COML 3530

Monsters A-X (Aristotle-X-files)

Course Description

Course information provided by the Courses of Study 2015-2016.

This course will explore the classical, medieval, and early modern sources for our notions of monsters, including strange beasts, wild men, demons, witches, and cyborgs.  What do these figures tell us about our own attitudes towards racial and gender differences, towards other species and towards nature more generally?  Finally, what do these figures tell us about our idea of what constitutes life?  Texts to be considered will include Aristotle, On the Generation of Animals, Pliny's Natural History, Chrétien de Troyes' Yvain, Ambroise Paré's On Monsters and Marvels, Beowulf, Bram Stoker's Dracula, and various episodes of the X-Files (Detour, Bad Blood, El Mundo, Gira, etc.) as well as critical material from Donna Haraway (Simians, Cyborgs and Women and Primate Visions), Judith Butler (Gender Trouble), and Julia Kristeva (Powers of Horror).

When Offered Spring.

Breadth Requirement (HB)
Distribution Category (CA-AS)

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