Proximate monstrosity from Mandeville to Spenser

我的研究项目将研究各种中世纪和早期现代文本中怪物人类的表现，认为这些文本既揭示了怪物的流动边界，也试图减轻对怪物的焦虑。我将以中世纪学者最近的作品为基础，他们试图在那个时期的文学中对自我和他者之间的二分法提出质疑，认为许多作家对怪物表现出微妙的看法，并且对自己的北方性非常警惕。在建立了中世纪的背景之后，我将继续讨论近代早期“怪物种族”和怪物出生之间的重叠，认为新教畸形学中神奇的表现允许国内和国外，规范和越轨，古代和当代之间有趣的滑移。我的项目还将涉及对斯宾塞的《仙后》中怪物人类的表现的扩展考虑。我的研究的这一部分——实际上，我的总体项目——将试图对人类与怪物、当代与古代、国内与国外的二分法提出质疑，并进一步挑战欧洲基督教自我的规范性。

My research project will examine the representation of monstrous humans in a variety of medieval and early moderntexts, arguing that these texts both reveal and seek to allay anxieties about the fluid boundaries of monstrosity. I will buildon recent work by medievalists who have sought to trouble the dichotomies between Self and Other in the period'sliterature, arguing that many writers demonstrate a nuanced view of monstrosity and are incredibly alert to their ownOtherness. Having established a medieval context, I will move on to discuss the overlap between 'monstrous races' andmonstrous births in the early modern period, arguing that the representation of the marvellous in Protestant teratologiesallows for interesting slippages between the domestic and foreign, normative and deviant, ancient and contemporary. Myproject will also involve an extended consideration of the representation of monstrous humans in Spenser's FaerieQueene. This strand of my research - and, indeed, my project in general - will seek to trouble the dichotomies betweenhuman and monster, contemporary and ancient, domestic and foreign and, by extension, challenge the normativity of theEuropean Christian Self.