Zombies, vampires, werewolves, cyborgs, yetis, witches, ghosts, demons and countless others—they stalk us relentlessly from the pages of our favorite novels and stories. Their creepy images haunt us from movie and TV screens—and we love every minute of it, however frightened we might be. Plenty of these monsters are beastly, but many of the beasts we love just as much as we love monsters aren't scary at all. What, if anything, do the monsters who scare us and the beasts who charm us, have in common? Why do we fear these beastly monsters, and why do we love them? What's behind our enduring urge to create and consume narratives of these inhuman imaginary beings? Are they as inhuman as they seem—or is what captivates us about monsters the unsettling suggestions and foreboding images they offer us about who and what we really are?

In this course, we'll be reading plenty of fictions and critiques about monsters and beasts and writing some of our own. We'll read and discuss and write towards expertise about the cultural and political meanings of the monsters we create and the literary and multimedia genres they haunt—from academic works of literary scholarship to online fan fiction forums; from novels taught in college English courses to comic books. We'll engage with each other as we develop insights and conclusions about what it means to be a monster-and-beast lover in 2022, practicing our readerly and writerly skills together—skills that you'll readily be able to apply to the writing that awaits you beyond this course.

Intended Audience:

Participants in Lloyd Scholars for Writing and the Arts. Non-LSWA students welcome and may request permission to enroll pending availability. Contact LSWA@umich.edu.