Medieval Matters: The Monstrous, the Macabre, the Miraculous

Catalog description

This course will explore three distinct but interrelated topics in medieval visual culture, which haunt the modern world as well. We will first study the concepts of the monsters and the monstrous in medieval Europe, as they were manifested in visual, literary, and cryptozoological production. From monster theory to monster culture, we will look at the anxieties that the monsters--those from the edges, those from within--have written on the body of medieval art. These same anxieties, rooted in the fear of difference, manifest themselves in the macabre art: the art of living death that predicated material universe of the late Middle Ages. We will explore the ghosts and the revenants, the living corpses and the nimble skeletons that populate medieval murals, manuscripts, and sculpture. All this is wrapped into the notion of the miraculous, both wondrous and dangerous at once. Here, the focus will be on female bodies, seen as monstrous, macabre, and miraculous at once. Students should be prepared to discuss these topics both within the context of medieval Europe and within our own historical moment. Offered as ARTH 356 and ARTH 456 . Counts as a Human Diversity & Commonality course. Counts as a Understanding Global Perspectives course.