Monstrosity, Identity and Music

Alexis Luko is Professor of Musicology and the Director of the School of Music at the University of Victoria, Canada. She is the author of Sonatas, Screams, and Silence: Music and Sound in the Films of Ingmar Bergman (2016).James K. Wright is Professor of Music in the School for Studies in Art and Culture and the College of Humanities at Carleton University, Canada. A McGill University Governor General’s Gold Medal recipient, his publications include two award-winning books on Arnold Schoenberg, and They Shot, He Scored (2019), a monograph on the life and work of the prolific film composer Eldon Rathburn.

We hate monsters, but we need them, and that’s what makes them so endlessly fascinating. For those who take monstrosity seriously, this collection of essays—with topics ranging from Frankenstein’s celebrated creature to werewolves and wraiths—offers plenty of food for thought.

• IntroductionPart I: Frankenstein in Film, Theatre, Music, Comics and Visual Art1. Frankenstein’s Frontispiece, the Missing Phallus and the Pornographer: The Alchemy of Conceiving MonstrositiesMarie Mulvey-Roberts, University of the West of England, UK2. Monstrous Encounters: The Aesthetic Psychology of Screen FrankensteinsKevin J. Donnelly, University of Southampton, UK3. Frankenstein and the Media of Serial FiguresShane Denson, Stanford University, USA4. Musical Directions, Sound and Song in Presumption, or the Fate of Frankenstein (1823)John Higney, Carleton University, Canada5. Birth of a ‘Miserable Monster’: The Theatricality of Male Self-Procreation in Stage and Screen Adaptations of FrankensteinAndré Loiselle, St. Thomas University, Canada6. Excising the Repulsive: Mysticism and Psychology in Edison’s Frankenstein (1910)Ethan Towns, Trent University, Canada7. Frankenstein’s Organ Transplant: Adaptation in Afro-Futurist and Electronic Dance MusicsMark McCutcheon, Athabaska University, CanadaPart II: Monstrosity in Music, Film and Video Games8. Monstrosity as a Queer AestheticLloyd Whitesell, McGill University, Canada9. Twelve-tone Terror: Representing Horror and Monstrosity in Dodecaphonic Film MusicJames K. Wright, Carleton University, Canada10. The Horror, the Horror! White Women are the True Monsters in Jordan Peele’s Get OutFrederick W. Gooding, Jr., Texas Christian University, USA11. Indigeneity as Monstrosity in The Four Skulls of Jonathan DrakeMurray Leeder, University of Manitoba, Canada12. A 'Distaste for. . . Allegory' or: In the Bowels of HorrorDaniel Humphrey, Texas A&M University, USA13.Tragic Wraiths, Seductive Sirens and Man-Eating Vampires: Female Monstrosity in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Video GameSarah Stang, Brock University, CanadaAcknowledgementsBibliography FilmographyIndex