NEH Enduring Questions Course on "What is a Monster?"

FAIN: AQ-50859-13

College of St. Benedict (St. Joseph, MN 56374-2099)
Shane Miller (Project Director: September 2012 to September 2015)

The development of an upper-level undergraduate seminar on the question, What is a monster? -- from Antaeus to Zombies.

What is a monster? It is not hyperbole to state that all human cultures have been fascinated by the monstrous. Alternating between fear and fascination, our legends, literature and art have been home to countless depictions of monsters. This course will expose students to the immense variety of monsters produced across centuries and by different cultures. In so doing, the course will examine monsters in order to examine ourselves, for in studying what it means to call something monstrous, we must of necessity consider what it means to be human. Students will divide their time between reading and viewing the variety of monster stories and depictions, and reading and working through scholarly analyses of these monster tales. The course will broadly explore three ancillary questions: What is a monster?; Where do monsters come from?; and How do we treat our monsters?