Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2005. / Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center; full text release delayed at author's request until 2010 May 24.

Cette étude que j'ai intitulé «Œuvre monstre, une création informe» s'inscrit dans une recherche dans l'art contemporain sur des phénomènes plastiques liés à l'idée de l'extrême. Ils restent tributaires d'une théorie de la forme vers celle de l'informe et d'une grande plasticité que rehaussent mes œuvres personnelles, mélangeant de façon heureuse la sculpture traditionnelle et le numérique. Or, associer l'image numérique, l'argile et la vidéo au sujet du monstre était une manière de toucher au plus profond des œuvres cruelles et informes, de ressemblances déchirantes et déchirées. La forme monstrueuse n'est donc pas réduite à une simple signification consciente, elle transcrit un discours univoque et le monstre devient alors le concept par excellence dans ma pratique plastique. L'œuvre devient de l'ordre de "monstrum", l'image est d'essence "monstrative". Chaque image, telle qu'elle soit, numérique, photographique ou vidéographique est une monstrance. La sculpture serait la représentation du corps déchu, ou de l'image de la mort, qui surgit dans le miroir de Narcisse qui n'a plus rien à faire de la ressemblance, donnant un reflet qui appréhende le masque de Méduse. Cette recherche qui s'attache à l'informe, débusque les mythes sous des pratiques violentes et accidentées, appuyée par une recherche théorique qui s'est développée notamment autour de la pensée de Georges Bataille, ainsi que des anthropologues et de la phénoménologie, et par leurs pensées, l'œuvre ramène les différentes expériences d'extrême, d'excès, et de perte, à la dimension du sacrifice. / This study I entitled "Monster Work, a Formless Creation" is to be inscribed within a contemporary art research that deals with the idea of the extreme in relation to plastic phenomena, for the latter depend on the theory of form and on a great plasticity enhanced by personal creations that happily melt traditional sculptures with digital technology. As a matter of fact, combining the digital image, the clay and the video, with the monster, was a way to reach what is profound within formless and cruel works of art that are of painful and torn resemblances. The monstrous form is, thus, not reduced to a simple conscious significance, it transcribes an unambiguous discourse and the monster becomes the concept, par excellence, of my plastic practice. The work of art becomes connected to the "monstrum" and the image is inherently endowed with a visual power (in French "monstrative"). Every image, be it digital, photographic or video graphic is a monstrance. Sculpture would be the representation of the fallen body or the image of death that appears in Narcissus Mirror and that is no longer related to any form of resemblance, showing a reflection that grasps the Mask of Medusa. This research that is focusing on formlessness serves to dispel the myths under violent and rugged practices supported by a theoretical research based on the philosophy of Georges Bataille as well as that of anthropologists and phenomenologists, and through their thoughts, the work brings the different experiences of extremes, excess and loss to the dimension of sacrifice.

L’objectif de cette thèse a été d’étudier les caractéristiques et la spécificité des discours savants, élaborés au 18e siècle par des académiciens, des naturalistes, des médecins et des accoucheurs, sur la question des malformations physiques. Que signifie de façon plus concrète appartenir à la période positive1 pour l’écriture savante sur les êtres difformes. Nous avons procédé en trois temps et enquêté sur trois cadres discursifs différents : les mémoires académiques publiés à l’Académie Royale des Sciences à Paris, les traités d’histoire naturelle, les manuels d’accouchement et deux dissertations concernant la légitimité des naissances tardives. Dans ces espaces, l’importance accordée au corps difforme varie en fonction de l’ethos des auteurs, de leur approche méthodologique et selon les objectifs du cadre discursif dans lequel ils s’expriment.Le témoignage oculaire, la dissection et l’observation sont des paramètres centraux pour les académiciens qui examinent le corps difforme per se. Les traités d’histoire naturelle ont une envergure plus générale, les auteurs doivent prendre en considération une multitude des phénomènes. Dans le cadre de ce savoir les monstres deviennent une partie de la nature. La naturalisation des êtres malformés et leur considération comme des parties inhérentes à la nature continue l’idée que les monstres sont des êtres réels. Dans les discours qui concernent les naissances, les monstres sont présentés comme des cas pathologiques qui dérangent le déroulement normal de l’accouchement.Notre étude montre qu’en dépit de cette diversité qui implique également une évolution de la pensée sur les monstres, certaines lacunes, des manques et des non- dits marquent les discours savants de la période des Lumières. Plus particulièrement, l'examen des écrits permet de mieux saisir la dimension transitoire qui semble caractériser le 18e siècle; un siècle qui constitue un pont entre la période fabuleuse et la période scientifique. / The purpose of this work has been to study the characteristics and the specificity of learned discourses on monsters in Enlightened France. We wanted to describe and define the features of a positive period1 in the history on monsters. In order to answer this question we have focused on three learned frames of the 18th century: the academic papers published in the Royal Academy of Sciences of Paris, the treatises of natural history, the childbirth manuals and two dissertations on the topic of the legitimacy of late childbirths. In these three frames, the importance accorded to the deformed body depends on the author’s ethos, on his methodological approach and on the goals and aims of the discipline in which he is writing.We have seen that in the three discursive frames the authors insist on the real existence of the monsters which are carefully detached from fabulous connotations and from superstitions. The dissections and the observations are important ingredients in the work of the academicians who examine the deformed body per se. The natural history treatises adopt a general perspective and the authors deal with the immensity of the nature. In these general works the monsters become a component of nature and reflect its diversity. This naturalization of monsters underlines the fact that the malformations are seen as concrete defects which occur in nature even if the authors can’t propose any new explanations and theories for the malformations. In the childbirth manuals which have a didactic goal the authors consider the monstrous child in a pathological perspective and explain how to deliver it in the best given conditions.Our study has shown that despite the evolution and progress in the approach to the abnormal bodies, some gasps, deficiencies and unsaid things remain and denote of the transitory aspect of the 18th century thought on the topic on monsters. This positive period constitutes a chain or a phase between the fabulous period and the scientific period of the teratology which begins in the 19th century.

Submitted by Renata Lopes (renatasil82@gmail.com) on 2016-01-08T10:05:09Z No. of bitstreams: 1 guilhermejacintoschneider.pdf: 3558096 bytes, checksum: 76227eec2c0f8cc7f94350b01ee59295 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2016-01-25T16:55:07Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 guilhermejacintoschneider.pdf: 3558096 bytes, checksum: 76227eec2c0f8cc7f94350b01ee59295 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-01-25T16:55:07Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 guilhermejacintoschneider.pdf: 3558096 bytes, checksum: 76227eec2c0f8cc7f94350b01ee59295 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-05-07 / CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / A dissertação trata sobre os relatos de encontros com criaturas maravilhosas na América Portuguesa durante o século XVI. A partir dos conceitos de representação, narrativa e maravilha, analisamos a forma como o universo maravilhoso foi apreendido e representado pelo viajante europeu a partir de seus relatos de viagem ao Novo Mundo. Inicialmente, foi preciso conhecer a tradição que se construiu desde a Antiguidade acerca dos monstros e criaturas maravilhosas. Por isso, alguns autores que se mostraram mais importantes para períodos posteriores, constituindo as chamadas autoridades do Mundo Antigo, foram identificados a partir de suas principais contribuições a essa tradição. Do mesmo modo, acompanhamos o desenvolvimento da representação do maravilhoso ao longo do Medievo, também a partir das principais autoridades do assunto, que se apropriaram da tradição antiga e a adequaram à representação cristã. Além disso, sobre o Medievo analisamos dois relatos de viagem que se mostraram os mais importantes para o século XVI, que foram as narrativas de Marco Polo e Mandeville, sempre com vistas à representação do maravilhoso expressa nessas fontes. A partir da expansão ultramarina europeia, analisamos os relatos de diversos viajantes europeus que visitaram a colônia portuguesa na América ao longo do Século XVI: Vespúcio, Goneville, Pigafetta, Thevet, Léry, Staden e Knivet. A partir de suas narrativas, buscamos as influências da tradição e apropriações sobre o Novo Mundo, as mudanças e permanências acerca da representação do maravilhoso, sobretudo na visão do Paraíso Edênico e nas descrições de encontros com monstros e outros seres maravilhosos. / The research deals with the reported encounters with wonderful creatures in Portuguese América during the sixteenth century. From the concepts of representation, narrative and wonder, we analyze how the wonderful universe was seized and represented by the European traveler from their travel accounts to the New World. Initially, it was necessary to know the tradition that was built from Antiquity about the monsters and wonderful creatures. Therefore, some authors who were more important for future periods, constitute the so-called Old World authorities, were identified from its main contributions to this tradition. Similarly, we follow the development of the wonderful representation throughout the Middle Ages, also from the main subject of the authorities, who appropriated the ancient tradition and have adapted to the Christian representation. In addition, about the Middle Ages we analyze two travel accounts that were most important to the sixteenth century, which were the narratives of Marco Polo and Mandeville, always with a view to the wonderful representation expressed in these sources. From the European overseas expansion, we analyzed the reports of many European travelers who visited the portuguese colony in America during the sixteenth century: Vespúcio, Goneville, Pigafetta, Thevet, Léry, Staden e Knivet. From their narratives, we seek the influences of tradition and appropriations of the New World, the changes and continuities about the wonderful representation, especially in view of Paradise and descriptions of encounters with monsters and other wonderful beings.

No description available.

Le monstre intrigue et fascine : il a été étudié, disséqué, et abondamment mis en scène dans des œuvres littéraires. Il reste pourtant mystérieux : nous retrouvons par exemple des monstres similaires dans des cultures éloignées sans aucun contact aussi bien temporellement que géographiquement. Mais si la tératologie est florissante dans de nombreux pays, cet engouement paraît être moins partagé lorsqu’il s’agit de la littérature mexicaine contemporaine car les monstres y sont moins analysés. Ils y sont pourtant présents et nombreux. Une grande partie de notre travail consiste à proposer une typologie des figures du monstre du folklore mexicain en regroupant ceux qui apparaissent dans des recueils de légendes ou des dictionnaires de créatures étranges. Cela permet de comprendre comment il est perçu dans la croyance populaire puis ensuite réutilisé par des auteurs d’œuvres fictionnelles.Le monstre est inscrit dans un imaginaire populaire collectif partagé d’abord oralement puis passé à l’écrit, et ainsi transmis en héritage aux générations futures. L’écriture littéraire s’inspire de cet héritage, ce qui crée une sorte d’hypertextualité entre l’imaginaire collectif présent dans les mythes et légendes, et l’imaginaire individuel de l’auteur par le biais de ses œuvres de fiction. Ce dernier réactive ces sources et même les modifie. L’intertextualité est aussi présente entre les fictions mexicaines et celles du reste du monde, ce qui nous invite à proposer une analyse littéraire comparatiste lorsque celle-ci est possible. Le but de ce travail est de déterminer à travers ces jeux d’écriture et ces inventions, les enjeux de ces figures du monstre dans la littérature mexicaine. / The monster intrigues and fascinates: he was studied, dissected, and abundantly staged in literary works. He remains nevertheless mysterious: we find for example similar monsters in distant cultures without any contact so temporarily as geographically. But if the teratology is prosperous in numerous countries, this craze appears to be less shared when it is the contemporary Mexican literature because monsters are less analyzed there. Nevertheless, they are present and numerous. A big part of our work consists in proposing a typology of the figures of the monster of the Mexican folklore by grouping those who appear in collections of legends or the dictionaries of strange creatures. It allows to understand how it is perceived in the popular belief and then reused by authors of fictional works.The monster is registered in a collective popular imagination, shared at first orally then passed to the paper, and transmitted in inheritance to the future generations. The literary writing is inspired by this inheritance, what creates a sort of hypertextuality between the present collective imagination in the myths and the legends, and the individual imagination of the author by means of its works of fiction. The latter revives these sources and even modifies them. The intertextuality is also present between the Mexican fictions and those besides of the world, what invites us to propose a comparative literary analysis when this one is possible. The purpose of this work is to determine through these sets of writing and these inventions, the stakes in these figures of the monster in the Mexican literature.

Monsters are disruptive characters, who cross boundaries and blend categories. They come in various kinds: Non-human monsters, such as Dracula, created-by-human monsters like Frankenstein, human monsters like Hitler, and more-than-human monsters such as the X-men. These monsters can either be dangerous or helpful to humanity. Dangerous monsters appear as infectious, viral forces, while helpful monsters are inoculative forces for positive change. In either case, they penetrate the borders set up between normatively separate categories. Critics and authors have long realized the connection between heroes and monsters, often portraying them as necessary to one another, as two sides of a single coin. However, this analogy is lacking, because it does not allow for the possibility that a single character can display varying degrees of both heroism and monstrosity. Mario Yerro and Bruna Husky present such characteristics in Yeti and Lágrimas en la lluvia, as evidenced by their physical appearance, their relations to scapegoats, the porosity of species and other boundaries, and the decisions they make in regards to the Other.

In 2007, popular mystery author Kyōgoku Natsuhiko attempted to adapt a collection of random stories known as the Mimi bukuro or Tales Heard into kaidan, tales of the strange and mysterious for today’s readership. The writing experiment ended with Kyōgoku questioning his own writing abilities and publishing his small collection of adapted stories into a book that was not considered very frightening. Although the experiment failed, Kyōgoku’s efforts raise the question, “if not kaidan, what is frightening in the twentieth century?” The reason why kaidan are no longer frightening is because their central characters, yōkai, have been displaced from the horror genre. Today the yōkai that were once popular in the Edo period have been “cutesified” for businesses, films, and children’s shows. What is frightening today is no longer the Edo period monster, but rather aliens, ghosts, scientific monsters, and serial killers that represent a fear of the unknown. While the unknown has been a fear of man since the beginning, how it is symbolized and interpreted changes over time based on society and individual experiences. Chapter one traces the development of yōkai’s transformation from traditional horror story icons to children’s characters and role models. Chapter two analyzes and compares four of the original stories from the Mimi bukuro to Kyōgoku’s adaptation to understand what was scary during the Edo period, and what Kyōgoku deemed frightening in modern times. Chapter three analyzes three different monsters and explains why they were frightening and what problems or unknown situations each monster represented for modern audiences.

The relationship between monstrosity and homosexuality is complex, interwoven, and essential to 21st century understandings of horror and pop culture. Yet, not enough work has been done to disentangle these narratives. While the LGBT community has recently made tremendous strides in national acceptance and legalized marriage, queer individuals still feel like the monsters of both media and real life. This thesis seeks to explore the relationship between monstrosity and queerness, developing both a lens for understanding monstrosity, and understanding pop culture monsters through that lens. This thesis seeks to dismember these cultural narratives––much as these narratives have dismembered queer communities. By dismantling and reconstructing monstrosity through verse, this thesis hopes to shed light towards the struggles queer men (and non-fictional monsters) face.

No description available.