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On Monsters: An Unnatural History of Our Worst Fears

Page 47

by Asma, Stephen T.


  and concept of souls, 79

  ethnocentrism of, 36, 37

  and hermaphrodites, 42

  and prophetic arts, 39

  Grendel, 94, 95, 100, 101, 252

  griffins, 27–30

  and dinosaur fossils, 29

  as embellishment, 127–128

  as liminal beings, 40, 125, 127–128

  Grigori (“the Watchers”), 72, 74

  Guinness, Alec, 235

  Gunnarsson, Sturla, 100

  Habib, Malim Abdul, 253

  Ham, 73, 84–85, 86

  Hamann, Johan Georg, 153

  Hammer Horror films, 193

  Hare, Robert, 220

  Harris, Eric, 204

  Harris, Sam, 250

  Harvey, Michael, 219, 225, 280

  Hawk, Howard, 200

  headless fetuses (acephalous), 160–161, 161

  headless monsters

  Augustine on, 77

  as category jamming, 184

  and Christianity, 88

  depiction of, 78

  in literature, 78, 131–132, 140

  and rise of science, 129

  Heaney, Michael, 29–30

  heartless fetuses, 160

  Heart of Darkness (Conrad), 187

  Hecuba, 8

  hedonism, 14, 52–54, 241, 243

  Heidegger, Martin, 185–186, 194

  Heine, Heinrich, 208–209

  hell, 71

  helplessness, 192

  Henry III, King of France, 107

  Heraclitus, 45

  Hercules, 99–100

  heredity, 170

  Hereford mappamundi, 87–88

  heresy, 107–108

  hermaphrodites, 39–42, 41, 57, 76, 77

  Herodotus, 28, 37, 242

  heroics, 23–25, 99–102

  Herschel, John, 275

  Hesiod, 27, 37

  Heth, Joice, 135

  Hezbollah martyrs, 249

  Hinduism, 66

  hippocentaurs, 35, 51

  Hippocrates, 147

  Hirsi Ali, Ayaan, 249, 251

  History of Animals (Aristotle), 33

  Hitchens, Christopher, 251

  Hitler, Adolf, 238

  hoaxes

  Feejee Mermaid taxidermy, 136, 140

  hydra of Hamburg, 123–124, 124

  naturalists’ exposure of, 129

  Noctifer hoax, 134

  taxidermy fraud of Waterton, 132–134

  Washington’s nurse, 135

  Hobbs, Jerry, 10–11

  Hobbs, Laura, 10

  Holley, Scott, 176–177

  homeotic genes, 171, 176, 177–178

  Homer, 26–27, 37

  Homme machine (La Mettrie), 150

  homologies, 164, 165–166, 168

  homunculi, 79

  honor, 102

  hopeful monsters, 170–171, 173, 175, 178–179

  horror

  as artistic genre, 183

  bio-horror, 184, 201

  and catharsis, 196–197, 201

  Freud on, 188–194

  horror films, 192, 193–198, 199–202, 266

  horror literature, 184–186, 195

  nature of, 184–188

  and suffering, 198–199

  term, 183

  and vulnerability, 192

  Hostel, 195, 196

  Hostel II, 195

  host-parasite relationships, 198–199, 201

  Hox genes, 178

  hubris, 73, 256

  human genome mapping, 176

  humanity, 8

  Hume, David, 36, 236, 250

  humiliation, 211

  hungry ghosts, 14

  Hunter, John, 152, 153, 154–156, 159

  Hunterian Museum, 5, 6

  Huntington, Samuel P., 240, 243

  Hutus, 240

  Huxley, T. H., 187–188

  hybrids

  between animals and man, 36

  of the Bible, 67

  explanations for, 145

  Lucretius on, 47

  in nature, 125

  reactions to, 275

  reproduction of, 167–168

  of Waterton, 133–134

  hydra

  in Book of Revelation, 67, 68

  fear-based response to, 186

  Hamburg hoax, 123–126, 124

  as liminal beings, 40

  hygiene threats, 281

  hypertrichosis (werewolf syndrome), 137

  Id, 209, 212–215, 217, 218

  ideologies, 249, 250–252

  illusions, 114

  imaginal disks, 172

  imagination, 14, 146–148, 162, 186–187

  immortality, 190

  impulsiveness, 220

  impurities, 184

  In Absentia, 194

  incest, 204–205, 212, 216–217

  incubi, 113, 144, 145

  India and Indians, 19–22, 21, 36, 78, 88, 233

  indignation, 211, 246

  individualism, 241

  infanticide

  in ancient Rome, 40, 41

  of Medea, 55–56, 56, 57, 59

  of Susan Smith, 59, 231

  injuries, 201

  Inland Empire, 193

  Inquisition, 107–108, 112, 113

  instincts, 4, 209, 239–240

  Institoris, Heinrich, 112, 113–118, 119

  intelligence, 15

  interstitial entities, 184

  Interview with a Vampire, 195

  Iran, 242–243

  Iraq war, 197, 222, 235, 241, 245, 258

  Irving, Washington, 183

  Isidore, of Seville, Saint, 75–76, 77, 78–79, 126, 146

  Islam and Muslims

  criticisms of, 249

  and the Crusades, 90–91

  and education of women, 253–254

  and Ham, 85

  monster narratives of, 92–93

  and Pope Benedict, 250

  on souls, 79

  and xenophobia, 87, 240, 241–242

  Jackson, Cindy, 265–266

  Jackson, Michael, 266

  Jack the Ripper, 195

  Japan, 255–257, 263

  Jason, 55, 56, 57

  J. Craig Venter Institute, 271

  Jefferson, Thomas, 32, 236–237

  Jeftichew, Fedor, 137, 137

  Jerome, 72, 234

  Jesus (biblical), 88, 90, 91

  Jews and Judaism

  and anti-Semitism, 90, 209, 216, 217, 235

  and Cain, 89

  and Christianity, 90–91

  as curiosity, 123

  and Golem, 11–12

  and Ham, 85

  and heroics, 102

  lost tribes, 90

  and Muslims, 241

  and Nazis, 235, 238–239

  portrayed in film, 255

  on souls, 79

  and xenophobia, 87

  Jim Crow era, 233

  Job (biblical), 64–65, 106

  John of Patmos, 67

  Johnson, Mark, 13, 14

  Johnson, William Henry, 138–139, 139

  Jones, E. Michael, 195–196

  Journey to Paradise (Alexander), 100

  Judgement Day, 100

  Julian the Apostate, 86

  Jung, Carl, 225, 278

  justice, 53, 211

  Kafka, Franz, 252

  Kandahar, Afghanistan, 253

  Kant, Immanuel, 186–187, 191

  karnapravarana (giant-eared races), 37

  Katz, Jack, 211

  Kazmierczak, Steven, 203–204, 204–205, 245–246

  Kelsey, Willie, 204

  Kenya, 278

  Khmer Rouge prison S21, 7–9, 8

  Khomeini, Ruhollah, 241

  Kiehl, Kent A., 223

  Kimball, Moses, 136, 138

  King, Stephen, 183, 185, 195

  King Kong, 201

  Klebold, Dylan, 204

  Knott, Elizabeth, 109

  Konner, Melvin, 223

  Kottelat, Maurice, 177

&nb
sp; “The Kraken” (Tennyson), 185

  Kraken sea monster, 2, 185

  Krishna, 66

  Krueger, Alan, 249

  Krueger, Freddy, 195

  Kubrick, Stanley, 193

  Ku Klux Klan, 233

  Kyoto agreement, 248

  La Chanson de Roland, 102

  Lakoff, George, 13, 14

  La Mettrie, Julien Offray de, 150–151

  language, 238–239

  lanugo, 168

  Last House on the Left, 197

  Lawrence, William, 152, 153, 159, 160–162, 167

  Lazarus and Baptista (conjoined twins), 83, 84

  Leach, Harvey, 138

  Lean, David, 235

  Leatherface, 195

  Lecter, Hannibal, 195

  Lectures on Physiology, Zoology and the Natural History of Man (Lawrence), 153

  Leopold, Nathan, 205–208, 206, 217–218, 245

  Letter to Aristotle (Alexander), 94

  Leviathan, 64, 65–66, 185

  Levi-Strauss, Claude, 197

  Levy, Steven, 259–260

  Lewis, Meriwether, 32

  Lewis, Robert, 232

  Liber Monstrorum (Book of Monsters), 94, 126, 127

  Libya, 78

  Life of Anthony (Athanasius), 106–107

  Life Plus 99 Years (Leopold), 205

  limbs, severed, 188, 190, 193

  liminal beings, 40, 269

  Link, Luther, 64

  Linnaeus, Carl, 123–125, 124, 128, 129

  Lives of the Caesars (Suetonius), 30–31

  Lives of the Saints (Orchard), 100

  Livy, 39, 40–41, 50

  Loch Ness Monster, 279

  Locke, John, 236

  Loeb, Richard, 205–208, 206, 217–218, 245

  Loew, Judah, 11, 12

  Lombroso, Cesare, 283

  Lost Highway, 193

  Lovecraft, H. P., 184–185, 186, 191, 192, 194, 200

  Lucas, Henry Lee, 280

  The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil (Zimbardo), 244–245

  luck, role of, 59–60

  Lucretius, 44, 47, 49–50

  Luther, Martin, 68, 70–71, 142

  Lyell, Charles, 166

  Lynch, David, 193

  lynchings, 232–233

  Macbeth (Shakespeare), 130

  Macedonian Empire, 69

  macromutation

  Darwin’s objection to, 166–169, 179

  and evo-devo, 178

  Goldschmidt on, 170–171

  and hopeful monsters, 170–171, 173, 175, 178–179

  and micromutations, 175

  Owen’s proposal of, 165–166

  and speciation, 168–169

  and zebra fish mutations, 177

  Mahabharata, 37

  Mailer, Norman, 255

  Maimonides, 70

  Malawi, 278

  maleficium, acts of, 113, 114

  malformations, 160, 283

  malignant hearts, 227–228

  Malleus Maleficarum, 113–114, 115, 117

  Malthus, Thomas, 168

  Mandeville, Sir John, 27, 90–91

  manipulation, 220

  manliness, 23–25, 95, 99–100

  Mansfield, Harvey, 25

  Manson, Charles, 195, 280

  manticores, 33, 34, 35

  mappaemundi, 87–88, 89

  mark of the beast, 68

  Marlowe, Christopher, 131

  Marshal, Elaine, 233

  martyrs, 249

  marvelous, three levels of response to, 130–132, 140

  marvels, 146

  Marx, Karl, 243

  mastodons, 31, 32

  materialism, 43, 143, 145, 148–151, 152–153, 159

  The Matrix films, 258, 267

  Mayor, Adrienne, 27, 28, 29–30

  McCarthy, Cormac, 25, 197

  McElrath-Bey, Xavier, 247

  McMahon, Lena, 232

  MDARS-E armed robots, 259

  Mealy, Linda, 225

  Medea, 55–57, 56, 58, 59, 210

  media, 226, 239, 245, 258

  Median Empire, 69

  medieval monsters, 63–120

  Alexander’s Gates, 86–93

  and Beowulf, 23, 94–102, 252, 281

  biblical monsters, 63–73

  genealogy of monsters, 84–86

  and reconfiguration of heroics, 99–100

  theological understanding of, 71, 75–83, 163–164

  See also demons and devils; witches

  Medina, David, 279

  Medusa, 190, 191

  “Medusa’s Head” (Freud), 190

  Megalonyx (“Great Claw”), 32

  megalonyxes, 32

  Megasthenes, 36

  Mekong River, 1

  Mendelian genetics, 170

  mental illness, 115

  mermaids, 136, 140

  mermen, 30

  metamorphosis, 155

  metaphor, monsters as, 13–14

  Michael (biblical), 67

  microcephalics, 138–139

  micromutation, 174–175, 178

  Middle East, 233–234

  A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Shakespeare), 130

  midwives, 112

  Milgram, Stanley, 7, 244

  mimesis, 34–35

  Minotaurs, 40, 191

  Minsky, Marvin, 261

  missing links, 139

  misunderstood monsters archetype, 11–12

  modernity, 186, 202, 212

  monk-calf monster, 142

  monkeys, 3, 5

  monotheism, 63

  monster

  concept, 7, 253, 282–283

  term, 8, 13, 15, 228, 253

  “The Monster” (Crane), 231–232

  Monster (film), 59

  Montaigne, Michel de, xv

  moral depravity, 142–143

  Mori, Masahiro, 190–191

  morphology, 164–165, 172

  mortality, 266

  Morton, Samuel George, 238

  mosaic beings, 40

  Mosse, George, 238

  mothers

  Medea, 55–57, 56, 58, 210

  Susan Smith, 59, 231

  mouthless humans, 77

  movies. See films mucus, 184

  mules, 167

  Mulholland Drive, 193

  multilingualism, 85

  murder, 210, 246

  murderabilia, 279, 280

  Muslims. See Islam and Muslims mutation

  and Darwinian evolution, 166–169

  and developmental patterns, 172

  early theories, 163–166

  and evo-devo, 175–178

  macromutation, 165–166, 166–169, 170–171, 175, 177, 178

  micromutation, 174–175, 178

  and morphology, 172–175

  See also evolution

  Myers, Michael, 195

  “Mythic Creatures: Dragons, Unicorns and Mermaids,” 280

  mythic narratives, 197–198

  nanotechnology, 260

  narcissism

  and criminal minds, 211, 218

  in film, 212

  Freudian theory on, 188–189, 191, 192

  Native Americans, 236–237, 238

  natural history, 27, 32–36, 188

  Natural History (Pliny the Elder)

  authoritative status of, 33, 77

  on griffins, 27

  on hermaphrodites, 42

  and Mirabilibus, 88

  naturalism

  criticisms of, 162

  on functions, 157

  and Hunter, 156

  and Paré, 144–148

  on race, 238

  and Sadler, 143

  See also Aristotle; Paré, Ambroise

  natural selection

  and ancient theories of animal origins, 46

  Darwin’s theory of, 168, 178, 275

  and phobias, 4, 4

  and race, 237

  natural theologians, 159, 164, 165

  Nature’s plaything
s, 38

  Nazis, 220–221, 238, 244, 274

  neo-Darwinians, 175, 176, 178

  neo-Enlightenment, 253

  neoteny, 177

  Nepaul barley, 170

  nephilim (biblical), 72–73, 74–75, 76

  The New Atlantis (Bacon), 127

  New Synthesis, 170, 275

  New Testament, 66–67

  New York Atlas, 135

  Nietzsche, Friedrich, 101, 187, 208

  Nile River, 88

  Nimrod, 73, 85

  Noah (biblical), 72, 84–85, 88

  nobility, 101

  Noctifer hoax, 134

  nondescripts, 133–134, 135, 136, 138

  nonfunctional traits, 167

  North American, exploration of, 32

  Nous (Mind), 43

  nuclear weapons, 256–257

  Nussbaum, Martha, 8

  oarfish, 1–2

  Obama, Barack, 247

  octopi, giant, 35, 185

  Odontotyrannus, 31

  Odysseus, 98, 99

  Odyssey (Homer), 26–27, 57

  Oliver Twist, 235

  omens, portents and prophetic arts, 13

  Aristotle on, 48–49

  centaur as, 44–45, 48

  hermaphrodites as, 39–40, 57

  monstrous ram as, 43, 48

  reliance on, 39

  toad-fish monster as, 141–142

  one-legged men (Sciopodes), 77–78, 78, 129

  On Monsters and Marvels (Pare), 144

  “On the Proper Time to Slip the Cable” (Seneca), 60

  ontogeny, 164

  oppression, 246–249

  orbitofrontal cortex, 223

  Orchard, Andy, 100

  The Organ of the Devil (Rops), 118

  Orientalism, 37–38, 236

  Origin of Species (Darwin), 138, 168

  Orlan, 262, 265, 266

  O’Sullivan, Deborah, 204

  Othello (Shakespeare), 131–132

  Our Posthuman Future (Fukuyama), 273

  outcast archetype, 11–12, 100–101

  Owen, Richard, 165–169, 178, 179

  pain, sympathetic, 224

  paleontology, 164

  Palestine, 69

  Palmer, John, 109–110

  paralimbic system, 223

  parasitic relationships, 198–199, 201, 251

  Paré, Ambroise, 129, 141, 144–148, 155, 156

  parents, 209–210, 269–270, 273–274. See

  also mothers Paris, Mathew, 87

  Parmenides, 37

  Pascal, Blaise, xv

  passion, 55–56, 58–59

  Passion of St. Christopher, 81

  Patriot Act, 241

  Pax genes, 178

  Peale, Charles Wilson, 135

  pedophiles, 223

  penis removal, 110–111, 112, 190

  pentadactyly, 164, 173–174

  perception, 49–50

  Pericles, 42–43

  Perseus, 190, 191

  Persians, 37, 69, 242–243, 283

  pessimism, 187–188, 191, 198, 209

  Pew Research Center, 249

  Phaedrus, 51

  phenotypes, 171

  Philadelphia Public Ledger, 136

  phobias, 1–5, 198, 281

  Phorcides, 28

  Physiologus, 126

  The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes, 194

  “Ping Body” performance art, 264–265

  plastic surgeries, 262, 265–266, 276–277

 

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