Emma Foster
Doctoral Student in Creative Writing - Emma’s thesis is entitled 'The Impossible Men: Reimagining the Germanic Monster Figure as Psychological Other in Epic Fantasy'
Research project title
The Impossible Men: Reimagining the Germanic Monster Figure as Psychological Other in Epic Fantasy
Supervisors
Prof Alex Pheby + Dr Stacy Gillis
Contact details
Email: e.foster12@newcastle.ac.uk
A brief outline of my research project
For my creative project, I plan to craft a speculative (specifically epic fantasy) prose novel that examines the Germanic “Monster” as Other from a psychological perspective, with the monster concept based on Germanic heroic literature. Studies of the monster in Germanic epics such as Beowulf and the Nibelungenlied usually fall into three distinct categories: religious, social, and cultural (Classen 521, 542). These contexts provide the basis for how monsters are studied and observed within the literature they inhabit, often restricting monsters regarding their purpose, their destinies, and their autonomy within Germanic culture (Wassmann, i-viii; Dunthorne 1108-1109). Within the critical component of my project, I will first demonstrate how monsters within Germanic legends are seen as irredeemable Other distanced from the norm, then delve into how this monstrous perception manifests psychologically within the Other. I propose that this perception affects the individual’s perspective of themselves, further fueling the monster character and contributing to the psychological unnaturalness characteristic of the monster figure. The contexts and study will provide the basis for the descriptions of both my protagonists and antagonists, as well as inform the speculative settings that I will creatively expand upon as the monsters travel through them. Ultimately, my purpose in this proposal is to develop a psychological exploration of the monster and how this monstrous Other might be liberated from its imposed nature in a speculative context accordingly.