monstrous depictions of interiority
{{monstrous embodiment interiority}}
{{topographic horror interiority}}
{{hauntology interiority}}
Core Question
Write the question clearly and sharply:
-How is interiority represented by embodiments of monstrosity, topographic horror, and hauntology?
Why this question matters
I'm interested in texts that frame monstrosity as empowerment - how women reclaim the label and use it to be their authentic selves and safe from men. I'm also interested in how "monstrous craft" like fragmentation, nonlinear narratives, etc. are used.
I'm interested in the way 19th century literature used houses and spaces like attics as a physical boundary against oppression, but arguing that women are already infected by the negative effects of the patriarchy and must deal with those consequences even in isolation.
Where this appears (texts)
- Jane Eyre her weird dreams are fragmented (monstrous)
- Playboy if women are automatically labeled as monstrous for rejecting the rules of femininity then Constance Debre, and maybe gender-non-conforming people in general? could be labeled monstrous?
- Tenant of Wildfell Hall : flees her psychically and physically abusive husband and hides in a house like that's going to protect her and her young child but they both have already been permeated by his influence; addiction can be hereditary (predisposition) and Helen is clearly psychically and physically changed from the abuse. #trans-corporeality
Where this appears (genres)
Related theory
What concepts help me think through this question:
- how do spaces and objects work as glimpses into the internal? Especially dreams, paintings, and rooms.
Possible answers (working hypotheses)
Not final answers — early interpretations:
- 19th century women writers created fantasies of male empathy as a shield against monstrousness while 21st century writers have instead documented the permanent transcorporeal scars left behind by male violence.
- The horrors of everyday life: reclaiming woman as monster or woman as haunted house: transcorporeal aftermath
- Contrasting old idealism with the brutal, transcorporeal realm of the 21st century - not waiting to be rescued by a man; documenting the painstacking daily labor of womanhood
Evidence / moments in texts
Specific scenes, quotes, or patterns:
Contradictions / tensions
Where the question breaks or becomes unstable:
How this shapes my argument
What this question might eventually become in my dissertation:
Follow-up questions
Smaller questions this generates: