Deformed Discourse: The Function of the Monster in Mediaeval Thought and Literature

Deformed Discourse: The Function of the Monster in Mediaeval Thought and Literature
ISBN-10
0773518711
ISBN-13
9780773518711
Category
Art
Pages
392
Language
English
Published
1999
Publisher
McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP
Author
David Williams

Description

Adult survivors of children's stories can be forgiven for thinking the only function of medieval monsters was to fail, just barely, to eat virgins and to die, just barely, under the hero's ministrations. Williams (English, McGill U.) enlarges the view, tracing the poetics of teratology, the study of monsters, to Christian neoplatonic theology, especially the concept that God cannot be known except by knowing what he is not. He also provides a taxonomy of monsters with glosses, and examines the monstrous and deformed in three heroic sagas and three saints' lives. Includes many reproductions. Canadian card order number: C96-900457-5. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

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