazer, The Golden Bough (New Jersey: Gramercy Books, 1981), i. 34. 44 Abraham, Dictionary of Alchemical Imagery, 165. 45 Ibid., 125. 46 Lowenthal, Alchemy of the Soul, 104. 47 Gollnick, Religious Dreamworld of Apuleius, 123. 48 Lowenthal, Alchemy of the Soul, 93. 49 Hallab, Vampire God, 128.
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Bibliography
Abraham, Lyndy. A Dictionary of Alchemical Imagery. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003. Accardo, Pasquale. The Metamorphoses of Apuleius. Massachusetts: Rosemont Publishing and Printing Corp., 2002. Anderson, Graham. Fairytale in the Ancient World. London: Routledge, 2000. Burgan, Michael, Draculas Dark World. New York: Bearport Publishing, 2010. Eliade, Mircea. The Forge and the Crucible. The Origins and Structures of Alchemy. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1978. Frazer, James G. The Golden Bough. New Jersey: Gramercy Books, 1981. Frye, Northrop. Anatomy of Criticism. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1973. . The Secular Scripture. Cambridge, Maine: Harvard University Press, 1976. Gollnick, James. Love and the Soul: Psychological Interpretations of the Eros and Psyche Myth. Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 1992. . The Religious Dreamworld of Apuleius. Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 1999. Hallab, Mary Y., Vampire God: The Allure of the Undead in Western Culture. New York: State University of New York Press, 2009. Lowenthal, Martin. Alchemy of the Soul. Maine: Nicolas-Hays, Inc., 2004. Meyer, Stephanie. Breaking Dawn. New York: Hachette Book Group, Inc. 2008. . New Moon. New York: Hachette Book Group, Inc. 2006. Partridge, Eric. Origins: An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English (4th Edition). Kentucky: Routledge, 1977.

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__________________________________________________________________ Warner, Marina. Fantastic Metamorphoses, Other Worlds. New York: Oxford University Press Inc., 1989. Heidi Horvath is currently pursuing her obsession with comparing and analysing all things. She resides in Ontario, Canada with her husband, Bryan and wonder cat, Snarf.

A Monstrous Aporia: The Redemption of the Vampire as Metaphor for a Stake in Moral Agency Eva Hayles Gledhill
Abstract This chapter puts forward a reading of the redemption narrative within popular vampire fiction as exemplifying how Derridas aporia on forgivenessthat forgiveness only becomes possible from the moment that it appears impossible 1can be applied to other absolute concepts. Tracing narratives of redemption in the Vampire Chronicle novels of Anne Rice, Francis Ford Coppolas film Bram Stokers Dracula, and the popular television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, this chapter identifies the aporia at work in each, irrespective of the ostensible moral framework of the individual texts. The redemption narrative addresses the concept of the moral agent. It is only when the humanity, or soul, can overcome the oft labeled demonic other in the vampires divided self that the vampiric being achieves the essential moral agency necessary for a concept like redemption to be applied. The vampire is thus most monstrous, most unforgiveable, when it is most humanas a rational being subject to the universal law that it delights in transgressing. As increasing numbers of published texts decry the moral relativism of secular Western society and/or the rise of fundamental religion, a propensity for secular understandings of absolute concepts, such as evil and redemption, has developed within popular the fantasy genre. Nor are the consumers of genre fiction unaware, or indifferent to, such philosophical underpinnings, as the increasing popularity of texts discussing philosophy through pop culture demonstrates. This chapter argues that there is clearly an audience who identify with the need for an exploration of being human, as Nina Auerbach stated in Our Vampires, Ourselves (1997). Key Words: Redemption, vampire, soul, Kant, Derrida, aporia, moral agency, queer. ***** 1. The World will not be given over to Monsters, Van Helsing, Dracula, Bram Stoker The redemption of the vampire is necessarily a story about the soul, and the threat vampirism poses to the souls existence. The soul, normally equated in the modern American vampire narrative to a Kantian conception of being, exists under the moral lawknowledge and understanding of which endows a being with moral agency. The souls threatened status is, thus, a metaphor for the equivocal status of moral agency in modern American society. Vampires have long been associated with the feminine and the queer, and those who display those markers in a

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__________________________________________________________________ heterosexist patriarchal society are those most likely to have their moral agency questioned or suspended by the majority rule. The morally active vampire is thus more human than monster, and more dangerous. This is the monstrous aporiathe more human the creature is, so the more monstrous it becomes for its corruption travels beyond the surface of the flesh into the soul. Many articles have been written about redemption with reference to vampire fiction; 2 however, few, if any, unpack the origins of the terminology. As Tracy Fessenden notes, there is an unacknowledged Protestantism 3 normative for understanding the dominant conceptions of modern American identity. Acknowledging this Judeo-Christian framework, redemption is here defined as a saving grace that removes a person from that which would destroy the value of being, and the very notion of being, itself 4significantly, a definition that does not rely on specific religious context. The influence of religion on the interpretation and usage of the key terms in this essay extends back to the derivation of the modern word from the languages used in the earliest biblical translations. The Hebrew roots being the words Padah and Ga'al, the first referring to deliverance or payment of an equivalent for what is to be released. From these transactional roots, it seems redemption is earned; yet if it is granted in exchange can redemption truly be described as grace, that which is freely given or unmerited? 5 An ideal, such as this, cannot be defined by context but only by its polar opposite, underpinning Derridas famous aporia that there is only forgiveness, if there is any, where there is the unforgivable. 6 Redemption must remain outside conditionality, if it is to remain outside political or emotional influence and to have its own meaning. 7 Thus, redemption can only exist if there is the unredeemablethat which destroys the value of being and the notion of being. 8 The definition of being is therefore central to our understanding of redemption and the monstrous nature of vampirism itself. 2. Youre not a Man. Youre a Thing. Buffy to Spike, Smashed, BtVS, 6:09 What prevents modern vampires from being human is not physical monstrosity, as the condition is commonly represented as akin to a simple genetic mutation pallor, dental abnormality, and a bumpy forehead. A categorisation based solely on violent crime would assert that violent retribution is legitimate for murderers and cannibals; the distinction between human and monster legitimising the violent actions of heroes like Van Helsing. The creators of vampire fiction instead justify an ontological division between monster and man by invoking a sharply Kantian definition of person-hood, or being. Kant posits all rational beings stand under the (moral) law; 9 beings determine their own will and choose their course of action based on an understanding of good and evil which is the universal law, enacting their moral agency. Conscience does not exist for those who are not rational beings for conscience is

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__________________________________________________________________ practical reason holding the human beings duty before him. 10 The television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (BtVS) makes clear the vampires lack of rational being: When you become a vampire the demon takes your body, but it doesnt get your soul. Thats gone! No conscience, no remorse. 11 The soul is here linked to the conscience, and the parallel between Kantian rational being and the human soul made explicit. Soulless vampires lack being, and thus moral agency: their multiple murders are comparable to the kills of a man-eating shark, their tortures like a cat playing with a mouse. In Francis Ford Coppolas film Bram Stokers Dracula the vampire is again portrayed as a demon within a human shell, as demonstrated by the case of Lucy Westenra. 12 She describes Draculas attempt to vampirise her as though her soul seemed to leave my body. In destroying the body after she has become a vampire the heroes do not destroy Lucys being; vampirism had already destroyed that by removing the soul, the source of moral agency. Only death can separate out the demon, thus redeeming the immortal human soul, for there is no cure for vampirism according to both Coppolas Dracula and BtVS. Vampirism is, thus, the unredeemable that threatens being. To redeem Dracula without staking him, the monster requires agency during its vampiric state; therefore, Coppola's film makes him the agent of his own misfortune. When human, Dracula renounces Christianity and vows to rise from his grave with all the powers of darkness for vengeance against God for refusing his wife entry to heaven as a suicide. 13 Dracula not only renounces humanity but all the strictures of hetero-normative human society. Subsequently his appearance becomes exaggeratedly feminine and dandified, rather like a demonic Quentin Crisp, and there is an overt sexuality to his overtures towards Jonathan Harker. Dracula renounces his being until he forms a normalising relationship with Mina Harker, the reincarnation of his wife. In refusing to turn Mina to vampirism, Dracula demonstrates that he values her soul too much to condemn her to be like him, and thus labels himself evil by her judgement. Dracula achieves unity of being only at the point of death when he asks God to give him grace, in the form of peace, to redeem his soul. Mina then stakes him because she understood at last how my love could release us all, the implication being that as his wifes reincarnation she redeems the suicide by doing Gods work, returning Draculas soul to God through the redemptive power of hetero-sexual love, and the physical destruction of the demonic form. Had Dracula lived with his being restored and vampirism no longer threatened his soul, how would he then achieve redemption from his otherness? 3. It is no longer I who do it but it is sin living in me that does. Romans 7:20 In the popular television series Angel the eponymous vampire character seeks redemption after the return of the human soul to the vampiric body. With physical vampirism providing side effects like eternally young and nearly indestructible

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__________________________________________________________________ physicality, how does it threaten being and the value of being? The demon within does not jeopardise Angels moral agency, as demonstrated by his experiences in a parallel universe in which he is able to physically separate his human and demon manifestations. 14 Resisting murder in the guise of the fully physical demon, Angel demonstrates that his rational will is wholly dominant. Yet, the soul is not fixed in the body, it is cursed; it can be released by one moment of true happiness. 15 The inevitable result being the return of the demonic form of soulless vampirism, during which the body is named Angelus for clarity. The closer Angel comes to the mainstream ideal of heterosexual love and family which redeemed Dracula, the more dangerous he becomes to those around him for when Angel achieves true happiness through physical love, his soul is removed releasing Angelus onto the world. Angels urge to protect what normality he can achieve leads him to alienate the very people who provide his links to human societysuch as his decision to leave his girlfriend, Buffy. He exits from an episode celebrating triumph in the Sunnydale sunshine, and returns in solitary LA neo-vampire-noir. Angels motivation is always open to question, his agency in jeopardy. For Angel redemption would mean the removal of the threat of Angelus, representing the threat of lost agency. The promise of the Shanshu prophecy, that it could return his human form, is Angels redemptive goal. Yet Angels self-definition relies upon his vampiric form. 16 He never refers to himself by his human name, Liam, when a vampire and his self-definition as hero depends upon the supernatural abilities that enable him to fight in nearly indestructible form; Im Angel, I beat the bad guys. 17 To be redeemed as Angel he must continue to live as a vampire, for death releases Liam from the otherness of the monster both physical and ethical. It is not vampirism itself that threatens Angel's being and queers his outlook, it is his curse. The guilt his restored conscience inflicts for the actions of demonic Angelus impairs Angel's judgment about himself; he becomes a threat to the being of others though failing to obey the moral law, despite awareness of its existence. 18 Angel disconnects from the human world, even to the point of trying return to his former monstrous lifestyle, rather than attempt the hard task of being the righteous man. 19 The more disconnectedotherhe feels, the more the character is open to queer readings, made explicit in the dialogue and visual style of the series. Wearing leather trousers is a trait of Angelus, seen in BtVS season two, yet Angel appropriates this and other stylistic elements of non-normative lifestyles when distancing himself from too many years spent sleeping in soft bedsliving in a world where I don't belong. 20 By the final fifth season of the series a central element of the shows humour is to play on recognised homoerotic aspects of Angels appearance and lifestyle, developed in response to his increasing awareness of the chimeric nature of his moral agency. The line between human and

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__________________________________________________________________ monster, which Angel walks in the dramatic narratives, is echoed humorously in the line between straight and queer, which he walks in the lighter interludes. As Angel demonstrates, a single will presiding over a divided being is not a single entity with the moral agency necessary for redemption. When the human will has sovereignty the soul is redeemed from the threat to being, but the vampire is not part of that being and its violent return threatens the humans perception of value in being. The vampire Spike, another character originating in BtVS and crossing into its spin-off Angel, provides a foil for Angel/Angeluss character development. Spike makes the conscious decision to take on moral agency and fights for the restoration of the human soul to his vampiric body. The process of redemption thus begins long before his moral agency is restored, making his a true tale of the redemption of the vampire itself, rather than the human trapped within. 4. I dont give a piss about atonement. Spike, Just Rewards, Angel, 5:02 Spike, newly ensouled, tries to make clear distinctions in his own mind about the difference between his demon and human sides; he refers to himself as a demon when acting in a hostile manner to humans, but also seeks out his human ex-lover, craving her acceptance. 21 Spikes human soul is William, an effeminate poet, and by focusing on the return of William's soul Spike drives a chasm between his gentle humanity and the demon who relishes the kill. 22 For Spike to put his immortal strength to work for the side of good, as with Angel, his dangerous side is needed. 23 Spike symbolically reclaims his demonic aspect by retrieving the leather duster he wore when wholly demonic; this coat is a battle trophy, taken from the body of a Slayer he killed. Spike makes his past triumph part of his current self, with a pragmatic approach to switching his skills from the side of evil to good; Dance of death. Eternal struggle. Right. Got it. 24 His character arc during the final seventh season of BtVS centres on this struggle to unite human and demon aims, motivations, and past memories, culminating in Spike sacrificing his life for the good of humanity, fully cognizant of the value of being, and willing to sacrifice his own for the benefit of everyone else. William the human has been saved from vampirism. William-the-bloody, as the demon styled itself, has learnt not only to value having a soul, but to place higher value on the souls of others. Yet Spike returns from the dead, apparently post-redemption in narrative terms, still sarcastic, caustic and relishing blood sports. It is not important to the question of moral agency whether he is good, which Angel must be to maintain the boundaries between himself and Angelus, only that he has the choice to be so and the understanding to make that choice. Spike makes his own moral choices about how he wants to live, and whom he wants to kill. Evidence that the two Williams of Spikes past are fully enmeshed in his present form is provided in his performance at a poetry slam in the final episode of Angel. First he is presented reading a poem written when he was human, shown in flashbacks during BtVS season four, but the title of Spikes next poem refers to an incident that occurred

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__________________________________________________________________ post-vampirism. William-the-bloody and William the bloody-awful poet have collaborated in creating something wholly newsomeone called Spike. Whether this being deserves his redemption, is another matter. Though he sees himself as an innocent victim once upon a time, he self-identifies as a monsterand includes Angel in this categorization. 25 5. My guilt is like my beautyeternal. Lestat, The Tale of the Body Thief, Anne Rice. Anne Rices vampire characters also revel in their moral and physical monstrosity. Her vampires do not lose their human souls, although the source of their vampirism is still demonic. 26 It is possible for them to feed on animals, 27 or to feed from a human without extinguishing life, 28 which makes any vampire choosing to take the lives of humans a moral agent with alternatives. Marius outlines the dangers of murder; for your peace of mind you must feed on the evil kill the innocent and you will sooner or later come to guilt and finally despair. 29 Marius, a vampire of at least a million years existence, has a strict appreciation for humanity, in a manner that Kant would understand. Armand returns to life after a bid for redemption much like Spike, however, Armands attempt is doomed to failure. Upon seeing what he believes to be Veronicas Veil, Armanda former novitiate priestfeels compelled to offer his life to God: This sinner goes to Him. Cast me into Hell, Oh Lord, if that is Your will. 30 Armand walks out into the suns light, and this is suicide; as such he could never be accepted to Heaven in Rices Catholic diegesis, but Armand is not sent to Hell either. He returns to Earth and to life, where he is given the chance to know selfless love through the friendship of two mortals. The second chance granted to him seems to represent Gods mercy, suggesting that both heaven and hell are future possibilities. The human face of Jesus, however, showed Armand total rejection, 31 in his vision of Christ on the road to Calvary. Yet, Christ still seems to Armand the symbol of all brothers His core is simply love. 32 Being human, Jesus forgiveness is enmeshed in emotions and thought, and thus has exchange value. It is of a very different nature from the grace of Gods forgiveness. Armand is an unrepentant mass-murderer who declares himself to be without faith, though he has proof of Gods existence. Jesus rejects the unrepentant sinner, whilst God offers him further opportunity for salvation. Armand finds some stifling dark terror is gone from me, 33 for the possibility of redemption existsda mihi castitatem et continentiam, sed noli modo. 34 6. The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity. W. B. Yeats, The Second Coming In modern America the moral agency of the individual is not inviolable; for example, Roe Vs. Wade established a woman's right to self-determination but the

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__________________________________________________________________ State's interest in the potentiality of human life over-rules this right 35 and criminal prosecution concerning the type of sexual relations between consenting adults occurred as recently as 1998. 36 It is unsurprising that these rights should provide a popular theme in those texts open to queer or feminised/ist readings. Rices Vampire Chronicles offer erotic fantasies of violence and power in narratives of revenge and vigilantism. Rices characterswhose desires can only be categorised as queerdelight in transgressing the recognised moral boundaries of patriarchal society and its God. Refused redemption without atonement, Armand reflects the culture of his creation, representing all that the vampires defiance wantonly defiles. Unsurprisingly, in contrast, Hollywoods Dracula tale upholds rather than undermines the cultural status quo by punishing the sinner whilst offering voyeuristic escapism in watching his enjoyment of his crimes before the deathbed conversion. For Dracula, heterosexual love protects and restores the value in being; redemption through atonement and acceptance into the structure of society is achieved. But there is no redemption in love for Angel, in fact sexual gratification in romantic sexual relations directly threatens his being. The more morally ambiguous he becomes, as his struggle with free will is explored, the more potential for a queer or feminised reading becomes apparent within the textby the fifth season of Angel almost every episode involves a joke or word-play that relies on a homoerotic frame of reference. 37 Spike, further, is positioned as the outsiders outsider, feminised and queered constantly in fan fiction and academic texts. 38 A heterosexist structure that denies the moral agency of the feminine and the queer, such as a socially embedded protestant patriarchy, cannot also provide their redemption if they remain resistant to the normative. Whilst the vampires physical strength and beauty helps them over-come their lack of agency in human culture by subverting normal limitations, these narratives demonstrate that there is no substitute for moral agency over ones own choices. Rices blood-drinkers rail against a mythic omnipotent God with passion, whilst Spike quietly achieves monstrous self-determination. After all, We all need a reason to live, even if were already dead. 39

Notes
1

Jacques Derrida, On Cosmopolitanism and Forgiveness (New York: Routledge, 2003), 37. 2 Previous publications of note on this topic: Kevin ODonnell, Fall, Redemption and Immortality in the Vampire Mythos, in Theology 103 (May 2000): 204-212; Rhonda Wilcox, Every Night I Save You: Buffy, Spike, Sex, and Redemption, Slayage 2.3 (December 2002), viewed 20 June 2011, http://slayageonline.com/ essays/slayage7/Wilcox.htm; Anne McWhire Pollution and Redemption in

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__________________________________________________________________ Dracula, Modern Language Studies 17.3 (Summer 1987): 31-40; Laura, Why Redemption?, http://www.allaboutspike.com/why.html. 3 Tracy Fessenden, Culture and Redemption: Religion, the Secular and American Literature (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2007), 6. 4 Michael Berenbaum and Fred Skolnik, eds, Encyclopaedia Judaica 17 (Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2007): 151. 5 Merriam-Webster Online, http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/grace> accessed 19 June 2011. For full discussion of grace in Christian theology see Charles C. Ryrie, The Grace of God (Chicago: Moody Press, 1963). For a secular discussion of the concept, Jacques Derrida, On The Name (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1995). 6 Derrida, Cosmopolitanism and Forgiveness, 32-33. 7 Ibid., 45 8 Berenbaum and Skolnik, eds. Encyclopaedia Judaica, 151. Italics added for emphasis. 9 Immanuel Kant, Groundwork of Metaphysical Morals, trans. Mary Gregor (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), 41. 10 Immanuel Kant, The Metaphysics of Morals, trans. Mary Gregor (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991), 202. 11 Angel, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, season 1, episode 7, dir. Scott Brazil, (Century City, CA: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, 2007), DVD Box Set. 12 Bram Stokers Dracula, dir. Francis Ford Coppola, (Columbia Tristar, 1993), DVD. 13 The Dracula of Bram Stokers original tale becomes a vampire possibly on account of a pact with the devil that his people have made, but it is never made clear. Bram Stoker, Dracula (New York: Fine Creative Media, 2003), 320. 14 Over the Rainbow, Angel, 2:20, dir. Frederick King Keller, aired May 08 2001 (Century City, CA: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, 2007), DVD Box Set. 15 Innocence, BtVS, 2:14, dir. Joss Whedon, DVD. 16 To Shanshu in LA, Angel, 2:22, dir. David Greenwalt, DVD. 17 Youre Welcome, Angel, 5:12, dir. David Fury, DVD. 18 Why We Fight, Angel, 5:13, dir. Terrence OHara, Reunion, Angel, 3:10, dir. James A. Contner, Are You Now or Have You Ever Been, Angel, 2:02, dir. David Semel), Unleashed, Angel, 5:03, dir. Marita Grabiak, DVD. 19 Attempts to distance himself from humanity, and return to monstrosity, seen in flashbacks, Are You Now or Have You Ever Been 2:01, Darla Angel 2:07, dir. Tim Minear, Orpheus Angel 4:15, dir. Terrence OHara, DVD. 20 Redefinition, Angel 2:11, directed by Michael Grossman, DVD. 21 Beneath You, BtVS, 7:02, dir. Nick Marck, DVD. 22 Get it Done, BtVS, 7:15, dir. Douglas Petrie, DVD.

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23 24

Ibid. Damage, Angel, 5:11, dir. Jefferson Kibbee, DVD. 25 Ibid. 26 Anne Rice, Queen of the Damned (New York: Ballantine Books, 1993), 303. 27 Louis feeds on rats to conquer his vile unsupportable hunger. Anne Rice, Interview with the Vampire (New York: Time Warner Publishing, 1991), 128. 28 Ibid., 279. 29 Anne Rice, The Vampire Armand (New York: Ballantine Books, 2000), 132. 30 Ibid., 234. 31 Ibid., 292. 32 Ibid., 301. 33 Ibid., 280. 34 St. Augustine of Hippo, Confessions. 35 Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973). 36 Lawrence et al. V Texas, 539 U.S. 558 (2003). 37 Conviction, Angel, 5:01, dir. Joss Whedon, Destiny, Angel, 5:08, dir. Skip Schoolnik, Not Fade Away, Angel, 5:22, dir. Jeffery Bell, DVD. 38 For thorough dissection of Spikes queering see: Arwen Spicer, Loves Bitch but Man Enough to Admit It: Spikes Hybridized Gender, Slayage 2.3; Milly Williamson, Spike, Sex and Subtext: Intertextual Portrayals of the Sympathetic Vampire on Cult Television, European Journal of Cultural Studies 8 (August 2005): 289-311; and Dee Amy-Chin, Queering the Bitch: Spike, Transgression and Erotic Empowerment, European Journal of Cultural Studies 8 (August 2005): 313-328. 39 Lawson, Why We Fight, Angel, 5:13, dir. Terrence OHara, DVD.

Bibliography
Literary References Amy-Chin, Dee. Queering the Bitch: Spike, Transgression and Erotic Empowerment. European Journal of Cultural Studies 8(August 2005): 313-328. Berenbaum, Michael and Fred Skolnik, eds. Encyclopaedia Judaica 17 (Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2007). Derrida, Jacques. On Cosmopolitanism and Forgiveness. New York: Routledge, 2003. . On The Name. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1995.

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__________________________________________________________________ Fessenden, Tracy. Culture and Redemption: Religion, the Secular and American Literature. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2007. Kant, Immanuel. Groundwork of Metaphysical Morals. Translated by Mary Gregor. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998. . The Metaphysics of Morals. Translated by Mary Gregor. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991. McWhire, Anne. Pollution and Redemption in Dracula. In Modern Language Studies 17.3 (Summer 1987): 31-40. ODonnell, Kevin. Fall, Redemption and Immortality in the Vampire Mythos. Theology 103 (May 2000): 204-212. Rice, Anne. Queen of the Damned. New York: Ballantine Books, 1993. . Interview with the Vampire. New York: Time Warner Publishing, 1991. . The Vampire Armand. New York: Ballantine Books, 2000. Ryrie, Charles C. The Grace of God. Chicago: Moody Press, 1963. Spicer, Arwen. Loves a Bitch but Man Enough to Admit It: Spikes Hybridized Gender. Slayage 2.3 (December, 2002). Stoker, Bram. Dracula. New York: Fine Creative Media, 2003. Wilcox, Rhonda. Every Night I Save You: Buffy, Spike, Sex and Redemption, Slayage 2.3 (December 2002). http://slayageonline.com/essays/slayage7/Wil cox.htm. Viewed 20 June 2011. Williamson, Milly. Spike, Sex and Subtext: Intertextual Portrayals of the Sympathetic Vampire on Cult Television. European Journal of Cultural Studies 8 (August 2005): 289-311. Film References Angel, DVD, Seasons 1-5 Boxed Set. Century City, CA: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, 2007.

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__________________________________________________________________ Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Seasons 1-7 Boxed Set. Century City, CA: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, 2007. DVD. Bram Stokers Dracula. Directed by Francis Ford Coppola. Columbia Tristar, 1993. DVD. Eva Hayles Gledhill graduated from Kings College London in 2006, and is currently working in academic administration to afford post-graduate research. Her key field of interest is monstrous morality, and the morality of the monstrous.

Queering Intimacy in True Blood: Eric Northmans Desexualized Intimacy Mana Kawanishi
Abstract Through the analysis of True Blood 1 this project intends to illustrate the ambiguity of the concept of intimacy suggested in vampire couplings and/or family relationships, focusing on the intimate interpersonal relationships surrounding a vampire, Eric Northman. Vampires are often perceived as queer on account of the repeated depictions of their sexual conducts which do not necessarily conform to the norm of monogamous heterosexuality. However, I suggest that the queerness of vampire sexuality not only lies in their queer sexual practices, but also in their desexualized expression of intimacy. Whereas, in the prevalent culture of intimacy, sexuality is regarded as a significant factor, intimacy expressed by Eric in the text defies such understanding and offers an alternative perspective to conceptualize intimacy. Intimacy needs not derive from nor produce sexual desires and/or behaviours. Furthermore, dislocation of sexuality out of intimacy suggests the ambiguity in the notion of intimacy as it blurs the lines among sexual, romantic, parent-child and companion intimacies. Key Words: Intimacy, queer, sexuality, vampire, television. ***** 1. Introduction: Vampire Sexuality as Queer Vampires have been often considered as an embodiment of hyper-sexuality as a result of their depiction as highly sexual beings that pursue sexual pleasure out of sexual encounters. The portrayal of vampire sexuality, both with vampire and human, appears repeatedly in the course of vampire/human romance narrative as seen in popular shows, such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. Vampire sexuality, especially the one in vampire/vampire relationships, is interpreted as bestial, with sexual pleasure as its goal. Contrastingly, vampire sexuality in vampire/human relationships focuses more on romantic feelings between the partners and the human tends to work as a medium of morality and reasons which controls vampires sexuality. Furthermore, vampire sexuality is frequently associated with queer sexuality on account of the use of female vampire as a stereotype of lesbians and the hint of same-sex intimacy. Because the act of biting, an act which every vampire does in order to survive, suggests an sexual interaction, even the biting of same-sex victim can be interpreted as the vampires innate same-sex desire. Also, vampire sexualitys association with nonconformist sexual behaviours, such as necrophilia

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__________________________________________________________________ and SM, reinforces the idea that vampires are located in the margin of the norm of sexuality, therefore, queer. True Blood follows this line of the portrayal of vampire sexuality and emphasizes the notion of vampire sexuality as queer by incorporating several depictions and suggestions of same-sex couplings. The portrayal of queer sexuality is repeated in the show with the characters, such as Eric Northman, Pam, Queen Sophie Anne and Russell Edgington. Eric and Pam engage in same-sex sexual acts with Talbot, a male vampire and Yvetta, a human woman respectably. Sophie Anne has a human female lover/companion, Hardley, and Russell has a male vampire lover/progeny Talbot. The queerness of True Blood lies not only in its dealing of non-heterosexuality but also in its desexualized expression of intimacy. Even though the show shares the same idea on vampire sexuality as the previous popular vampire-themed texts, it also depicts the form of intimacy that is decoupled from sexuality. Whereas in the prevalent culture of intimacy, sexuality is regarded as a significant factor, intimacy expressed by Eric Northman in this text challenges such understanding and offers an alternative perspective to conceptualize intimacy. Therefore, in this project, by examining the character of Eric and his intimate and sexual interpersonal relationships, I argue that the dislocation of sexuality in vampire intimate relationships suggests the ambiguity in the concept of intimacy. 2. The Location of Sexuality in Todays U.S. Culture of Intimacy As Steven Seidman suggests, currently, there are two dominant ideologies in the discussion of sexuality in the U.S. culture of intimacy. 2 One is romantic ideology which emphasizes the importance of romance and love in relation to sexuality and the other is libertarian ideology which values the pleasurable and expressional nature of sexuality. The coexistence of these two ideologies which seem to contradict each other indicates that the relationship of intimacy to sexuality is ambivalent. In romantic ideology, sexuality is a significant source of intimacy whereas in the other, it is merely a behaviour which has no relation to intimacy. This line of thoughts leads us to the idea that, if dislocating intimacy out of sexuality is possible, dislocating sexuality out of intimacy should also be possible. In accordance with the U.S. culture of intimacy, the model of intimate relationships based on sexual desire and/or behaviours pervades in True Blood. One such example is reflected in the main coupling of the show, Bill Compton and Sookie Stackhouse. Bills intimate feeling for Sookie is demonstrated through his repeated willingness to sacrifice his life for her and his confession of love. Also, their sensual sexual scenes indicate their sexual desires for each other and the significance of sexuality in their intimate relationship. Even though their sexuality is hardly considered as the norm on account of Bills biting on Sookies flesh and drinking her blood, their relationship follows the pervasive model of intimate relationships, which contains sexuality as an important factor.

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__________________________________________________________________ Whereas Bills intimate relationship with Sookie reflects the romantic ideology of sexuality, his relationship with Lorena, his maker, reflects the libertarian ideology. His intimacy with Sookie is emphasized by its contrast with his relationship with Lorena, which indicates sexuality which lacks the notion of intimacy. Their sex, both in the flashback and in the present, is highly characterized with their condition of being vampire. His sexuality with Lorena stems from his obligation as a progeny and it is not the source or the sign of his intimacy for her. Not only Bill, but also other characters in the show seem to reflect either the romantic or libertarian ideology of sexuality through their relationships. Therefore, overall, True Blood portrays intimacy in association with sexuality as the example of Bill demonstrates. However, the character of Eric Northman seems to offer an alternative perspective on the idea of intimacy, which lacks the significance of sexuality as its element. 3. Eric Northman: Desexualized Intimacy Eric Northmans intimate relationships represent the distinction of the notions of intimacy and sexuality. On one hand, he shares intimacy with two vampires, his maker, Godric, and his progeny, Pam, but does not engage in any sexual behaviour or show any sexual desire toward either of them. On the other hand, his sexual encounters are depicted with two other characters, a human woman, Yvetta, and a male vampire, Talbot. By locating the intimate connections and sexual desires and/or behaviours in two distinct places, Eric indicates the notion of intimacy, decoupled from that of sexuality. Erics intimacy with Godric begins when Godric turns a human Eric to a vampire a thousand years ago. Even though sexual tension between them is vaguely hinted in the scene of their first encounter, especially on the side of Godric, their interpersonal relationship is closely associated with that of between companions and that of family: Godric: I watched you on the battlefield last night. I never saw anyone fight like you. Eric: I would fight you now if I could. Godric: I know. Its beautiful. Eric: What are you waiting for? Kill me. Godric: Could you be a companion of Death? Could you walk with me through the world, through the dark? Ill teach you all I know. Ill be your father, your brother, your child. 3 Godrics admiration of Erics beauty and the invitation to the eternal life with him suggest his attraction to Eric. His interest in Eric could be considered as sexual attraction to him. However, his desire for Eric is to be his companion as well as father, brother and child. Godric does not intend to make Eric his sexual

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__________________________________________________________________ partner. This scene suggests that the intimate relationship which Godric and Eric have built, distinguishes the notion of intimacy from that of sexuality. The intimacy between Eric and Godric is also illustrated in the scene of Godrics death. Godric chooses to end his life by meeting the sun, but Eric tries to persuade him out of committing suicide: Eric: Godric, dont do it. Godric: There are centuries of faith and love between us. Eric: Please. Please. Please, Godric. Godric: Father. Brother. Son. Let me go. 4 Godric repeats the notion of familial intimacy by using the words, father, brother and son. His statement indicates that faith and love between them are the basic elements that have built their intimacy, but not sexuality. In contrast to the first scene, in this scene, the intimate connection is mutual. He falls down on his knees crying as he begs Godric not to kill himself. His destabilized posture, not otherwise portrayed in the show, expresses the depth of his despair at the thought of Godrics death and therefore, their shared intimacy. Erics intimacy with Pam is similar to that between him and Godric as it also lacks the notion of sexuality as its element. Pam is a progeny of Eric and also works as an assistant of his work as a sheriff. Even though the loyalty of Pam to Eric is obvious, whether their relationship can be considered intimate is ambivalent until the scene Eric risks his life in killing Russell, a powerful vampire who swears revenge against him for killing his lover/progeny, Talbot: Pam: Dont do it. What if it doesnt work? Eric: I know itll work. Oh, come on. Whats this? Pam: Nothing. Its the bleeds. (Wipes off blood from her eye.) Eric: (Holds her face in his hands) You know I love you more when youre cold and heartless. Pam: (Nods) Eric: (Smiles, kisses Pams forehead and strokes her cheek.) 5 Eric use of the word love to describe his feelings toward Pam should be taken in consideration because she is the only one he uses the word to. Even to Godric whom Eric is willing to sacrifice his life for, the word love is not used to express his feeling. Also, the act of kissing on the forehead is one of the tenderest behaviours which Eric shows in the show. Because of the fact that Eric turned Pam into a vampire, their intimacy is also considered as that of a father and a child. Erics love for Pam can be considered as fathers love for his daughter. The act of kissing on the forehead also accords the idea that their intimacy reflects a father-child intimacy. However, without the

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__________________________________________________________________ understanding of their relationship as being a maker and a progeny, such scene tends to be interpreted as lovers moment. The image suggests a tinge of romantic closeness in Eric and Pams intimacy. As a result, their intimacy closely associates two notions of intimacy, father-child intimacy and romantic intimacy. Whereas his intimacy is illustrated in his relationships with Godric and Pam, Erics sexuality is depicted in his encounters with Yvetta and Talbot. Yvetta is a human woman who works as a dancer at the vampire bar which Eric owns. She first appears in the show with the scene of her and Eric having sex in the basement of the bar. She is holding the ropes hanging from the ceiling in each hand. Whereas she is excited and breathless from their sexual conduct, Erics feature is emotionless and distant. This contrast demonstrates that their sexuality lacks intimacy, at least on the side of Eric. The absence of intimacy between Eric and Yvetta is also illustrated when he makes a will which ensures that Pam will inherit a fortune if he should meet his death. It infuriates Yvetta, and Eric reaffirms his lack of feeling toward her: Yvetta: Youre giving her [Pam] everything? You promised to take care of me! Eric: I promised you a job and good sex. That is all. Yvetta: So I mean nothing to you? Eric: Less than nothing, you gold-digging whore! 6 The idea of sexuality for the purpose of sexual pleasure and without the notion of romantic feeling is nothing new with the recent prevalence of libertarian ideology. However, his intention of separating sexuality from intimacy is notable as he offers the concept of intimacy in which sexuality or sexual desire do not play a significant role in maintaining their relationship. Another example of decoupling of sexuality from intimacy is obvious in his sexual encounter with Talbot, a male vampire who is a lover/progeny of Russell, a male vampire who murdered off Erics human family centuries ago. In this example, sexuality is used as a means of revenge against Russell as Eric distracts Talbot and kills him during their sex. It is clear that intimacy is not in their sexual conducts. Moreover, in the case with Yvetta, Eric is at least interested in their sex for the purpose of sexual pleasure, but with Talbot, even sexual pleasure is not the goal of their sexual conducts. Thus, it leads to the understanding that sexual desire and behaviour do not necessarily correspond. Erics interpersonal relationships illustrate the distinction between intimate connection and sexual desire and/or behaviours. Sexuality is reduced to a mere behaviour in this model of intimate relationships and it is not considered as a core value. Furthermore, if sexuality does not play a significant role in intimacy, one can no longer be certain that romantic intimacy is distinguishable from other forms of intimacy, such as familial intimacy or companions intimacy. As Godrics

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__________________________________________________________________ grouping of his relationship with Eric as father, brother and son suggest that intimacies of father, brother and son are exchangeable. If what we consider as a fathers desire for intimate connection with his son can be the same as that of a brothers with his brother, it also brings up the question asking how we can be sure that a lovers desire for intimate connection is necessarily distinct from that of a father, a brother or a companion. Thus, the dislocation of sexuality out of intimacy questions our understanding of intimacy in todays culture and suggests the ambiguity in the concept of intimacy. 4. Conclusion Vampire sexuality has been frequently considered as queer on account of its associations with non-heterosexual and nonconformist sexual desire and/or behaviours. In True Blood, queer sexuality is represented by including the portrayals of same-sex couplings and encounters. However, the text deals with not only queer sexuality but also queer intimacy. Whereas the libertarian ideology of sexuality indicates the popularity of the idea of sexuality without intimate connections, the idea of intimacy lacking the notion of sexuality is still located in the marginal space in todays culture of intimacy. The contrasts between the interpersonal relationships which Eric establishes with Godric, Pam, Yvetta and Talbot indicate the possibility of the expression of intimacy which does not rely on the form of sexuality. Even though it is often taken for granted that in intimate relationships, sexual desire and/or behaviours are necessary, Erics relationships suggest that sharing intimacy is possible without sexual desire and/or behaviours. Such configuration suggests the ambiguity in the distinctions among desires for various intimate connections, such as that of romance, family and companion. Although this suggestion seems disturbing because it tries to confine various intimate connections in one location, it nevertheless provides us with a perspective to rethink our understanding of intimacy.

Notes
I wrote this chapter before the fourth season came out, so it deals with the first three seasons of True Blood. 2 Steven Seidman, Romantic Longings: Love in America, 1830-1980 (New York: Routledge, 1991). 3 Never Let Me Go, True Blood, HBO. 4 I Will Rise Up, True Blood, HBO. 5 Fresh Blood, True Blood, HBO. 6 I Smell a Rat, True Blood, HBO.
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Bibliography
Becker, Ron. Gay TV and Straight America. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2006. Brace, Patricia and Robert Arp. Coming out of the Coffin and Coming out of the Closet. In True Blood and Philosophy: We Wanna Think Bad Things with You, edited by George A. Dunn, and Rebecca Housel, 93-108. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2010. Burr, Vivien. Ambiguity and Sexuality in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: A Sartrean Analysis. Sexualities 6.3-4 (2003): 343-60. Viewed 17 February 2011. http://sex. sagepub.com/content/6/3-4/343. Chambers, Samuel A. The Queer Politics of Television. New York: I. B. Tauris & Co. Ltd., 2009. Davis, Glyn and Gary Needham, eds. Queer TV: Theories, Histories, Politics. New York: Routledge, 2009. Day, William Patrick. Vampire Legends in Contemporary American Culture: What Becomes a Legend Most. Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 2002. Dunn, George A. and Rebecca Housel, eds. True Blood and Philosophy: We Wanna Think Bad Things with You. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2010. Fresh Blood. True Blood. HBO. 2010. Gamson, Joshua. Sweating in the Spotlight: Lesbian, Gay and Queer Encounters with Media and Popular Culture. In Handbook of Lesbian and Gay Studies, edited by Diane Richardson and Steven Seidman, 339-54. London: SAGE Publications, 2002. I Smell a Rat. True Blood. HBO. 2010. I Will Rise Up. True Blood. HBO. 2009. Kane, Tim. The Changing Vampire of Film and Television: A Critical Study of the Growth of a Genre. Jefferson: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2006.

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__________________________________________________________________ Never Let Me Go. True Blood. HBO. 2009. Schopp, Andrew. Cruising the Alternatives: Homoeroticism and the Contemporary Vampire. The Journal of Popular Culture 30. 4 (1997): 231-43. Seidman, Steven. Romantic Longings: Love in America, 1830-1980. New York: Routledge, 1991. Spaise, Terry L. Necrophilia and SM: The Deviant Side of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The Journal of Popular Culture 38. 4 (2005): 744-62. Walters, Suzanna Danuta. All the Rage: The Story of Gay Visibility in America. Chicago: University of Chicago, 2001. Mana Kawanishi is currently a Ph.D. student in American Studies at Doshisha University in Japan. Her primary research interests focus on the representation of sexuality and intimacy in the U.S. popular culture.

The Deviant Subjectivity and Savage Sexuality of the Pubescent Male: The Werewolf Metamorphosis as Cinematic Trope Steven Rita-Procter
Abstract This chapter aims to trace out the underlying socio-cultural motivations for the historical development and propagation of werewolf narrative. That is, it aims to reveal the specific function(s) of the werewolf-figure in contemporary and historical literature and cinema, and to identify the particular social group (or groups) that the werewolf has come to represent through its the archetypal marginal and deviant anti-social behaviour. Operating dialectically, it is argued that the werewolfs monstrosity is defined by the antithetical relationship between, on the one hand, those pre-established socially-accepted behaviours which govern the prevailing social order, and on the other, the extreme transgressions of the monstrous figure which spill over and upset this stability from within. It is argued that the treatment of the werewolf in folklore, literature, and the arts is, then, our way of ostracizing or otherwise indignifying these internal delinquent offenders which they have come to represent, mainly, the pubescent male. I stress that the werewolf and its male pubescent counterpart are considered internal deviants within the prevailing social framework because their respective monstrous characteristics can be considered to be typically inherent products of the societies within which they exist, or better still, as consequences or symptoms of the very social order against which they are measured. Key Words: Werewolf, adolescence, teenage, male, sexuality, abstinence, iek. ***** 1. The Werewolf Figure as Internal Social Deviant As Andrea Gutenberg writes, [w]erewolves have been regarded as prime emblems of the marginal, of deviance, and of hybridity, for more than two millennia. 1 More often than not, literary and cinematic portrayals of werewolves have come to signify the savage, barbaric and transgressive acts which society officially prohibitsparticularly excessive violence and sexual indiscretions. Werewolves are almost always typified by predatory, cannibalistic, and sadistic traits that often mirror the social groups that they depict. For instance, werewolf narratives from antiquity portray lycanthropy as a form of punishment imposed upon those individuals who violated the laws of the gods. Likewise, Christian depictions of the werewolf are typically infused with pagan imagery, suggesting a parallel between monstrosity and sin. And even fairy-tales often portray the werewolf as outright pedophiles, rapists, or serial-killers.

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__________________________________________________________________ These traditional portrayals of the werewolf, however, are extreme illustrations of the types of marginal or deviant anti-social behaviour that stand out from the norm because of their excessively violent transgressions of the existing social order. Their monstrosity is defined, then, by the dialectical relationship between those pre-established, socially-accepted behaviours which govern the social order, and the extreme transgressions which spill over and upset this stability from within. The treatment of the werewolf in folklore, literature, and the arts is, then, our way of ostracizing or otherwise in-dignifying these internal delinquent offenders. I stress internal because the abovementioned villains and criminals can be considered to be typically inherent products of the societies within which they exist, or better still, as consequences or symptoms of the very social order against which they are measured. Pedophiles, rapists, and serial-killers, for instance, are not generally regarded as external threats who assault a community from beyond. Instead, they are typically considered to be unfortunate, and sometimes even inevitable consequences of the ways in which subjectivity and sexuality are constituted within a given social order. To put it differently, we might say that a society produces the category of the depraved delinquent by virtue of the very delimitation of what we consider to be the ideal, and sexually-balanced subjector at the very least, the establishment of such ideals systematically re-creates the conditions for the possibility of such figures through the stringent codification and regulation of social norms. In other words, it is only once a society has already established the precise definition of what constitutes an ideal sexuality, that an antithetical derelict-type sexuality can be identified as an alternative. This is much in the same way that Slavoj Zizek in The Parallax Viewrefers to the ways in which the constitution of the subject and the organization of sexuality within the Catholic Church has produced the conditions for the possibility of the sexual abuse of children by priests. This, he argues, is an internal symptom of the symbolic order within the organization of the Church, itself. 2 It is, then, these very types of domestic delinquents that the werewolf figure is typically associated with, as opposed to a foreign intruder who wreaks havoc on a community and then quickly disappears. The representation of foreign intruders in contemporary literature and films of the science-fiction and horror genre, for instance, tend to be embodied by monstrous-figures such as Zombies, as is the case with any number of films from the Nazi-zombie genre of the mid-twentieth century. In these filmsmost notably Jess Franco Maneras 1983 cult-classic Bloodsucking Nazi Zombies 3an external threat ambushes a closed community from beyond, but there is a certain sense of solidarity amongst the closed community that is being attacked in opposition to the foreign adversaries. On the contrary, the werewolf figure classically epitomizes an internal deviant who originates from within the community itself, and whoon a surface levelis able

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__________________________________________________________________ to adapt and conform to the social and legal conventions, yet at times must yield to his violent and perverse desires. What makes the werewolf figure the ideal symbol for this type of domestic monstrosity is the manner in which the lycanthrope seemingly blends in and assimilates into the social order by day, and only by night does he transform into a violent criminal. It is the struggle between ones private and public lives, then, that the werewolf figure traditionally represents, particularly the effort to assimilate ones individual carnal desires and urges (no matter how deviant they may be considered according to the prevailing discursive regime) into its often astringent and harsh regulations. 2. Male Adolescent Sexuality and the Werewolf Metamorphosis In the werewolf narrative, this struggle is exemplified by the often evocative and climactic scenes of metamorphosis in which, generally, a man transforms into a wolf-like creature. This transformation typically signals the surrendering of oneself to those abject desires that are the source of the private/public struggle. Legendary depictions of the werewolf transformationsuch as the scene in which David Naughtons character in An American Werewolf in London excruciatingly morphs into a repulsive monster 4often exaggerate the depiction of the antagonist as the classic outsider with intense sexual or psychological collapses. This, one would assume, is meant to convey to the viewer or reader that, in one intense moment of self-discovery, the creature is no longer able to curtail their perverse cravings and must, once-and-for-all, abandon the stifling social codes that inhibit their true nature. This, I would argue, is the reason why the werewolf figure has been employed so often in representing the unique struggles of the young, adolescent male. The distinctive predicaments of the male adolescent all resonate with the outsider traits of the lycanthrope. The natural growth process, intensified social demands, sexual curiosities and urges, the development of an autonomous self-identity, and frequent moral dilemmas all characterize this peculiar phase in a young mans life, and are almost universally accompanied by a general sense of ostracization from ones own family and community. In Gene Fowlers 1957 film I Was a Teenage Werewolf, Michael Landon plays a typically angry teenager who struggles to fit in at school, and to control his developing passions. 5 Seeking hypnotherapy from a local doctor so that he can fitin with the other kids his age, he is unfortunately (and somewhat humorously) subjected to an experimental medical procedure that renders him an all-the-more violent werewolf. Only upon this transformation are his seemingly unnatural male, adolescent behaviours and desires codified in explicit binary opposition to the expected adult norms, and he is openly and graphically rendered a mere spectacle of monstrosity.

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__________________________________________________________________ Similarly, Larry Cohens 1981 film Full Moon High, 6 and Rod Daniels 1985 hit Teen Wolf 7 both portray many of the typical adolescent experiences with the overthe-top flash of werewolf monstrosity. In the latter, Michael J. Foxs character has a larger-than-life nervous breakdown when his voice suddenly deepens, he notices the unexpected and rapid growth of facial and body hair, and the abrupt transformation of the shape of his face and skeleton appear before his very eyes. In an instant, the boy turns into a young manyet this natural progression is rendered monstrous by exaggerating the reality that, for a very brief time, he does not fit into either of the social categories: child, nor adult. For that especially brief moment, Scott Howard (teen wolf) does not have a social identity. In this way, the state of the adolescent is explicitly portrayed as an abject one; he is the unclassified subject who is always only an exception and who is forever relegated to the interstitial non-space between childhood and adulthood. In these three films, the protagonist is paradoxically represented as a type of domestic outsider within his own community. The adolescent male is entirely constituted from within the social order, yet he does not have a place within its symbolic classifications. As Deleuze and Guattari outline in A Thousand Plateaus, the entirety of an individuals life is lived as various lines of flight between the socially constructed opposable terms: man, woman, child, and adult. 8 In this sense, the two dominant creative forces which capriciously assert themselves throughout a subjects life are labeled childhood and adulthood tendencies. Childhood referring to those compulsions which incite rebellious, subjugating actions and adulthood tendencies implying those impulses to dominate or hierarchize. There is, however, no mention of adolescent creative energies. 9 For Deleuze and Guattari, then, adolescence is simply the intermezzo; the interstitial distance between binaries. For developmental psychologists, on the other hand, adolescence is merely a transitional period; a phase which links the stages of infancy with full subjectivedevelopment. As such, the adolescent is neither afforded the wide-ranging freedom and innocence of the child, yet he does not yet possess an individual identity or the fully realized drives of an adult. In this way, adolescence is a period in which the basic sexual drives that constitute our being are no longer in their primary, developmental phases; nor are they fully realized yet. Michael Jacksons classic music video for his 1983 hit Thriller similarly presents the male adolescent experience as overtly monstrous and devoid of any official social-status. Insofar as his primal sexual urges do not correspond to his former needs as a child, nor are they fully developed enough that they can be tempered by the expected social codes of adulthood, the teenage male falls somewhere between the two social classes. In the opening sequence, the central character is overcome with sexual desire after the girl he is on a date with agrees to see him exclusively. 10 The typically adolescent dilemma of wanting to simply give in to all of his newly discovered sexual urges (while acknowledging that he is

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__________________________________________________________________ expected to temper them and assimilate into the accepted role of an adult) comes to a head when he is confronted by a full moon. It is at this moment that his adolescent status is exposed as utterly monstrous, and upon his own metamorphosis he pursues his victim through the forest in some sort of base, predatory hunt. To this end, his sexual urges correspond to the mature, fullydeveloped sexuality of an adult male, yet they are reduced to their most primal and animalistic elements. He possesses, in a sense, the basic sexual passions of an adult-male, but lacks the sophistication required to conform to the adult socialroles. Instead, his desires manifest themselves in monstrous acts of selfgratification, symptomatic of the childs tendency towards pleasure-seeking, albeit mixed with the more acute sexuality of an adult figure. We might say, then, that it is in this way that society projects the monstrous werewolf figure onto the pubescent-male, as a means of signifying his degenerate status in comparison to both that of the child and the adult. 3. Jacob Black and Monstrous Abstinence Perhaps, (we should reluctantly admit) none of these aforementioned portrayals of the teenage-werewolf have reached the acclaim and success of the character of Jacob Black in Stephenie Meyers The Twilight Saga. In Meyers popular series, the werewolf is presented as a complex, sensitive and vulnerable creature who struggles to curb his natural aggression, and who suffers from the typical heartache and sorrow associated with male adolescence. Jacob Black at once embodies the carnal and primal desires which pubescent boys clumsily discover, while also coping with the complicated emotional sentiments that go along with a first love, courtship, and sexual awakening. To this end, Meyers depiction of the werewolf as a sensitive, misunderstood monster accurately represents the monstrosity of the teenage male, and his passage to maturity. Jacob and his Quileute companions represent the marginalization and ostracization of pubescent males who struggle to come to terms with their newfound savage and feral passions. In this way, Meyers saga reverses the typical transformation of man into wolf, opting instead for the conversion of a bewildered boy into a man. In the initial volume of the saga, Jacob is portrayed as a typically awkward fifteen-year old, who clearly has a sort of juvenile infatuation with the storys protagonist Bella, yet there is no sense of sexual tension or awareness on his part. 11 At this point in the narrative, Jacob does not yet possess the type of individual identity that is necessary to critically examine the social codes of his Quillette tribe, and he is more than willing to innocently pass-on the warnings of his elders to Bella regarding the Cullen family. This type of passive obedience or conformity to the accepted values and belief-system of his community is characteristic of the childhood phase, and one which his impending adolescence will soon cast doubt upon. In this first volume of the saga, it is apparent that Jacob plays only a minor

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__________________________________________________________________ role, yet his diminutive stature and childlike nature will serve as key points of contrast against his forthcoming pubescent transformation. When we next encounter Jacob in New Moon, 12 the second volume of the Saga, its apparent that he is no longer the awkward, innocent, scrawny child that we found in Twilight. Instead, Jacob is now immediately in the throws of puberty, and similar to the teen heroes in Teen Wolf, Full Moon High and Thriller, has begun his testosterone-fueled physical transformation. He has shed his long hairstyle, opting instead for a conventional crew-cut stylean indication that he, like all teenage boys, has begun to be concerned about what others think of him. This sudden awareness of how others might perceive him points to his progression beyond what Lacan refers to as the primary narcissism of the childhood phase. Jacob, in a sense, has just begun to see himself as an autonomous individual, although his typically adolescent need to fit-in to an exclusive peer group (such as his pack of Quillette brothers) attests to his not yet having fully developed a strong, adult sense of self. Once again, the werewolf protagonist is caught within the transitional non-space between childhood and adulthood. As Jacob officially joins his exclusive pack of peers, it is revealed to the reader that he possesses a hereditary trait common amongst certain Quillette tribes people that renders him a werewolfor something quite similar, at least. This well-timed monstrous revelation occurs at about the average age when most adolescent males enter into a disobedient, rebellious, and unreservedly defiant social phase. The typical tensions of pent-up social pressures, sexual frustrations, feelings of being suppressed by authority-figures, and raging upsurges in hormonelevels are typically discharged by the average male teenager with severe, emotional flare-ups. The nonconformity and seditious qualities of such outbursts are rendered all the more monstrous in Meyers narrative, as the werewolves are portrayed as being notoriously short-tempered, exceedingly violent, and prone to burst into wolf-form whenever incensed. 13 However, what sets Jacob Black apart from traditional representations of the teenage werewolf-figure is the emotional complexity, and sexual restraint that he shows. Whereas Michael Landons character in I was a Teenage Werewolf and Michael Jacksons character in Thriller have absolutely no control over their sexual desires, and must abandon themselves unequivocally to the throws of their carnal desires, Jacob is somehow able to curtail his cravings. When he initially promises his pack that he will stay away from Bellain order to protect her from himselfhe renders himself all the more monstrous and especially inhuman in comparison to his traditional werewolf counterparts. His transformation is not presented as being grotesque in any way, and is, in fact, not even mentioned; it occurs between volumes, and as such is hidden away entirely. In these ways, perhaps what Jacob Black represents is the even more monstrous nature of todays current adolescents, whose penchant for solitude, abstinence, moderation, and other forms of self-denial are all the more atrocious according to

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__________________________________________________________________ our societys current value-system. Although our stringent codification and regulation of social norms do aim to regulate and temper our natural aggressive and sexual instincts, it is acknowledged, as stated above, to some extent that such ideals do in fact systematically re-create the conditions for the possibility of individuals who will violate them through over-indulgence and excessiveness. However, our current generation of teenagers newfound predilections towards absolute denial of their natural sexual urges and suppression of all primal or animalistic instincts has produced a breed of exceptionally monstrous monsters. To this end, perhaps Nietzsche might provide us with the most acute explanation of the extreme monstrosity of todays male teenager. Had he been around today to read Meyers hugely successful saga, perhaps he would tell us that Jacobs natural inclinations towards aggression, power, and sexuality are stifled simply because the herd mentality of the adult-classes have codified our social value-system according to a descending, nay-saying morality. And since Jacob and other male adolescents are unable to discharge their natural urges and tendencies externally, perhaps they have become predisposed to internalizing their cravings thus choosing to inflict their pent-up aggression upon themselves through a denial of their sexuality and naturally aggressive instincts. Whereas Michael Jacksons Thriller might portray an exceptional instance of a social-pariah throwing off the shackles of his societys restrictive value-system and affirming his individual urges and desires in all their horrific glory, Jacob Black instead represents our current generation of male-adolescents unwillingness to affirm their natural bodily and emotional urges at all. Instead, as our current male teens continue to make their monstrous pledges of abstinence, our teenage werewolves have been reduced to pathetically sitting-back and seething over their collective sexual frustrations, while the life-affirming vampires have all the fun.

Notes
Andrea Gutenberg, Shape-Shifters from the Wilderness, in The Abject of Desire: The Aestheticization of the Unaesthetic in Contemporary Literature and Culture, ed. Konstanze Kutzbach and Monika Mueller (Amsterdam: Rodopi Press, 2007), 149. 2 Slavoj iek, The Parallax View (Cambridge: MIT Press. 2009), 369. 3 Jess Franco Manera, Bloodsucking Nazi Zombies (Eurocin, 1983). 4 John Landis, An American Werewolf in London. Dir. John Landis. Polygram, 1981. 5 Gene Fowler, I Was a Teenage Werewolf. Sunset Productions, 1957. 6 Larry Cohen, Full Moon High. Filmways Pictures. 1981. 7 Rod Daniel, Teen Wolf. Wolfkill. 1985.
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__________________________________________________________________ Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia (Minnesota: University Of Minnesota Press, 1987), 277. 9 Although one would assume that the pairs rhizomatic model of the subject would allow for some sort of admixture or trans-species assemblage of the former two creative forces, which might resemble adolescent behaviours. 10 Michael Jackson and John Landis. Thriller. Optimum Productions. 1983. 11 Stephenie Meyer and Melissa Rosenberg. Twilight. Dir. Catherine Hardwicke. Summit Entertainment. 2008. 12 Stephenie Meyer and Melissa Rosenberg. New Moon. Dir. Chris Weitz. Imprint Entertainment. 2009. 13 Ibid.
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Bibliography
An American Werewolf in London. Directed by John Landis. Polygram. 1981. Bloodsucking Nazi Zombies. Directed by Jess Franco Manera. Eurocin. 1983. Deleuze, Gilles and Felix Guattari. Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia. Minnesota: University Of Minnesota Press. 1987. Full Moon High. Directed by Larry Cohen. Filmways Pictures. 1981. Gutenberg, Andrea. Shape-Shifters from the Wilderness. In The Abject of Desire: The Aestheticization of the Unaesthetic in Contemporary Literature and Culture, edited by Konstanze Kutzbach and Monika Mueller. Amsterdam: Rodopi Press. 2007. I Was a Teenage Werewolf. Directed by Gene Fowler. Sunset Productions. 1957. Meyers, Stephenie. The Twilight Saga. 4 Vols. New York: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. 2008. Pomeroy, Wardell. Boys & Sex. New York: Dell Publishing. 1968. Teen Wolf. Directed by Rod Daniel. Wolfkill. 1985. Thriller. Directed by John Landis. Optimum Productions. 1983. iek, Slavoj. The Plague of Fantasies. London: Verso. 2008.

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__________________________________________________________________ . The Parallax View. Cambridge: MIT Press. 2009. Steven Rita-Procter is a graduate student in Comparative Literatures and Visual Arts at Brock University, Canada, where he also teaches seminars in Contemporary Continental Philosophy. He publishes and presents regularly in the areas of fictional-autobiographies, self-portraiture, and memory studies. He can be reached via email at sr04iy@brocku.ca.

Part 6 Understanding the Monstrous

Prey Deborah P. Dixon


Abstract In this brief chapter I want to present a case study of one particular monsterLa Bte du Gvaudanin order to demonstrate how these debates, despite assertions to the contrary, proceeded to blur epistemic boundaries between philosophe and theologian, urban and rural, rudit and peasant, centre and margin. In doing so, I want to emphasise the fact that the Enlightenment was not simply a network of correspondence between rudits and savants, nor was it merely the swapping of interesting objects. Rather, this written world was predicated upon the bodily experiences of those at the sharp end of phenomena such as La Bte, which were often expressed through song or oral narratives that made reference to alternate modes of understanding, and were often maligned as mere superstition or primitivism. Key Words: Beast, wonder, horror, monstrous, enlightenment. ***** 1. The Beast Roams Wolf attacks had long been a feature of peasant life in the remote corner of the Margeride Mountains, but in 1764 a series of killings and mutilations led to the widespread belief that a ferocious beast was loose in the countryside. Information on the attacks spread quickly by word of mouth, but also, and rather more slowly, in the letters local priests wrote to each other, as well as to colleagues and newspapers in towns and cities across France. Indeed, despite its physical isolation and minimal population the region was well known for its scholarly elite, composed primarily of Catholic priests. La Bte and its victims, but also some of those who fought off the beast, subsequently featured in thousands of simple woodcuts and etchings produced by publishers across France. Most often, inspiration came from the Bestiaries of the medieval period, which sought to capture the exotic and bizarre, or more contemporary hunting scenes. Thanks to a dense regional archive of letters, death notices and so on, we can gain a sense of the scale of the attacks, with 53 killed outright between June 1764 and March 1766, and 46 maimed. Of the 99 attacked, the average age was 16/17 years, with 53 victims 15 years old or younger and of all those attacked, 70 were female, with 23 victims aged 15 or younger. This patterning reflects the fact that those most exposed to attack were women and young teenagers who worked, often alone, in the fields herding cattle and sheep. 1 By the end 1764, the Gvaudan States General had offered a reward of 18 livres for the death of the beast; and the Military Commander of the region had ordered

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__________________________________________________________________ in a dragoon of the Volunteers of Clermont, comprising 30 on foot and 17 mounted. By order of the Governor of Languedoc, up to 10,000 villagers would subsequently participate in a series of beats. Ambushes were set up around pastures where La Bte had been sighted, men were allowed to be armed, and advice was given that women and children do not go out to herd the cattle till the beast was caught. This mobilisation, as well as the killings themselves, became fodder for newspapers across France, and Gvaudan became known as The Country of La Bte. Continuing reports of the strange appearance and demeanour of this animal, and its repeated escape from hunters, piqued the curiosity of the French court, leading the King, Louis XV, to announce a reward of 6000 livres with the demand that La Bete be brought to his botanical garden, Le Jardin du Roi, then under the Directorship of M. le Comte de Buffon. He also arranged for the most famous wolf hunter in Normandy, Denneval, to travel to the Gvaudan. Denneval quickly came to the conclusion that he was dealing with an ordinary, if large, wolf, with some unusual behavioural characteristics. When Denneval failed to kill the beast, the King sent his own Gun Bearer and Lieutenant of the Hunts, M. Antoine Francois, to lead the chase, accompanied by M. Antoines son and fourteen huntsmen picked from the retinue of the King, as well as those of the Duke of Orleans and the Prince of Cond, along with two dog handlers and five of the Kings own hounds. On the 21st September, 1765, M. Antoine and his men shot and killed a large wolf in the woods of the Auvergne and, after calling in local residents who had been attacked to identify it as the beast, sent the body on to the Governor of that province. Here, the animal was opened and its stomach observed to hold sheep bones and scraps of red cloth. An examination was undertaken by a lieutenant to the Kings chief surgeon, attended by the surgery provost to the military. It was concluded that, The muscles of the neck, back and lower jaw muscles have a strength which is far beyond ordinary wolves, all other proportions are also larger than found in this species of animal. 2 The stuffed corpse was mounted and sent on to the King to be paraded before the Court, before being placed within the Kings Cabinet of Curiosity. After which event, it may have been buried in the garden, or forgotten in a cupboard somewhere; there are no further records. 2. Scourge or Biological Anomaly? Monsters had long been considered evidence of Gods interventiona divine scourge, if you willor the agency of devils. And monstrosities such as deformed births were read, following the work of Cicero and Augustine, as portents of political and religious strife long into the 18th century. The official response of the

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__________________________________________________________________ Bishop of Mende to the predations of La Bte was very much in accord with the natural theology that now dominated discussions within the Catholic Church. In answer to why La Bte roamed the region, the Bishop wrote: What dissolution and irregularity in the youth of our days! Malice and corruption now show themselves in the children before the age when one would have expected it. . does not the flesh of idolatry and criminality, which serves as an instrument of the devil to seduce and lose souls, merit being delivered to the murderous teeth of the ferocious beasts, who will tear it into pieces? . Abomination has penetrated even into sacred places. Profanity by the use of the sacraments never ceases through irreverence and sacrilege. Where do we find the remedy for such evil? In a true and sincere repentance, in the tears of penitence 3 And yet, within the correspondence of the Bishops own parish priests there is no appeal to Gods plan on earth, nor are there hints of the diabolical. Instead, we find a repeated emphasis upon the importance of accurate observation and inductive reasoning as a means of explaining this monstrous apparition. In 1765, for example, the priest at Lorcires provides a harrowing account of the attacks month by month, but also appends a useful Description of the cannibal or wild beast that afflicts the country and ravages the frontiers of the Gvaudan and Auvergne and which characterizes the nature of the monster. 4 Consider also this exchange between the M. Brenguire, priest near Mende, and a fellow priest whose name is unrecorded: Sir, I have delayed replying to you for a few days only because I wanted to give you definite news about the famous Bte This animal attacks principally people of the female gender. People have been racking their brains to find reasons for this strange fact... The most natural reason is that women are weaker and offer less resistance. In the second place, having a greater quantity of blood, they are better able to slake La Btes insatiable thirst. They give extraordinary names to La Bte... What doesnt one see with the eyes of fear? During the last few days an animal has been killed, which they have taken to Mende. Some say that it is the one which has been waging war on us, others that it is only a wolf. I am going there tomorrow to find out the truth for myself. 5

216 And in reply:

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Please accept my thanks for the co-operation with which you have satisfied the various questions I took the liberty of addressing to you on La Bte Froce, which is destroying your province... If everybody in Gvaudan had thought and reasoned as sensibly as you about La Bte, so many fables would not have been published, so many cheeky stories, false or exaggerated. It is necessary to seek the cause of this, which, as you say, probably lies in the taste people have for the fantastic. It seems that for something a little out of the ordinary, people enjoy attributing even more extraordinary factors to it. For myself, my method in such cases (assuming the possibility) is to believe only things well proven and debated. If not, my judgement remains suspended 6 Official proclamations of the Bishop of Mende aside, their attitude is indicative of a longer-term, concerted effort to separate their concerns from the febrile imagination of the peasantry. Yet, the attention given to the notion that La Bte was a hybrid, or sport, also, I want to suggest, points to the widespread dissemination via journals, newspapers and letters, of an emerging natural history in France at this time, and in particular the work of Le Comte de Buffon, director of La Btes final destination, Le Jardin du Roi, and the third most popular author during the latter half of the 18th century. While Buffons ideas were certainly considered heretical by many in the Catholic Church, his ideas were often translated into encyclopaedic form, and recounted in numerous journal articles and magazines, each ordering knowledge of the familiar and the exotic, and fixing the identities of words and things. In the process, their subtleties were often lost to view and, therefore, dispute. In short, his work emphasised a descriptive, historical approach to nature, and the significance of the environment in the differentiation of living organisms. For Buffon, complex organisms are actually constituted from simpler molcules organiques, such that these can be considered the basic building blocks of life. The implication therein, that life somehow developed without supernatural intervention, as well as Buffons emphasis upon the place-specific role of the environment, appeared to many theologians to open the door to an active role for Nature for Naturalism -- in producing new animals. The Jardin du Roi was the state-sponsored and patronised locus of Buffons study of the character and distribution of organisms. A key element of the French states subsumption of science, as well as its colonial project, the jardin consisted of extensive gardens and a labyrinth, as well as a collection of living and dead specimens. Under Buffon, such objects were to serve a pedagogic purpose, helping

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__________________________________________________________________ visitors to make sense of nature. And so, it would seem, La Bte had entered the halls of science, but what of the bodies of its victims? 3. Becoming Monstrous For contemporary writers, these were crimesmurderswith an all too apparent culprit, the beast, which, as we have seen, was variously, scourge of God, emissary of the Devil, a phenomenal hybrid, an out of place, exotic creature such as a hyena, or a simply a large wolf. And so these bodies were to become evidence of transgression. But, how did they enter into these conversations? How did they become to be objects of study, scrutiny, investigation, and interpretation? The translation of these bodies into objects for study begins prior to attack, in a two-fold process. First, comes exposure to the beast, a simple enough process in one sense in that this takes place when women and children are in the pastures and heathlands tending cattle or sheep. The second ensues from an intermittent contact with priests and hunters, wherein peasants are enrolled as providers of food and lodgings, as eyewitnesses and informants, as beaters. These moments of contact become grist for letters, telling of peasant as features of the landscape, travelling to market or to church, tilling the fields, working in the gardenall in their allotted placeand then, the moment of surprise. Ambushed more often than not by the beast, they are wrenched from this everyday existence. And so become, for the most part, meat and bone. Throats are ripped out, cheeks opened up, heads bitten off, entrails exposed, flesh swallowed and so on. Corpses, moreover, became useful tools in the hunt for the criminal; stuffed with poison and laid out for several days, they were now bait. Such letters rarely note the name of the victim; more often than not, they are referred to as a boy or girl, or simply a child. Instead, emphasis is placed upon the number of attacks, the particulars of a death and, the visual aspect of the corpse. Collectively, their carefully enumerated tallies testified to the excessive nature of the beast, its voracious appetite, its prodigious speed and strength. These bodies enter the Enlightenment stripped of sentiment, becoming instead evidence of the monstrous character of the beast, and instrument for its eradication.

Notes
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All figures are from Abb Pierre Pourchers, History of the Beast of Gevaudan (Bloomington IN: Author House, 2006). 2 Cited in Franois Fabre, La Bte du Gvaudan (De Bore: Romagnat, 2004), 100. My translation. 3 Cited in Pourcher, The Beast, 62-63. 4 Cited in Fabre, La Bte, 139. My translation. 5 Cited in Pourcher, The Beast, 256.

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6

Cited in Pourcher, The Beast, 257-258.

Bibliography
Poucher, Pierre. Bloomington, IN: Author House: 2006. . Translated by D. Brockis.

Fabre, Franois. La Bte du Gvaudan. Romagnat: De Bore, 2004. Deborah P. Dixon is a human geographer with the Institute of Geography and Earth Sciences, Aberystwyth University. Her work is on the anomalous and the aberrant, particularly with reference to the critical capacity of BioArt.

Monster or Saviour? Treatment for the Parentified Child and Siblings in Foster Care Shantay Mines
Abstract Family therapy will be investigated related to the parentified child through a multigenerational lens according to Murray Bowen and structural family therapy according to Salvador Minuchin. The following will be investigated as it relates to the parentified child in foster care. Who identifies the parentified child in foster care and how are they punished for parentification? What is a parentified child? What issues are unique to children in the foster care system related to parentification? How are interventions done by family therapists in order to address the parentified child among sibling groups? Key Words: Foster care, marriage, family, structural therapy, multigenerational therapy, Bowen, Minuchin, social work, clinical, parentified. ***** 1. Introduction Family therapy subscribes to a systems perspective, meaning that an individuals behaviour is reflective of what is occurring within their family system. When dysfunction exists, the family organizes itself around that dysfunction. For example, if a mother is an alcoholic, the father and children behave differently in order to accommodate the mothers drinking. Sample behaviour modifications include children preparing their own food, or avoiding bringing friends over in order to protect and hide their mother. Parents whose relationship is in conflict may triangulate, or focus on a third party (such as a child who is not doing well in school) to relieve tension. 1 This third party is characterized in therapy as the monster or problem and is used as a scapegoat by a family to avoid dealing with the real problem, which is dysfunction on the part of one or both caregivers in the family. 2 These caregivers are the real problem in the family. However, when young people are placed in the foster care system due to parental abuse or neglect, those children become the monsters and are often penalized for behaviour that they formed while living with their parents. Neither these youths nor their siblings are afforded the opportunity to have family therapy in order to address issues that stem from living with their parents; this state of affairs is particularly problematic for those children who are parentified. From a guest lecturer teaching permanent connections for youth in the foster care system to case managers who provide child protective services, child care professionals often address the topic of sibling relationships with regard to the

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__________________________________________________________________ frequency of sibling groups being placed together. One participant in the group, an adoption worker with several years of experience, related a success story about a sibling group that was adopted. The case manager stated that a sibling group of five children, ranging from two to twelve, was taken from their family due to issues of child abuse or neglect and were then free for adoption. The case manager stated that the children were all placed in the same adoptive home but the eldest child was parentified and risked sabotaging the placement for her siblings. In order to solve this problem, the case manager removed the parentified child from the home, cut off all sibling contact with the eldest child, and finalized the adoption with the four remaining siblings. She explained this decision with a great deal of confidence and seemed to be happy with the end result. The lecturer asked if the family went to a family therapist in order to address the issue of parentification. The case manager matter-of-factly said no. The guest lecturer, a marriage and family therapist in training, thought intensely about how therapeutic interventions with the family could have prevented this child from being separated from his siblings, saving them from the negative psychological impact of removal as well as from being cut off from his siblings immediately and in the future. The guest lecturer also considered the ways in which the perception of the parentified child can change when child care professionals have some knowledge of family systems therapy. 2. The Parentified Child in Foster Care Parentified is a term coined by Salvador Minuchin, a pioneer in structural family therapy, which was adopted by early followers of structural therapy to describe behaviour by children that is inappropriate for their age and role in the family. 3 A parentified child can exist as an only child or as one child among siblings, and more than one child in a family can claim the parentified role. Parentified children come from one or two parent households and exist among heterosexual and homosexual families. It is a parents responsibility to take care of her children by providing adequate supervision, nourishment, shelter, education, clothing, equal love and affection for all children, and involvement in all aspects of her childs life. Social workers and therapists label a child parentified when he or she in part displays behaviours that are characteristic of parents. These include cooking for siblings, supervising younger siblings, being the authority among siblings, ensuring that siblings bathe, eat, go to school, make it to doctor or other medical appointment, picking siblings up from school, and setting curfew or time limits on activities-all of which are responsibilities normally handled by parents. Among social workers, parentified child and problem child are almost used interchangeably, as if the parentified child decided to supplement the inadequacies of their parents. There exists a strong blaming the victim mentality when it comes to the parentified child in a sibling group. A parentified child is often stigmatized

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__________________________________________________________________ and separated from his or her siblings in an effort to solve the problem that a parentified child is believed to create. Children become parentified due to one or more issues within the family. These issues include alcoholism, domestic violence, child abuse, child neglect, drug use, parent illness or disability. Parental dysfunction that causes child parentification is illustrated in an article for The Psychology Networker by Mary Jo Barrett, a practicing Psychologist working with a family that suffered from domestic violence and sexual abuse. 4 The family consisted of an abusive father, a mother, and a daughter. The mother was physically abused by the father and the teenage daughter was sexually abused by her father. The father, a cop, was arrested for physical abuse and placed in jail. Because of the abuse, the teenage daughter found that neither of her parents were able to protect her. She became a parentified child to compensate for her parents lack of capacity to care and was, in effect, neglected. If this teenage girl had been placed in the foster care system, she would have great difficulty adjusting to a foster family because she was used to taking care of herself. Trust would need to be developed between her and a foster family so that she could both feel safe from physical and sexual abuse, and trust her new parents to act as parents. A study of 50 domestic violence serving agencies from a Midwestern state between the years of 1990 and 1995 that detailed the needs of 40,000 children who experienced domestic violence, found that these children have emotional, social, physical, and educational problems in addition to being overly protective of siblings or other family members and find it difficult to leave their families. 5 3. Foster Care in the United States There are approximately 513,000 young people in the foster care system at any one time in the United States. 6 Foster care is a broad term used to define out of home placements for people under the age of 18 following a substantiated claim of child abuse or neglect. 7 Foster care placements include foster homes where children are placed in a private home with one or two parents; group homes where a child is placed with other children and supervised by adults who work on shifts; kinship legal guardianship where a child is placed with a family member for an indefinite period of time; shelters where children are placed temporarily until a more stable placement can be found; and transitional living where children who are close to the age of majority in their state go to in order to gain skills for independent living. 8 According to the 2005 United States Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System, which compiles data from all states regarding youth in the foster care system, the average length of stay in foster care is 31 months. Sixty five per cent of young people currently in foster care have at least one sibling, 30 per cent have four siblings or more, and of the total number of young people who have siblings, 75 per cent are separated upon entering foster care. 9 This data, although

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__________________________________________________________________ not directly linked to the parentified child, illustrates the high rate at which young people are separated from their siblings. The sibling bond is important because it is typically the longest-lasting relationship in a persons life. 10 Siblings will most likely outlive parents and siblings provide support to one another over time through death, sickness, hardship, marriages, divorces, and other life circumstances. 11 The emotional and physical cut-off that a parentified child experiences in foster care will be carried forward into adulthood and also has several implications for their present and future mental health. John Bowlby, in The Making and Breaking of Affectional Bonds, states that when a young person experiences a loss, whether that loss is by death or separation from a loved one, they mourn this loss. 12 Young people in the foster care system who are removed from their parents experience and mourn the loss that this separation causes. When a young person is then separated from their siblings they experience an additional loss, which can be intensified if the young person is not allowed to interact with their siblings at all. Parental and sibling loss can leave children with feelings of blaming themselves for the separation, guilt, inadequacy. Despite foster youth being at a higher risk for mental health needs due to separation and loss, many do not receive the proper services to address their mental health needs due to the absence of a caring, committed adult 13 who feels response for the child and their well-being. 14 Recent data indicates that as many as 80 per cent of children entering foster care have significant mental health needs. 15 Not addressing mental health needs can lead foster youth to suffer through childhood with diagnoses such as post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, adjustment disorder, and conduct disorder which can develop into antisocial personality disorder in adulthood. 16 It is essential that parentified children and their families have family therapy child in order to prevent such a child from being removed from his or her siblings, as well as to create appropriate structure and boundaries within a foster family. 4. Family Systems Therapy in Practice In order for therapy to be optimally effective among siblings in the foster care system, they must be in a stable placement with caring and committed adults who are willing participants in the family therapy session. All siblings who are a part of the family must be in attendance for therapy sessions in order for those in attendance to gain an understanding of each persons point of view. The example below illustrates the complexity of a parentified child with a sibling group in the foster care system, followed by an explanation about how therapy could be conducted in order to address the presented problem. Sylvia is a 32 year old African American female foster parent, single, referred for family therapy by the State Department of Children and Families due to a relational problem she is having with a sibling group of three. Sylvia works as a professor of English at a university and lives in an affluent suburb. Sylvia became

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__________________________________________________________________ a foster parent because one of her siblings, Mark, was adopted at age 11 by her parents, with whom she has a good relationship. Sylvia states that Charles, a 13 year old African-American male is ordering his siblings around and frequently telling her that she is a poor parent. Charles siblings, Mercy, age 11, and Patrick, age 9, will look at him for approval when they are asked by Sylvia to complete household tasks or are reprimanded. If Mercy and Patrick do not receive a verbal or non-verbal cue to comply with Sylvias request, they refuse. Charles, Mercy, and Patrick were removed from their mothers, Karin, care after a call by a neighbour about Karins suspected substance abuse and apparent child neglect. The childrens father, Patrick, is incarcerated for an attempted murder charge and will be in prison for several years. Charles was frequently left to take care of his siblings for multiple days at a time due to his mothers abuse of illegal substances. Mercy and Patrick hold Charles in high regard because he was their caretaker Currently, Sylvia reports feeling frustrated with the sibling group. Sylvia has discussed with the childrens case manager removing Charles from her care. She expects significant improvements with Charles behaviour within two weeks of beginning therapy and suspects that his behavioural changes will positively affect his siblings. As a Marriage and Family Therapist, there are two theoretical approaches that can be integrated in order to address the issue of the parentified child. These theoretical approaches are Multigenerational Family Therapy according to Murray Bowen 17 and Structural Family Therapy according to Salvador Minuchin. Minuchin proposes that when there are appropriate boundaries with children and parents, parentification does not occur. 18 When a child is removed from a home that does not have appropriate boundaries and placed in a foster home that does, children have a difficult time adjusting and rebel against the new authority figure. Siblings who have taken care of one another will likely not be able to easily understand or like the idea of an adult who a stranger to them taking care of them. The family therapist will develop a structural map, which involves the therapist taking the families data and reorganizing it in order to establish what the current family boundaries are, whether they are diffuse, rigid, or clear, and whether there is an affiliation, over-involvement, coalition, detouring, or conflict. 19 A therapist can obtain this data by asking open-ended questions like why are you here today? and what do you want from me? in order to have the problem/symptom defined by everyone in the family so that they all can be on the same page. Bowen proposes eight interlocking concepts that deal with a family on a multigenerational level. First, the therapist must hear from each member of the family related to what they believe is the problem. Second, a genogram is created by the therapist in order to get a visual representation of three generations of the family. The genogram will find patterns in the family related to differentiation of self, triangles, nuclear family emotional process, multigenerational transmission

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__________________________________________________________________ process, sibling position, emotional cut-off, and societal emotional process in an effort to gain insight into the family. 20 Among foster siblings with a parentified child, it will be important to investigate triangles. Before young people were removed from their parents care due to child abuse or neglect, the parents may have triangulated 21 with a child in order to ease tension with a spouse or with a maladaptive behaviour like alcoholism, drug abuse, or physical abuse. Sibling positions 22 will also need to be investigated because a child who is the eldest will typically have taken on parental responsibilities due to parental dysfunction; such a child will be the identified problem in the therapy session. The result of this integrated approach to family therapy will be a hierarchy in which the foster parent is the authority and the children are children. Several sessions may be needed in order to address the underlying issues within the family of origin which have caused child parentification. Through participation in the therapeutic process, children will be able to understand that having a stable, supportive adult will eliminate the need to be parentified and for siblings to rely on that parentified child. The parentified child ultimately trades their parent-like responsibility for the freedom to be a child.

Notes
1

Murray Bowen and Michael Kerr, Family Evaluation: An Approach Based on Bowenian Theory (New York: W.W. Norton, 1988). 2 Ibid. 3 Salvador Minuchin and H. Charles Fishman, Family Therapy Techniques (Cambridge, MA Harvard University Press, 1981). 4 Mary Jo Barrett, Therapy in the Danger Zone: Breaking the Cycle of Family Trauma (Washington, DC: The Psychotherapy Networker, 2010). 5 Marta Lundy and Susan Grossman, The Mental Health and Service Needs of Young Children Exposed to Domestic Violence, Supportive Data. Families in Society 86.1 (2005): 17-29. 6 Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System, The AFCARS Report, http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/stats_research/afcar/tar/report13.htm, Viewed 2/15/2011. 7 B. D. Kerker and Martha Dore, Mental Health Needs and Treatment of Foster Youth: Barriers and Opportunities, American Journal of Orthopsychiatry 76.1 (2006): 138-147. 8 Shantay Mines, Conduct Disorder in Children who Live in Foster Care Placements: Implications for Onset and Treatment Outcomes (Unpublished Research Paper, 2008). 9 Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System, The AFCARS Report.

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__________________________________________________________________ Child Welfare Resource Center for Youth Development, Life Long Connections: Permanency for Older Youth (Oklahoma University, Tulsa, OK. 2008). 11 Ibid. 12 John Bowlby, The Making and Breaking of Affectional Bonds (London: Routledge, 1979). 13 Ibid. 14 Kerker and Dore, Mental Health Needs and Treatment of Foster Youth, 138147. 15 Ibid. 16 American Psychiatric Association, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition (Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association, 2000). 17 Bowen and Kerr, Family Evaluation. 18 Minuchin and Fishman, Family Therapy Techniques. 19 Ibid. 20 Bowen and Kerr, Family Evaluation. 21 Ibid. 22 Ibid.
10

Bibliography
Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System. The AFCARS Report. http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/stats_research/afcar/tar/report13.htm. Viewed 2/15/2011. American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association, 2000. Barrett, Mary. Therapy in the Danger Zone: Breaking the Cycle of Family Trauma. Washington, DC: The Psychotherapy Networker, 2010. Bowen, Murray and Michael Kerr. Family Evaluation: An Approach Based on Bowenian Theory. New York: W.W. Norton, 1988. Bowlby, John. The Making and Breaking of Affectional Bonds. London: Routledge, 1979. Kerker, B. D. and Martha Dore. Mental Health Needs and Treatment of Foster Youth: Barriers and Opportunities. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry 76.1 (2006): 138-147.

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__________________________________________________________________ Lundy, Marta and Susan Grossman. The Mental Health and Service Needs of Young Children exposed to Domestic Violence: Supportive Data. Families in Society 86.1 (2005): 17-29. Mines, Shantay. Conduct Disorder in Children who Live in Foster Care Placements: Implications for Onset and Treatment Outcomes. Unpublished Research Paper, 2008. Minuchin, Salvador and Charles H. Fishman. Family Therapy Techniques. Cambridge, MA Harvard University Press, 1981. National Child Welfare Resource Center for Youth Development. Life Long Connections: Permanency for Older Youth. Oklahoma University, Tulsa, OK, 2008. Shantay Mines is a student in the Marriage and Family Therapy Ed.S program at Seton Hall University. Shantay has a MA in Psychology from Seton Hall University. He is a consultant for SM International Consulting, a child welfare consulting company. Shantay is interested in the intersection of psychotherapy and social work practice.

A Turbid Moodiness Lingers: Horrorism and Human Relations Louise Katz


Abstract Certain images and stories that resonate in the cultural imagination become validated over time; they bleed into reality to become socially and politically affective. If misrecognised or unacknowledged, an entire people may come to be viewed as monstrous, or their identity rendered down until they come to be seen as more spectral than human. I will deal specifically with how Jewishness and Arabness have been imagined, so that in quite different contexts these peoples come to be apprehended as liminal beings rather than human beings, having been, in a sense, de-realised. In the traditional anti-Semitic perspective the Jew is viewedby the dominant culture within which he or she co-existsas vampiric. Also discussed is how, in contemporary Israel/Palestine, the Arab presence becomesfor certain parts of the Jewish populationghostly, or monstrous. This dynamic implicates both the coloniser and colonised; indeed, at work here is a congeries of interrelationships, far more complex than the traditional self/other dichotomy. This chapter deals with the role of storytelling in the construction of reality, and how in the course of a narrative, places and people may come to be seen as more mythic than real, more monstrous than human. 1 Key Words: Palestine, Israel, Jews, Arabs, horror, vampire, spectre, uncanny, monstrous, reality. ***** 1. Introduction We might think of consensual reality as a sort of blank template upon which we inscribe mythic/historic images accrued over time and stored in a kind of imaginarium, or cultural image database: What is real and what is imagined are linked by the stories we tell ourselves about each other: in other words, mythmaking creates reality; reality gives rise to new myths. Some characters in our stories are cast as villains, transgressors who may or may not pose a real threat, yet are relegated to the social fringes. To be marginalised is to be consigned to a condition of only partial reality, making of a woman or a man a kind of ghostly trace of a person. By a further act of imagination, the marginal, already an object of fear, may become imbued with a nightmare aspect. One case in point is the historical anti-Semitic image of the Jew as aspirational monster, dying to become what you are, to take your blood and ultimately, to replace you: Jew as vampire. Another is the spectralisation of Arab Israelis who have, in Judith Butlers words, have fallen outside the human. 2 Social and political exigenciesparticularly

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__________________________________________________________________ limits posed on Israeli Arab citizenshipresult in this group being simultaneously present yet absent within the Jewish state. It is through imaginative processes and storytelling that we continually create and recreate the realities we must then inhabit. To 17th century philosopher Robert Fludd, the imagination is a shadow world inhabited by the likenesses of forms found in reality. 3 If terra umbrae is influenced by terra firma, then the opposite may also be applied: Fludds shades extend their influence into reality. 2. Jew as Vampire The shadow that the vampire casts into our world of facts and solids touches those whom society has agreed are separate from the mainstream, dangerous, and probably evil. Nineteenth century Gothic horror stories infuse with sinister glamour a particular minority group of immigrants, largely refugees from the modern Russian pogroms. The number of Jewish immigrants to England between 1891 and 1900 increased by 600%: The Jews [are] coming in like an army, eating up Christian gentiles (italics mine). 4 Jules Zanger also reminds us that Svengali, the Jewish hypnotist from George du Mauriers Trilby, was almost as popular a villain at the time as Bram Stokers Dracula. 5 Svengali, along with Shakespeares Shylock and Charles Dickens Fagin, was an Oriental Israelite Hebrew whose glamour and powers of suggestion enabled him to bend women to his irresistible will. Like Dracula, Jewish Svengali is tall, and darkly handsome; yet both are also likened to creatures often invested with nightmarish qualities of bats, rats, and wolves. The horror of beasts with claws and fangs, the nightmares in which we are pursued, controlled, and ultimately devoured, combine with an attraction to the darkly alluring strangers who come from [t]he poisonous Eastbirthplace and home of an ill wind that blows nobody any good. 6 Dracula was written at a time of political transition. Stephen Arata sees Stoker as probing the heart of a cultures sense of itselfin its hour of perceived decline, claiming that because in the nineteenth century the British feared a waning of the power and influence of their empire, a level of cultural anxiety was created, enabling Fludds shadows of real forms to emerge from his other world as dreams and symbolic stories. 7 At this time, these dreams represented fears of the possibility of the encroachment of the other from exotic eastern lands, like Transylvania, the land beyond the forest. Vampires are intimately linked to the rise and fall of empires. 8 The image of the vampire is that of a lethal yet sensual shadow being, a parasite whose desire is to propagate his own by feeding of real living people, thus destroying civilization. In Europes tradition of anti-Semitism, the Ashkenazi Jew was seen as an alien and oily pariah, who, from within the dankest crevices of culture, works his sinister magic in a similar fashion to that of the vampire. Anti-Semitic images and literature identify the Jew, like the vampire, with parasitism, avarice, and aversion to Christianity and its symbols. Looking further back, we find that historically,

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__________________________________________________________________ Jewish blood was thought to be black and putrid. 9 There is no people more wicked, more impudent, more troublesome, more venomous, more wrathful, more deceptive and more ignominious, and Jews were often considered representatives of the devil if not demons and devils themselves. 10 In Draculas Legacy the German Lacanian critic, Friedrich Kittler, comments on the inclusion in Dracula of one Armenius Vambery, who is based on an actual professor whom Stoker had met at Londons Lyceum Club. Vambery was an international sophisticate and a scholar who travelled the Orient in oriental disguise, gathering information. He is present, yet in a sense also phantasmal, being perpetually camouflagedas Muslim, Jew or Christiandepending on what was required of him. He was an affective agent in the world, though always through subterfuge. These traits are also those, which at that time in history, associate the caricature of the Diaspora Jewwhose corrupting influence infiltrates the social bodywith the parasite or the vampire. In his article, Kittler identifies Vambery, with his combination of espionage, Orientalism and disguise as actuallysome sort of a vampire. 11 Clearly, the consequences of this kind of mythologizing are, for actual human beings, dire. By the late nineteenth-century in Germany, for example, the term schadlinge was used by Wilhelm Marr to characterize Jews. Schadlinge, Alex Bein informs us in The Jewish Parasite are creatures which damage the objects of man in agriculture breeding stock the human body itself. The Jew dehumanized and envisioned as parasite may, like vampires, viruses or white-ants, may be more or less systematically attacked and destroyed. 12 With the creation of the state of Israel in 1948, the East/West, parasite/victim, coloniser/colonised, paradigm finds a new form on the world stage at a time when imperialism is at last becoming a dirty word so that today, a parallel may be drawn between Stokers 19th century paranoia and the particular fears and prejudices that beleaguer modern Israel in what may be seen as that nation states hour of perceived decline. Decline in this case refers less to imperial failure, but to the Israeli loss of their original post-war idealism and sense of righteousness, the validity of the nations raison dtre being criticised from within as well as from external commentators. The original Hebraic tale of exile and return is at last consolidated with the creation of Israel as a Jewish state. The original story is one of David and Goliathlike heroism, but over the last 62 years, the freedom fighter narrative has lost its glow. A simplified time line illustrates this point: the Jewish state is ratified in 1948; the kibbutz movement begins establishing settlements; the pre-emptive strike against Egypt, Jordan and Syria in the Six Day War in 1967 is magnificently successful, as is the Yom Kippur War in 1973; the 1976 rescue of hostages from Entebbe further casts Israelis as defenders of righteousness. However, world sympathies begin to shift with the Lebanon War in the 1980s, presenting Israel in the role of oppressor; on-going settlements in the occupied territories; the invasion

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__________________________________________________________________ of Gaza in 2008 where Israel is accused of war crimes; the abuse in Dubai of other countries passports by the Israeli Special operations team; and the interception of the Gaza flotilla in May 2010, which was judged by the UN as unlawful. In The Battle for the Middle East Narrative, Australian journalist Paul McGeough, discussing the territorial conflict with Palestinians, describes how the one-time settlers (conjuring images of valour and discovery) are now read as colonisers, (see dispossession and loss). 13 Israel is falling behind in the contest for narrative authority, but more than losing a propaganda fight for the moral high ground which is about appearances rather than substanceIsrael is literally losing its self and at the same time, generating a new kind of ghost. 3. Arab as Spectre The setting: the unstable terrain of Israel/Palestine, a zone that may be described by way of the Foucauldian formulation of the heterotopia, or utopian counter-site. Unlike a utopia, which is an imagined world, heterotopias exist within the real space of society. 14 Israel occupies geographical space and historical time, but is also liminal; that is, mythic and actual, sacred and profane, illuminated with representations of incompatible realities that function in relation to the oppositional poles of the imaginary and the real. Its massive load of connotative meaning undermines its actual materiality, and Israels inhabitants, both Palestinian and Jew, must deal with the apparently insoluble paradox of belonging to two separate countries that inhabit the same physical space. They appear to be failing. In The Architecture of Erasure Saree Makdisi discusses how, because Israel recognises only Jewish nationality, Muslims (and Christians etc.) may be citizens of their country without being nationals. 15 Such misrecognition and alienation, according to Bourdieu, cuts one off from access to a socially recognised social beingto humanity. 16 Arabs are simultaneously a part, yet apart from the mainstream: a real, yet not real, ghostly presence. In Settler Nationalism Joyce Dalsheim discusses the stories leftist Israeli liberals tell themselves in order to deal with the apparent contradictions of being socially democratic in politics and compassionate in outlook while also being nationalistic. What she refers to as nationalist imagining manages a trick of perception so that the ethics of Jewish settlement is not compromised. The stories exhibit a certain carefully constructed ambivalence and denial of the other. Through narrative, what is imagined is perceived as real by means of utopian or wishful thinking. 17 Dalsheim describes a school trip she accompanied to the Palmach museum, whose elaborate audio-visual presentations tell the story of the making of the state of Israel. The teachers, from backgrounds in the left-wing kibbutz movement, expressed an intention to refine their students ability to think critically about history, yet ironically failed to consider including in the excursion a visit to any sites that had once been Arab, or to extant Palestinian towns. The author also notes

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__________________________________________________________________ that once at the museum, rather than a story being told which disparaged or in any way denigrated the original inhabitants, she found instead that that the enemy [was] surrealistically almost entirely absent from this narrativeit was as though they had somehow been wished away. 18 Dalsheim compares this wishful notion exemplified in the Zionist slogan, a land without a people for a people without a land with the Australian misnomer, terra nullius. But the glib dismissal of the Aboriginal population of Australia occurred at a time in history when Empire was associated with glory, whereas the newer nation of Israel came into being long after colonialism had slipped to the moral low ground. In imperial Britain there was hardly a need to find ethical justification for colonialist ambitions, but if Zionists are capable of absorbing and sustaining a similar belief as late as the 21st century, this act of mental gymnastics is now becoming increasingly difficult to exercise for the modern liberal humanists within the Israeli hegemony. Living in a postcolonial world, such convenient fabrications are morally insupportable, and so guilt and history meet and cross over and a form of ethical doublethink now comes into play. Thus, precisely because it is recognised that Palestine was not without a people before 1948 (any more than Australia was not empty before 1770), new stories, formed with the aid of an imaginative disconnect based on an impossible paradox of recognising and simultaneously failing to recognise a whole nation with whom one coexists, creates a weird slippage between reality and make-believe into liminal space. In a fantastical psychic manoeuvre, people become, in Dalsheims phrase, an uncanny absence yesterday upon the stair/I met a man who wasnt there/he wasnt there again today/Oh how I wish hed go away. 19 This poetic characterisation of the villains [who are] somehow not quite there 20 reflects the official term used to describe the Palestinians who remained in Israel after 1950: present absentees. Thus, 15% of the Israeli population 21 fell victim to the new Law of Absentee Property. According to Joseph Schechlas The Invisible People Come to Light, the law retroactively and prospectively provided for the State of Israel to confiscate properties from anyone identified as an absenteeeven though some of those included in this category were, in fact, categorically present. 22 Schechla provides an example of a particularly ironic case of what we might think of as uncannily absent presence or spectralisation of a group of human beings with the case of the villages of Iqrit, Mansura and Kafr Birim, whose inhabitants homes and lands were expropriated by the state under the Absentee Property Law even as they continued to press their case in the courts. 23 Israeli scholar Hillel Cohen illustrates such dispossession, and thus invisibility, further: Israel did not mention the origins of the internal refugees in the formal statistics. They were not included in the UNRWA registry, and the abandoned villages did not appear on maps. 24 In Violence, Mourning, Politics, rather than asking if Arabs have suffered dehumanisation, Judith Butler asks us to consider to what extent have [they]

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__________________________________________________________________ fallen outside the human? (my italics). The derealisation of the Other means that it is neither alive nor dead, but interminably spectral. 25 Narratives of denial result in Arab spectralisation, which has social and political ramifications for both colonist and colonised. That is, to construct Palestinians and Israelis as one-dimensional heroes and villains overlooks the ongoing political machinations of both Middle Eastern and Western powerbrokers as well as the ancient and complex narrative palimpsest that is Israel/Palestine. Israeli author Amoz Oz speaks of the interdependence of torturer and victim 26 and Lebanese Australian anthropologist Ghassan Hage discusses how the dehumanising gaze that sees Them as a non- differentiated entity is often accompanied by an equally self-dehumanising, abstracted version of Us. 27 In the Jewish case, while the secular nationalist narrative (with embedded biblical aspects) and concomitant self-image is failing, a new Jewish Israeli Us has yet to emerge. In the Arab case, if one continues to suffer the violence of derealisation, 28 ones voice being repeatedly ignored, one is likely to start shouting. In 2002, Hage emailed Arab, Jewish and other concerned friends, attempting to think through the recent violence of Israels reinvasion of the West Bank. He found himself accused by colleagues of moral collusion. Apparently the affect of military actions, no matter how extreme, cannot match the existential horror provoked by acts of terrorism. They must remain, in the mainstream consciousness, as inhuman, nondifferentiated, abstracted and evil. 4. Conclusion In Terrors Abduction of Experience, Matthew Wickman tells us that terror is provoked by the spectacle of some awful and inexplicable fright and a turbid moodiness lingerswhereas with horror these conventions swell into monstrosities. 29 Perhaps then, whether associating human beings with phantasmagorical bloodsuckers, or as in the case of suicide bombers, failing to associate humanity with those who live beyond the pale in quite another sense, we are dealing less with terror than with horror? In the latter case, perhaps it is that the pedestrian nature of tanks and gunstheir very legalitycannot match the trauma of entering a kind of mythic space that opens up when the quotidian world is ruptured by an act of terroror horrorwhich is where the sublime and the grotesque meet, often in a panoply of kitsch imagerycharacterised by a hyperbolic combination of visceral disgust and psychic anxiety. 30 Wickman is discussing literature, but I think the analysis may be extended to the world of objects and people: Horror plunges the mind into what Bataille calls a strange world where anguish and ecstasy coexist. 31 Thus, the horrorist, brings into the world a spiritual dimension of fright that culminates in an ontological dreadfulness that could only be perpetrated by those whom we choose no longer to identify as human, but as monsters. Failure of acknowledgment or misrecognition of another may contribute to the

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__________________________________________________________________ other becoming, effectively, a shade. According to Judith Butler, those who are derealized have a strange way of remaining animated and so must be negated again (and again). They seem to live on, stubbornly, [vampire-like] in this state of deadness. 32 But a human being is not a monster, not a ghost; indeed, as Bourdieu writes in Pascalian Meditations, there is no worse dispossession, no worse privation, perhaps, than that of the losers in the symbolic struggle for recognition. 33 Such images created for the spectralised person are based on old stories from a bank of cultural imagery, or a terra umbrae inhabited by shadows of real forms, or by dreams and symbols, perpetuated through narrative. We might say that each culture has its image stock, built up over centuries of remembering and storytelling, available to feed into new contexts, which in turn may enter the cultural imaginarium, perhaps to be used again later on in history: an on-going, two-way exchange between reality and imagination.

Notes
A turbid moodiness used in the title is from Matthew Wickman, Terrors Abduction of Experience: A Gothic History, The Yale Journal of Criticism 18 (2005): 170-206. 2 Judith Butler, Violence, Mourning, Politics, Studies in Gender and Sexuality 41 (2003): 21. 3 Cited in Marina Warner, Fantastic Metamorphoses, Other Worlds (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002), 172. 4 Paul Johnson cited in Jules Zanger, A Sympathetic Vibration: Dracula and the Jews, English Literature in Transition 2 (1991): 33-34. 5 Ibid., 35. 6 J. Du Maurier cited in Ibid., 35. 7 Stephen D. Arata, The Occidental Tourist: Dracula and the Anxiety of Reverse Colonization, in The Horror Reader, ed. Ken Gelder (London and New York: Routledge, 2000). 8 Ibid., 165. 9 Eric Zafran, Saturn and the Jews, Journal of The Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 34 (1972): 17. 10 Ibid. 11 Gelder, The Occidental Tourist, 8-9. 12 Alex Bein, The Jewish Parasite, Leo Baeck Institute Yearbook 9 (1964): 6-7. 13 Paul McGeough, The Battle for the Middle East Narrative, Sydney Morning Herald, October 2, 2010. http://www.smh.com.au/world/the-battle-for-the-middleeast-narrative-20101001-1610u.html, viewed October, 2010.
1

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__________________________________________________________________ Michel Foucault, Of Other Spaces, 1967 http://foucault.info/documents/ heteroTopia/foucault.heteroTopia.en.html, viewed January 2007. 15 Saree Makdisi, The Architecture of Erasure, Critical Enquiry 36 (2010): 6. 16 Cited in Ghassan Hage, Comes a Time We Are All Enthusiasm: Understanding Palestinian Suicide Bombers in Times of Exigophobia, Public Culture 15 (2003): 78. 17 Joyce Dalsheim, Settler Nationalism, Collective Memories of Violence and the Uncanny Other, Social Identities 10 (2004). 18 Ibid., 160. 19 William Mearns. Antigonish. Cited in the FPA column The Conning Tower, New York World, New York (1922). 20 Ibid., 152. 21 Danny Yee, Danny Yees Book Reviews review of Catastrophe Remembered: Palestine, Israel and the Internal Refugees by Nur Masalha (London: Zed Books 2008). http://dannyreviews.com/h/Catastrophe_Remembered.html, viewed May 2010. 22 Joseph Schechla, The Invisible People Come to Light: Israels Internally Displaced and Unrecognised Villages, Journal of Palestine Studies 31 (2001): 21. 23 Ibid., 22. 24 Hillel Cohen, The State of Israel versus the Internal Palestinian Refugees, in Catastrophe Remembered, Palestine, Israel, and the Internal Refugees: Essays in Memory of Edward W Said, ed. Nur Masalha (London: Zed Books, 2005), 64. 25 Judith Butler, Violence, Mourning, Politics, Studies in Gender and Sexuality 41 (2003): 21-22. 26 Amos Oz, Black Box (London: Vintage, 2002), 146. 27 Hage, Comes a Time We Are All Enthusiasm, 65-66. 28 Butler, Violence, Mourning, Politics, 22. 29 Wickman, Terrors Abduction of Experience, 188. 30 Ibid., 188. 31 Georges Bataille, Inner Experience, trans. Leslie Anne Boldt (Albany: State University of New York Press: 1988), xxxii. 32 Butler, Violence, Mourning, Politics, 22. 33 Pierre Bourdieu cited in Hage, 78.
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Bibliography
Arata, Stephen D. The Occidental Tourist: Dracula and the Anxiety of Reverse Colonization. In The Horror Reader, edited by Ken Gelder, 81-97. London and New York: Routledge, 2000.

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__________________________________________________________________ Bataille, George. Inner Experience. Translated by Leslie Anne Boldt. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1988. Butler, Judith. Violence, Mourning, Politics. Studies in Gender and Sexuality 41 (2003): 9-37. Cohen, Hillel. The State of Israel versus the Internal Palestinian Refugees. In Catastrophe Remembered, Palestine, Israel, and the Internal Refugees: Essays in Memory of Edward W. Said, edited by Nur Masalha, 56-73. London: Zed Books, 2005. Dalsheim, Joyce. Settler Nationalism, Collective Memories of Violence and the Uncanny Other. Social Identities 10 (2004): 151-170. Du Maurier, J. A Sympathetic Vibration: Dracula and the Jews, English Literature in Transition 2 (1991): 33-44. Foucault, Michel. Of Other Spaces. Diacritics 16 (1986): 22-27. http://foucault.info/documents/heteroTopia/foucault.heteroTopia.en.html. Viewed 10 January 2007. Hage, Ghassan. Comes a Time We Are All Enthusiasm: Understanding Palestinian Suicide Bombers in Times of Exigophobia. Public Culture 15 (2003): 65-89. McGeough, Paul. The Battle for the Middle East Narrative, Sydney Morning Herald, October 2, 2010. http://www.smh.com.au/world/the-battle-for-the-middleeast-narrative-20101001-1610u.html. Viewed 2 October, 2010. Makdisi, Saree. The Architecture of Erasure. Critical Enquiry 36 (2010): 519559. Oz, Amos. Black Box. London: Vintage, 2002. Schechla, Joseph. The Invisible People Come to Light: Israels Internally Displaced and Unrecognised Villages, Journal of Palestine Studies 31 (2001): 2031. Warner, Marina. Fantastic Metamorphoses, Other Worlds. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.

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__________________________________________________________________ Wickman, Matthew. Terrors Abduction of Experience: A Gothic History. The Yale Journal of Criticism 18 (2005): 170-206. Yee, Danny. Danny Yees Book Reviews. Review of Catastrophe Remembered: Palestine, Israel and the Internal Refugees, by Nur Masalha. London: Zed Books, 2008. http://dannyreviews.com/h/Catastrophe_Remembered.html. Viewed 28 May 2010. Zafran, Eris. Saturn and the Jews. Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 34 (1972): 16-27. Zanger, Jules. A Sympathetic Vibration: Dracula and the Jews. English Literature in Transition 2 (1991): 33-44. * A note from the author: Parts of this discussion appeared in Cosmopolitan Civil Societies: An Interdisciplinary Journal 3 (2011): 20-41. Louise Katz is a lecturer in writing at the University of Sydney. She has published several fantasy novels and stories.

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