Deformed discourse
Subtitle: the function of the monster in mediaeval thought and literature
By: David Williams
Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press
Published: 1996
Place of publication: Montreal; Buffalo
Language: eng
Number of pages: 392
Subjects: Monsters -- Symbolic aspects; Monsters in literature; Monsters in art; Literature, Medieval -- History and criticism; Art, Medieval; Theology -- History -- Middle Ages, 600-1500
Description: In Part I, David Williams traces the poetics of teratology, the study of monsters, to Christian neoplatonic theology and philosophy, particularly Pseudo-Dionysius's negative theology and his central idea that God cannot be known except by knowing what he is not. Williams argues that the principles of negative theology as applied to epistemology and language made possible a symbolism of negation and paradox whose chief sign was the monster.

Part II provides a taxonomy of monstrous forms with a gloss on each. Part III examines the monstrous and the deformed in three heroic sagas - the medieval Oedipus, The Romance of Alexander, and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight - and three saints' lives - Saint Denis, Saint Christopher, and Saint Wilgeforte. The book is beautifully illustrated with medieval representations of monsters.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [369]-383) and index