Sirens, Satyrs and the Monstrous Imagination

Catalog description

This class investigates the form and function of various monstrous figures in the imagination of the Graeco-Roman world. Through a series of test cases (gorgons, sirens, centaurs, satyrs and others) students will examine the role of monsters and uncanny creatures in establishing norms of body type, gender, behaviour, epistemology and social order in Greece and Rome. Areas of investigation will focus on the dissemination of images in poetry and visual media, the persistent connection of the monstrous with aberrant female sexuality and behaviour, the use of the monstrous in defining normative male behaviour, and, somewhat paradoxically, the role of the monstrous in ludic and anarchic settings, particularly in relation to Dionysiac and transgressive performance. The potential of the monstrous to instantiate anomaly and the social significance of the threat of disorder will be explored ina. variety of settings and genre.