Okay, so this is obvs not my best work, but I really didn't put any effort into it. I think it's a fun premise, but I haven't been in the best frame of mind lately. (Y'all know.) So the paper is sort of all over the place. But whatevs, the topic is fun.
Anies, here's my latest paper.
The attempt to establish an identity drives a culture's history. For the so-called Anglo-Saxons of medieval England, this striving for a national identity created a literature and established cultural traditions that, for good or ill, are still in practice today. Jeffrey Cohen illustrates in "The Ruins of Identity" how the concept and creation of monsters, particularly cannibalistic monsters, helped these people work through their fears of the newly externalized world. The warring and constantly changing tribes and groups of peoples in medieval England sought to establish the idea of the "self"--a being that stands separate and independent of its surroundings_while simultaneously negotiating ever-shifting cultural identities that required a bridging of the self into the other of tribal community. For this reason, cannibalism is a particularly potent symbol, as it represents, "a fear or losing the boundary that circumscribes identity and produces discrete subjects" (Cohen, 2). The act of cannibalism physically destroys the boundary of the self by merging the corporal being of a person_that which most concretely represents the individual as such_with that of another person. The cannibalistic deed becomes particularly monstrous because of this huge transgression of identity and individuality.
Monsters are particularly uncanny symbols for identity and the struggle for identity because they blur the line between the real and the imagined. In many ways, they are relatable and real, while in others (their super-human strength or size) they are fantastic. These "creatures", if they can be called that, live in a particular in-between place of the mind. This physical marginality supports their status as outsider while creating an uncanny effect. In the literature of monstrosity, the audience seldom sees or understands the monster directly. The language, as in Beowulf, is allusive and allows the audience to experience the "monster" solely through his/its actions as perceived by the men of Heorot. Grendel cannot become wholly realized because he constantly inhabits the unknown, and therefore unreal, space outside of the world of Heorot: physically and linguistically (Sandner).
Cannibalism becomes a particularly strong symbol of monstrosity during the Crusades, as described by Geraldine Heng. According to Heng, there exist multiple records of European Christian Crusaders devouring the flesh of defeated Saracen foes. This cannibalism is especially horrifying of a people who define themselves as higher on a spiritual plane, who seek to separate themselves from the animals and monsters of the "outside". The routinely monsterized enemy is no longer clearly defined. Down the generations, the story of Christian cannibalism during the Crusades becomes repressed and covered through metaphor and fiction. From this repression arises the description of the giant at Mont Saint-Michel in the Alliterative Morte Arthur and in Geoffrey of Monmouth's history of England.
The giant represents a cultural "other" as defined by his Eastern heritage and customs. Because the giant is an "other", his lifestyle is monsterized. Sigmund Freud stated that evilness is often ascribed to the uncanny, that which triggers repressed memories. As an other, and as an Easterner who serves to remind the British of the cannibalistic atrocities committed during the Crusades, the giant becomes uncanny in one sense (recalling the repressed). He is then given every evil trait, down to his very appearance. He practices animalistic lust and sexuality and must be literally castrated.
The monsterization of the outsider is prevalent throughout British narratives of the time and leading up to it. (It is hardly arguable that such still takes place today in even the most "developed" of cultures.) Grendel and his mother, in Beowulf, are clear outsiders who must listen to the strains of mirth and music that pour from Heorot. This constant reminder of the warmth of hearth and comitatus that is denied Grendel pushes him to his "crimes" against the men of Heorot. In the telling of this story, and the later translations, Grendel, as an outsider to Heorot and Germanic culture becomes a monster. Deepening his "monstrosity" is his status as something out of history. This ancient aloneness stirs repressed memories of a time before the solidity of tribe and mead hall that terrifies the men of Heorot and the audience of the poem. Recalling this repressed cultural memory stirs the feelings of uncanniness that Sigmund Freud attempted to define.
The giant of Mont Saint Michel, too, does this, recalling the cannibalism of the Crusaders. As the "intimate other" (Bildhauer), the giant represents all that is loathsome to the British identity. The monstrous acts of European Christians are projected onto the outsider. Because this behavior is both terrifying and identifiable, it fits Freud's theory of the heimlich and the unheimlich. The cannibalism is familiar, making it more terrifying; this is the "intimate stranger" aspect of this particular monster. The cannibalism is an historical event kept secret, repressed, unacknowledged, though known in the cultural memory to have taken place (heimlich). The giant, however, makes the behavior public (unheimlich), committing the deed with relish, exposing it to judgment and condemnation. This simultaneously exposes the British. In slaying the "giant", the ironic hero Arthur psychically rescues British identity from the clutches of monstrosity.
Some Qs:
1. What do you think human flesh would taste like?
2. How often do you brush your teeth?
3. If you had to move somwhere else, all expenses paid, where would you go?
4. Pick one: Loft, Brownstone, Farm House, McMansion, Trailer.
5. What's the one question you never want a significant other to ask?
Anies, here's my latest paper.
The attempt to establish an identity drives a culture's history. For the so-called Anglo-Saxons of medieval England, this striving for a national identity created a literature and established cultural traditions that, for good or ill, are still in practice today. Jeffrey Cohen illustrates in "The Ruins of Identity" how the concept and creation of monsters, particularly cannibalistic monsters, helped these people work through their fears of the newly externalized world. The warring and constantly changing tribes and groups of peoples in medieval England sought to establish the idea of the "self"--a being that stands separate and independent of its surroundings_while simultaneously negotiating ever-shifting cultural identities that required a bridging of the self into the other of tribal community. For this reason, cannibalism is a particularly potent symbol, as it represents, "a fear or losing the boundary that circumscribes identity and produces discrete subjects" (Cohen, 2). The act of cannibalism physically destroys the boundary of the self by merging the corporal being of a person_that which most concretely represents the individual as such_with that of another person. The cannibalistic deed becomes particularly monstrous because of this huge transgression of identity and individuality.
Monsters are particularly uncanny symbols for identity and the struggle for identity because they blur the line between the real and the imagined. In many ways, they are relatable and real, while in others (their super-human strength or size) they are fantastic. These "creatures", if they can be called that, live in a particular in-between place of the mind. This physical marginality supports their status as outsider while creating an uncanny effect. In the literature of monstrosity, the audience seldom sees or understands the monster directly. The language, as in Beowulf, is allusive and allows the audience to experience the "monster" solely through his/its actions as perceived by the men of Heorot. Grendel cannot become wholly realized because he constantly inhabits the unknown, and therefore unreal, space outside of the world of Heorot: physically and linguistically (Sandner).
Cannibalism becomes a particularly strong symbol of monstrosity during the Crusades, as described by Geraldine Heng. According to Heng, there exist multiple records of European Christian Crusaders devouring the flesh of defeated Saracen foes. This cannibalism is especially horrifying of a people who define themselves as higher on a spiritual plane, who seek to separate themselves from the animals and monsters of the "outside". The routinely monsterized enemy is no longer clearly defined. Down the generations, the story of Christian cannibalism during the Crusades becomes repressed and covered through metaphor and fiction. From this repression arises the description of the giant at Mont Saint-Michel in the Alliterative Morte Arthur and in Geoffrey of Monmouth's history of England.
The giant represents a cultural "other" as defined by his Eastern heritage and customs. Because the giant is an "other", his lifestyle is monsterized. Sigmund Freud stated that evilness is often ascribed to the uncanny, that which triggers repressed memories. As an other, and as an Easterner who serves to remind the British of the cannibalistic atrocities committed during the Crusades, the giant becomes uncanny in one sense (recalling the repressed). He is then given every evil trait, down to his very appearance. He practices animalistic lust and sexuality and must be literally castrated.
The monsterization of the outsider is prevalent throughout British narratives of the time and leading up to it. (It is hardly arguable that such still takes place today in even the most "developed" of cultures.) Grendel and his mother, in Beowulf, are clear outsiders who must listen to the strains of mirth and music that pour from Heorot. This constant reminder of the warmth of hearth and comitatus that is denied Grendel pushes him to his "crimes" against the men of Heorot. In the telling of this story, and the later translations, Grendel, as an outsider to Heorot and Germanic culture becomes a monster. Deepening his "monstrosity" is his status as something out of history. This ancient aloneness stirs repressed memories of a time before the solidity of tribe and mead hall that terrifies the men of Heorot and the audience of the poem. Recalling this repressed cultural memory stirs the feelings of uncanniness that Sigmund Freud attempted to define.
The giant of Mont Saint Michel, too, does this, recalling the cannibalism of the Crusaders. As the "intimate other" (Bildhauer), the giant represents all that is loathsome to the British identity. The monstrous acts of European Christians are projected onto the outsider. Because this behavior is both terrifying and identifiable, it fits Freud's theory of the heimlich and the unheimlich. The cannibalism is familiar, making it more terrifying; this is the "intimate stranger" aspect of this particular monster. The cannibalism is an historical event kept secret, repressed, unacknowledged, though known in the cultural memory to have taken place (heimlich). The giant, however, makes the behavior public (unheimlich), committing the deed with relish, exposing it to judgment and condemnation. This simultaneously exposes the British. In slaying the "giant", the ironic hero Arthur psychically rescues British identity from the clutches of monstrosity.
Some Qs:
1. What do you think human flesh would taste like?
2. How often do you brush your teeth?
3. If you had to move somwhere else, all expenses paid, where would you go?
4. Pick one: Loft, Brownstone, Farm House, McMansion, Trailer.
5. What's the one question you never want a significant other to ask?
VIEW 8 of 8 COMMENTS
oh and
1. well we're red meat, right? i guess steak or venison or rabbit or something red dark and greasy. ewww.
2. once or twice a day depending on how late for work i am.
3. montreal. no question. the people their are my favorite.
4. loft. i wish.
5. anything personal