ENGLISH 400: MONSTER THEORY
Iris Newlin
Research Abstract
"Remembering the Unwritten by Reassembling the Unspoken: The Intersection of The Story/Body in The Devourers"
The Devourers, while delving into the traditional werewolf or shapeshifter dichotomy of public versus private presentation in its depiction of the monsters first and second selves, uses this as a parallel for multiple other dichotomies: civilization and wilderness, human and inhuman, and (most pertinent here) written history and lived experience. The interesting thing about the written history and lived experience dichotomy is that it maps well onto another dichotomy found in The Devourers: the embodied and the
disembodied. In this essay, I will explore how the embodied and disembodied dichotomy dovetails with the written history and lived experiences dichotomy by analyzing the creation, appearances, and roles of Fenrir's written account for Cyrah. Using a queer studies lens, I will analyze the intersections of communication, bodies, and language that are embedded in that manuscript to gain an understanding of the presentation of body/story in the devourers. The way the text blurs boundaries means that mapping its history/experience dichotomy onto bodies affords a better understanding of writing in and on bodies, and, ultimately, embodied communication. Identity is constructed by stories, but all stories start with our bodies.
Capstone Presentation
"Useless Relic: The Destruction of Grendel's Bloodline in Beowulf"
Why does the sword Beowulf uses to kill Grendel and his dam melt like an icicle afterward (1605-1610)? To understand this scene, we'll need an understanding of the ancient Anglo-Saxons view of swords as lineage. Knowing their relationship to weaponry and spoils of war will help us understand the connections between Beowulf's relationship to the monsters and Beowulf's own absent lineage.