The Nature of the Beast

Carys Crossen

Description

Crossen, C. "‘I'm going to put death in all their food and watch them die’: Poison, Time and Gender in Gothic Texts" in Temporal Discombobulations: Time and the Experience of the Gothic, The University of Surrey, 23^rd August 2016 [e-book]

Crossen, C. ‘Educating Edward and Everyone: The Issue of Endless Education in Meyer’s Twilight Saga,’ in Horror Studies, 6:1, Spring, 2015

Crossen, C. "The Complex and Antagonistic Forces That Constitute One Soul": Conflict between Societal Expectations and Individual Desires in Clemence Housman’s ‘The Werewolf’ and Rosamund Marriott Watson’s ‘A Ballad of the Werewolf,’ in Priest, H. (ed.) She-Wolf: A Cultural History of Female Werewolves, Manchester University Press, April 2015

Crossen, C. "Something like You, Something like a Beast": Gothic Convention and Fairy Tale Elements in David Almond’s Skellig, in Pell, T. and Abbruscato, J. (eds.) The Gothic Fairy Tale in Young Adult Literature: Essays on Stories from Grimm to Gaiman, McFarland, November 2014

Crossen, C. ‘"Would you please stop trying to take your clothes off?": Abstinence and Impotence of Male Vampires in Contemporary Fiction and Television,’ in Davis, L. and Santos, C. (eds.) The Monster Imagined: Humanity’s Re-Creation of Monsters and Monstrosity, Inter-Disciplinary Press, pp. 111-123, 2010

The werewolf in popular fiction has begun to change rapidly. Literary critics have observed this development and its impact on the werewolf in fiction, with theorists arguing that the modern werewolf offers new possibilities about how we view identity and the self. Although this monograph is preoccupied with the same concerns, it represents a departure from other critical works by analysing the werewolf’s subjectivity/identity as a work-in-progress, where the fixed and final form is yet to be arrived at – and may never be fully accomplished. Using the critical theories of Deleuze and Guattari and their concepts of ‘multiplicities’ and ‘becoming’, this work argues that the werewolf is in a state of constant evolution as it develops new modes of being in popular fiction. Following on from this examination of lycanthropic subjectivity, the book goes on to examine the significant developments that have resulted from the advent of the werewolf as subject, few of which have received any sustained critical attention to date.

Acknowledgements
Introduction
‘Some Wolves Are Hairy on the Inside’: The Werewolf’s Journey Towards Subjectivity
Do You Enjoy the Company of Wolves? The Lycanthrope, the Werewolf Pack and Human Society
‘Before the Law Therefore, There Cannot Be Monsters . . .’
The Werewolf in the Concrete Jungle
Growing Pains: Lycanthropy in Contemporary Young Adult Fiction
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Filmography
Index

Sujets

• Literary Criticism
• Romance
• Gothic

Informations

• Publié par: University of Wales Press
• Date de parution: 01 octobre 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781786834584
• Langue: English

Extrait

THE NATURE OF THE BEAST
SERIES PREFACE
Gothic Literary Studies is dedicated to publishing groundbreaking scholarship on Gothic in literature and film. The Gothic, which has been subjected to a variety of critical and theoretical approaches, is a form which plays an important role in our understanding of literary, intellectual and cultural histories. The series seeks to promote challenging and innovative approaches to Gothic which question any aspect of the Gothic tradition or perceived critical orthodoxy. Volumes in the series explore how issues such as gender, religion, nation and sexuality have shaped our view of the Gothic tradition. Both academically rigorous and informed by the latest developments in critical theory, the series provides an important focus for scholarly developments in Gothic studies, literary studies, cultural studies and critical theory. The series will be of interest to students of all levels and to scholars and teachers of the Gothic and literary and cultural histories.
SERIES EDITORS Andrew Smith, University of Sheffield Benjamin F. Fisher, University of Mississippi
EDITORIAL BOARD Kent Ljungquist, Worcester Polytechnic Institute Massachusetts Richard Fusco, St Joseph’s University, Philadelphia David Punter, University of Bristol Chris Baldick, University of London Angela Wright, University of Sheffield Jerrold E. Hogle, University of Arizona
For all titles in the Gothic Literary Studies series visit www.uwp.co.uk
The Nature of the Beast
Transformations of the Werewolf from the 1970s to the Twenty-First Century
by Carys Crossen -->

UNIVERSITY OF WALES PRESS 2019
© Carys Crossen, 2019
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any material form (including photocopying or storing it in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright owner. Applications for the copyright owner’s written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to the University of Wales Press, University Registry, King Edward VII Avenue, Cardiff CF10 3NS.
www.uwp.co.uk
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978-1-78683-456-0 e-ISBN 978-1-78683-458-4
The right of Carys Crossen to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 79 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Nine lines of free verse excerpted from Sharp Teeth by Toby Barlow. Copyright © 2007 by Thomas Barlow. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers.

The publisher has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for any external or third-party internet websites referred to in this book, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
Cover image: © Maksym Shevchenko / Alamy Stock Photo
To my husband Nick And to my Mum, and also my Dad. You know I always like giving books as presents.
C ONTENTS
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1 ‘Some Wolves Are Hairy on the Inside’: The Werewolf’s Journey Towards Subjectivity
2 Do You Enjoy the Company of Wolves? The Lycanthrope, the Werewolf Pack and Human Society
3 ‘Before the Law Therefore, There Cannot Be Monsters ...’
4 The Werewolf in the Concrete Jungle
5 Growing Pains: Lycanthropy in Contemporary Young Adult Fiction
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Filmography
A CKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thanks are due to my family: my husband, my parents, my sister Bethan and her partner James and my in-laws, the Anderton family, for their support and endless patience.
Thanks of an academic nature are due to Professor Emerita Jacqueline Pearson, for guiding me with patience and rigour through the PhD that would provide the foundation for this work. Lively discussion and encouragement were provided by Dr Catherine Spooner, Dr Daisy Black, Dr Hannah Priest, and everyone who attended the splendid ‘Company of Wolves’ conference at the University of Hertfordshire in September 2015. My editor at University of Wales Press, Sarah Lewis, was immensely patient and helpful when dealing with a first-time author. Thanks also to everyone who attended the brilliant She-Wolf Conference at The University of Manchester in September 2010, in particular Chantal Bourgault Du Coudray, whose work I draw on heavily here, and Jazmina Cininas. Apologies if I have forgotten anyone, which is likely, and thanks all the same.
The publisher gratefully acknowledges permission granted to reproduce extracts from the following works:
Quotes from Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guatarri, A Thousand Plateaus © Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, 2013, A Thousand Plateaus , Bloomsbury Academic, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.
Quotes from Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, A Thousand Plateaus . Copyright 1987 by the University of Minnesota Press. Originally published as Mille Plateaux , volume 2 of Capitalisme et Schizophrénie © 1980 by Les Editions de Minuit, Paris.
Quotes from Reading the Romance: Women, Patriarchy, and Popular Literature by Janice A. Radway. Copyright © 1984, new introduction © 1991 by the University of North Carolina Press. Used by permission of the publisher. www.uncpress.unc.edu
Quote from The Beast and the Sovereign, Vol. One , by Jacques Derrida, trans. Geoffrey Bennington. © 2009 The University of Chicago. Used by permission of the publisher.
Quote from The Legendary Detective: The Private Eye in Fact and Fiction. © 2015 The University of Chicago. Used by permission of the publisher.
Quotes from Wannabes, Goths and Christians: The Boundaries of Sex, Style and Status by Amy C. Wilkins. © 2008 The University of Chicago. Used by permission of the publisher.
Quotes from Anna Powell, Deleuze and Horror Film . © Anna Powell, 2005. Reproduced with permission of Edinburgh University Press Ltd via PLSClear.
Quotes from Gill Plain, Twentieth Century Detective Fiction: Gender, Sexuality and the Body . © Gill Plain, 2001. Reproduced with permission of Edinburgh University Press Ltd via PLSClear. Quotes from David Punter, Gothic Pathologies: The Text, the Body and the Law , 1998, MacMillan Press, reproduced with permission of Palgrave Macmillan.
Quotes from Richard Jackson, ‘The 9/11 Attacks and the Social Construction of a National Narrative’, 2009, Palgrave MacMillan, reproduced with permission of Palgrave MacMillan.
Quotes from Feminism and Contemporary Women Writers: Rethinking Subjectivity published by Routledge. Reproduced by permission of Taylor and Francis, © 2008
Quotes from The Wolf Gift by Anne Rice published by Chatto & Windus. Reproduced by permission of The Random House Group Ltd. ©2012
Quotes from The Wolves of Midwinter by Anne Rice published by Chatto & Windus. Reproduced by permission of The Random House Group Ltd. ©2013
Quotes from Hermann Hesse, Steppenwolf , reproduced with permission of Suhrkamp Verlag ©Suhrkamp Verlag Frankfurt am Main 2001.
Quotes from The Silver Wolf reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd ©1999, Alice Borchardt.
Quotes from Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs published by Orbit. Reprinted by permission of Little, Brown Book Group Ltd. ©2007
Quotes from Wolfsbane by Andrea Cremer published by Atom. Reprinted by permission of Little, Brown Book Group Ltd. ©2011
Quotes from Bitten by Kelley Armstrong published by Orbit. Reprinted by permission of Little, Brown Book Group Ltd. ©2004
Quotes from ‘Wolf-Alice’ in Burning Your Boats by Angela Carter published by Chatto & Windus. Reproduced by permission of The Random House Group Ltd. ©1995
Quotes from Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce published by Hodder Children’s Books. Reproduced by permission of Hachette. ©2010
Quotes from Raised by Wolves by Jennifer Lynn Barnes published by Quercus. Reproduced by permission of Hachette. ©2010
Quotes from Sharp Teeth by Toby Barlow published by William Heinemann. Reproduced by permission of The Random House Group Ltd. © 2007
1
Introduction

Until the turn of the millennium, the werewolf was not a topic for academic discussion. At least, it was not a prominent or popular subject for research, unlike its more glamorous cousin the vampire. It lurked in the shadows of critical discourse, occasionally meriting a mention in texts about the horror film or in Gothic analysis, but little else. The contemporary werewolf was the subject of particular academic neglect. While the medieval werewolf, such as Marie De France’s Bisclavret (written in the twelfth century) and the literature in which it appears, have always had a following amongst medievalists, 1 contemporary werewolves seldom, if ever came in for sustained analysis in works focusing on the Gothic or the horror film. At most, they merited a brief mention before the author moved on to something else – something with more cultural cachet, perhaps.
In the early years of the twenty-first century, however, literary critics at long last began to rectify this critical oversight. The more analysis and research was conducted, the more the werewolf’s tremendous neglected potential for academic study becomes apparent. There is much more to the werewolf than the reductive definition of the beast within, and some of the new developments and trends in pop culture featuring the werewolf will be explored in this book.
Before proceeding, it is important to explain that the werewolf will be explored in relation to the Gothic throughout this text. Therefore, some definition of the Gothic is required. The Gothic is never an easy phenomenon to delineate, but Chris Baldick’s definition is an excellent starting point. He describes the Gothic as ‘a fearful sense of inheritance in time with a claustrophobic sense of enclosure in space, these two dimensions reinforcing one another to produce an impression of sickening descent into disintegration’. 2 The ‘fear