Research Roundup: the anatomy of monsters
Disclosure: Please be aware that some of the links in this post are affiliate links. If you go through them to make a purchase I will earn a commission. The commission does not affect your purchase price, nor my willingness to include them. I include them because I believe they are worth supporting.
Our dive into GLaDOS marks one of our last stops on this round of the anatomy of a monster series. I may return as the days see fit for me – especially given the recent release of Resident Evil Village and the internet’s collective orgasm for Lady Dimitrescu. But for now, the monsters will retreat to only living in the back of my mind, haunting me and insisting I continue to write on them no matter how much I try to escape.
That being said, I wanted to end the latest round of monsters with a quick list of some of my favourite go-to sources when it comes to monsters and monster studies. This is a perfect starting point for anyone whose interest has been piqued and wants to start their own exploration into the study of other monsters that prowl other minds.
Due to this being a quick sum-up, it should be said that these are, of course, only my opinions as well as only some of the many many great sources which exist out there. Maybe there’ll be a part two of this list sometime in the future which will sum up some of the other sources that I’m hesitantly putting to the side right now.
So, without anymore ado, here’s my list of some of the best sources for researching monsters and delving into the world of monster studies.
Cohen’s Monster Theory must be the first pit stop to anyone wanting to start the horror trip into the study of monsters. This book is the most cited because it was pretty much the book which set up the idea of Monster Theory even being a discipline worth studying. First published in 1996, Monster Theory is an edited volume which collects some worthwhile explorations into the worlds of classic monsters like vampires, but also not so obvious monsters like conjoined twins.
Of particular note is the first chapter, written by Cohen, which spells out what he calls the “seven theses”. In this chapter, he details seven different definitions or approaches which is what makes a monster a monster. I used one of Cohen’s theses in my understanding of monster as that which bridges categories in my introductory blog post.
Stephen Asma is a great spokesperson for monsters. His work On Monsters is a great exploration into the more philosophical side of the studies of monsters. Asma goes through monsters throughout history, from griffins to zombies and ending at a conversation about cyborgs. For anyone interested in more philosophical approaches to the study of monsters, this would be a great start.
This is another edited volume, and therefore is full of so many different views and variants when it comes to an approach to monsters and the monstrous. There’s a chapter on old maps which spelled out “here be monsters”, another on mermaids, and one on Japanese ghost women. It’s a great read through for learning all sorts of different definitions of monsters, and more importantly what all can be included in the word “monster”.
Like Cohen’s edited volume, one of the greatest things you can read in this book is the introductory chapter. Asa Mittman writes this intro, and in it he spells out the exact reason why the study of monsters is so important for our understanding of our contemporary everyday life. He makes the argument that monsters teach us about what we hold important.
One more edited volume for your appreciation. I know there have a been a few of these, but they’re the best at giving you a great overview of all the different types of thinking that’s out there. Monster studies is typically very focused on the humanities: you have philosophical approaches, historical approaches, literary approaches, film studies, and other similar approaches. This book gives a wonderful look at where anthropology fits into this conversation. What makes this book great is the writers are not trying to overshadow other approaches, or show how anthropology is better – they understand that anthropology is part of a larger conversation. And that’s what’s pretty cool about it.
Okay, okay – yes this is a bit of shameless self-promotion. I wrote a book almost a year ago which explains all things monstrous in the digital sphere. I look at the classic monsters of the internet, like the Slender Man, all the way to some more recent digital monsters like Momo. Each monster is detailed and explained – not only what makes it scary but also what that teaches us about ourselves and our understanding of the digital world. If you’ve enjoyed what I’ve had to say about monsters so far, then something tells me you’ll like this one.
And now for something a little different. I don’t think O’Donnell would consider themselves as part of the world of monster studies directly, but I think they definitely fit. Passing Orders explores and explains some of the demons used by alt-right thinkers and figures to assert their homophobia, transphobia, misogyny and racism. It’s a massively important text that’s incredibly well-researched and very eloquent.
One word of note, O’Donnell is a very eloquent writer but also very academic. I didn’t personally find it too difficult of a text to read – have definitely read far worse – but you may need to take notes in the margins or on a separate sheet if this type of writing is new to you.
Donna Haraway is a go-to name when it comes to monster studies, and she’s not even a thinker who’s obviously a fit. Again, this is someone not precisely in monster studies, but is a perfect conversation piece for the field. Haraway has an interesting perspective on the cyborg. For Haraway, a cyborg is when the boundaries between machine and human are broken down and considered unimportant. She uses this conception of the human as cyborg (as we live in an incredibly more machine-driven world) to move beyond even more boundaries. Haraway also has the concept of the Cthulucene, which she uses to pit against the common idea of the Anthropocenen – a time of monsters and cyborgs rather than of humans.
In Staying With the Trouble, she revisits several of these talking points, so you don’t miss anything, while also talking about the importance of troubling categories and boundaries – something often attributed to monsters. She also talks about how important it is to find talking points between humans and our animal companions and friends.
Haraway presents a very different way of thinking of monsters than a lot of the other books mentioned, but it’s an important one.
So that’s a quick pseudo-annotated bibliography to help jump start any exploration into the world of monsters. Let me know what all you find as you do your own jump into the worlds of monsters. And there’s also a little more for you – I have a downloadable self-directed course on Digital Monsters where I do go into some general monster theories, as well as giving you several chapters to read from the above texts. May be a good way to start if you’re drowning in choices.