Event Title

'Period' Literature

Presenter Information

Samantha Jones, Colby CollegeFollow

Location

Diamond 343

Start Date

30-4-2015 1:40 PM

End Date

30-4-2015 2:25 PM

Project Type

Presentation

Description

This honors project works to prove there is a correlation between the construction of gothic monsters in eighteenth-century British literature and representations of the menstruating body in contemporary literature. By looking at such texts as Matthew Gregory Lewis's 'The Monk,' Charlotte Dacre's 'Zofloya,' and Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein' and comparing both the composition and symbolic meaning of monsters in these various texts, it becomes possible to see that the same eighteenth-century fears of female sexuality and bodily autonomy are still viewed as threats to social order, Stephen King's 'Carrie' and Judy Blume's 'Hey God, It's Me, Margaret' are prominent examples of the contemporary menstruating body in literature, and although it may seem incongruous to juxtapose these texts together with gothic melodrama, themes of secrecy, violence, and disorder are similarly represented in blood and bodily change in all these texts.

Faculty Sponsor

Sonja Thomas

Sponsoring Department

Colby College. Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program

CLAS Field of Study

Interdisciplinary Studies

Event Website

http://www.colby.edu/clas

ID

1003

Share

COinS
 
Apr 30th, 1:40 PM Apr 30th, 2:25 PM

'Period' Literature

Diamond 343

This honors project works to prove there is a correlation between the construction of gothic monsters in eighteenth-century British literature and representations of the menstruating body in contemporary literature. By looking at such texts as Matthew Gregory Lewis's 'The Monk,' Charlotte Dacre's 'Zofloya,' and Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein' and comparing both the composition and symbolic meaning of monsters in these various texts, it becomes possible to see that the same eighteenth-century fears of female sexuality and bodily autonomy are still viewed as threats to social order, Stephen King's 'Carrie' and Judy Blume's 'Hey God, It's Me, Margaret' are prominent examples of the contemporary menstruating body in literature, and although it may seem incongruous to juxtapose these texts together with gothic melodrama, themes of secrecy, violence, and disorder are similarly represented in blood and bodily change in all these texts.

https://digitalcommons.colby.edu/clas/2015/program/393