Monstrous Reflection

This volume was first published by Inter-Disciplinary Press in 2014. By engaging and questioning existing definitions and ideas, all of the essays in this volume represent the idea of a 'monstrous reflection' in one way or another. Monsters can serve as a means to explore the cultural anxieties they embody and the reasons for these anxieties. Thus monsters act as mirrors highlighting the causes for the creation of categories. A reflection can also be a comment or statement applicable in that the monstrous or the word 'monster' becomes a label of otherness and exclusion. This label is sometimes a construction, a discursive and rhetorical trope, which only serves to other those deemed different or undesirable, suggesting that the monster might not always be monstrous. This volume is about the ones gazing into the mirror and the 'things' staring back at humanity along with the uncomfortable truths that are revealed in the process.