CFP: 3rd Global Conference: Heroes and Villains: Justice and Punishment

Saturday 10th September - Monday 12th September 2011

Mansfield College, Oxford, United Kingdom

Call for Papers

A villain (also known in film and literature as the "bad guy", "black hat", or "heavy") is an "evil" character in a story, whether a historical narrative or, especially, a work of fiction. The villain usually is the antagonist, the character who tends to have a negative effect on other characters. A femae villain is sometimes called a villainess (often to differentiate her from a male villain). Random House Unabridged Dictionary defines villain as "a cruelly malicious person who is involved in or devoted to wickedness or a crime; scoundrel; or a character in a play, novel, or the like, who constitutes an important evil agency in the plot".

Indicative themes for research and development will include (but are not limited to):

• How do we define a villainous act?
• What is a villainous act? How do we define it?
• When we look at actions which are deemed and judged to be right/wrong, good/bad, how are such actions classified?
• What is a crime?
• How are crimes classified?
• What disciplines are needed to uncover, discover and identify a crime?
• How do we define crime scenes, ex. Scenes of atrocity, "crimes against humanity"?
• What do we learn about our view of "crime" via the depiction of forensic investigations of crime scenes?
• How does the idea of a criminal "underworld" which exists beneath, underneath, below the everyday world influence us?
• Why are villains more intriguing/interesting/attractive than heroes?
• How is the perception of crime and villainy shaped by space, place AND time?
• Does villainy belong to the realm of the night?
• Does villainy belong under cover of darkness?
• Does criminality and villainy depend on being hidden or concealed?
• Who are the people charged with doing the investigation, detection, sleuthing?
• What do villains do and why do they do it?
• What tools/skills do they have/use?
• Does the villain create the person who catches him/her - i.e. a nemesis?
• Does the existence of a villain create the need for a hero?
• What kind of personality/character traits/deviance creates a villain?
• What is the nature of the criminal mind?
• Is it differentiated from the minds of those who do good?
• What is the character of the heroic mind?
• Why do good? Why be a hero?
• Why side with/dispense justice?
• Why do we have 'criminal' psychology?
• Why don't we have 'goody two-shoes' psychology?
• How do notions of responsibility and diminished responsibility factor into the debate?
• How is crime defined by punishment?
• What are the causes of crime/villainy?
• What are the consequences of crime/villainy?
• How does fear define crime/villainy?
• Can villains actually be heroes?
• Can villains be portrayed as sympathetic or gain our sympathy?
• Is the villain sometimes on the side of right? Can criminality be an attempt at social justice against unjust regimes?
• Are heroes made villainous by blind allegiances to moral codes?
• Must 'justice' involve 'punishment' of the villain?
• Is punishment of the criminal required by 'justice'?
• How does the punishment of the hero increase his heroism or the lack of punishment increase the villainy of the villain?
• How does the depiction of heroes/villains evolve?
• How does such a depiction shape or reflect society?

Papers will be accepted which deal with related areas and themes.

The 2011 meeting of Heroes and Villains: Justice and Punishment will run alongside our project on The Patient and we anticipate holding sessions in common between the two projects. We welcome any papers considering the problems or addressing the issues that straddle these two themes.

Papers will be considered on any related theme. 300 word abstracts should be submitted by Friday 25th March 2011. If an abstract is accepted for the conference, a full draft paper should be submitted by Friday 22nd July 2011.

300 word abstracts should be submitted to the Organising Chairs; abstracts may be in Word, WordPerfect, or RTF formats, following this order:

a) author(s), b) affiliation, c) email address, d) title of abstract, e) body of abstract

Emails should be entitled: Villains Abstract Submission

Please use plain text (Times Roman 12) and abstain from using any special formatting, characters or emphasis (such as bold, italics or underline). We acknowledge receipt and answer to all paper proposals submitted. If you do not receive a reply from us in a week you should assume we did not receive your proposal; it might be lost in cyberspace! We suggest, then, to look for an alternative electronic route or resend.

Organising Chairs

Sorcha Ni Fhlainn
Evil Hub Leader, Inter-Disciplinary.Net
Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland

Rob Fisher
Network Founder and Network Leader
Inter-Disciplinary.Net, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom

The conference is part of the 'At the Interface' series of research projects. The aim of the conference is to bring together people from different areas and interests to share ideas and explore various discussions which are innovative and exciting. All papers accepted for and presented at this conference are eligible for publication in an ISBN eBook. Selected papers may be invited to go forward for development into a themed ISBN hard copy volume.

For further details about the project please click here.

For further details about the conference please click here.

CFP: 5th Global Conference: Fear, Horror and Terror

Tuesday 6th September 2011 - Thursday 8th September 2011

Mansfield College, Oxford, United Kingdom

This inter-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary conference seeks to examine and explore issues which lie at the interface of fear, horror and terror. In particular the project is interested in inverstigating the various contexts of fear, horror and terror, and assessing issues surrounding the artistic, cinematic, literary, moral, social, (geo)political, philosophical, psychological and religious significance of them, both individually and together.

We are also looking towards a 'track' theme in the area of the relationship between fear, horror and terror and the audio-visual (sight/sound/silence) this year. We invite proposals on any area listed below that relates to this track theme, as well as any areas related to the conference. This thematic track is envisioned to develop with each subsequent meeting.

In addition to academic analysis, we welcome the submission of case studies or other approaches from those involved with its practice, such as people in religious orders, therapises, victims of events which have been provoked by experiences of fear, horror and terror - for example, lawyers or others involved with law enforcement, medical practitioners, or fiction authors whose work aims to evoke these reactions.

Papers, reports, work-in-progress and workshops are invited on issues related to any of the following themes:

1. The Contexts of Fear, Horror and Terror

• case studies
• professions dealing with the Fear, Horror and Terror (Therapists, Clergy, Lawyers, Law enforcement etc.)
• creating and experiencing fear, horror and terror
• the properties of fear, horror and terror
• contexts of fear, horror and terror
• the language of fear, horror and terror
• the meaning of fear, horror and terror
• the significance of fear, horror and terror

2. At the Interface of Fear, Horror and Terror

• the role of fear, horror and terror
• emotional releases (pleasant or negative) achieved by Fear, Horror and Terror
• techniques of fear, horror and terror
• marketing fear, horror and terror
• recreational fear, horror and terror
• aesthetic fear, horror and terror
• the temperature of fear, horror and terror
• the sound of fear, horror and terror
• silence as a strategic subversion of the operation of fear, horror and terror
• fear, horror and terror and the visible/invisible

3. Representations of Fear, Horror and Terror and:

• the imagination
• pleasure
• art, cinema, theatre, media and the creative arts
• survival horror video games
• literature (including children's stories)
• the other
• technology
• hope and despair
• relations to anxiety, disgust, dread, loathing
• hope and the future
• the sublime

For 2011, the Fear, Horror and Terror project will meet alongside our project on Making Sense of: Health, Illness and Disease. It is our intention to create cross-over sessions between the two groups - and we welcome proposals which deal with the relationship between health, illness and disease and fear, horror and terror. Themes could include: fear and global threats to health (swine flu, bird flu, SARS, for example), or horror and disease (fear of our bodies, contagion, HIV/AIDS, for example), or terror and biological warfare. Papers will be accepted which deal with related areas and themes.

300 word abstracts should be submitted by Friday 25th March 2011. If an abstract is accepted for the conference, a full draft paper should be submitted by Friday 22nd July 2011. 300 word abstracts should be submitted to the Organising Chairs; abstracts may be in Word, WordPerfect, or RTF formats, following this order:

a) author(s), b) affiliation, c) email address, d) title of abstract, e) body of abstract

Emails should be entitled: FHT Abstract Submission

Please use plain text (Times New Roman 12) and abstain from using any special formatting, characters or emphasis (such as bold, italics or underline). We acknowledge receipt and answer to all paper proposals submitted. If you do not receive a reply from us in a week you should assume we did not receive your proposal; it might be lost in cyberspace! We suggest, then, to look for an alternative electronic route or resend.

Organising Chairs

Colette Balmain
Independent Scholar, London, United Kingdom

Sorcha Ni Fhlainn
School of English, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland

Rob Fisher
Network Founder and Network Leader
Inter-Disciplinary.Net, Freeland, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom

The conference is part of the At the Interface series of research projects. The aim of the conference is to bring together people from different areas and interests to share ideas and explore various discussions which are innovative and exciting. All papers accepted for and presented at this conference are eligible for publication in an ISBN eBook. Selected papers may be invited to go forward for development into a themed ISBN hard copy volume.

For further details about the project, please click here.

For further details about the conference, please click here.

CFP: The University of Manchester Medieval Postgraduate Conference

Education and Ignorance:

The Use of Knowledge in the Medieval World c.550-1550

John Rylands Library, Deansgate

Monday 6th-Tuesday 7th June 2011

CALL FOR PAPERS

Modern historiography has often depicted the Middle Ages as a period of ignorance, dogma and superstition - a period in which knowledge stagnated and education was both restricted to a privileged minority and dominated by the institutional and ideological authority of the Church. From the Carolingian Renaissance and the rise of the medieval universities to the condemnation of heretical teachings and the intellectual and spiritual ferment of the Reformation, the reality about education and knowledge in the medieval world is undoubtedly far more complex and contested than this picture suggests. This two day conference seeks to explore that reality through a diverse range of disciplines and across the full historical span of the period. We aim to address the questions - How was education theorised, institutionalised and practiced throughout the Middle Ages? How was knowledge controlled, transmitted and transformed? and To what uses were they put both by established ecclesiastical and feudal powers and the social and religious formations that opposed them?

With these questions in mind, we invite proposals for twenty minute papers from postgraduates and early career researchers on a variety of topics including, but not limited to:

• the losses and restoration of Classical knowledge in the early Middle Ages
• the development of the medieval universities
• the educational role of the monasteries and the mendicant orders
• scholasticism, scepticism and humanism
• heresy, censorship and reformation ideas about education
• didacticism in medieval literature, drama, art and architecture
• material culture and education: manuscripts, libraries, printing etc.
• theories and methods of learning - memory and scriptural exegesis
• unconventional and popular learning - alchemy, folk and occult practice

Please email abstracts of 250-300 words to the Manchester Medieval Postgraduate Conference along with your name, affiliation and title of paper. All queries should also be directed to this address. The deadline for submission is 31st March 2011. Selection of papers will be made by 15th April.

For more information concerning the conference, see our website.

CFP: 3rd Global Conference: Fashion: Exploring Critical Issues

Thursday 22nd September - Sunday 25th September 2011

Mansfield College, Oxford, United Kingdom

Call for Papers

Fashion is a statement, a stylised form of expression which displays and begins to define a person, a place, a class, a time, a religion, a culture, and even a nation. This interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary conference seeks to explore the historical, social, cultural, psychological and artistic phenomenon of fashion. Fashion lies at the very heart of persons, their sense of identity and the communities in which they live. Individuals emerge as icons of beauty and style; cities are identified as centres of fashion. The project will assess the history and meanings of fashion; evaluate its expressions in politics, music, film, media and consumer culture; determine its effect on gender, sexuality, class, race, age and identity; examine the practice, tools, and business of fashion; consider the methodologies of studying fashion; and explore future directions and trends.

Papers, presentations, workshops and pre-formed are invited on issues related to any of the following themes:

1. Understanding Fashion

• Fashion, Style, Taste-Making, and Chic
• Fashion and Fashionability
• Fashion and Zeitgeist
• History of Fashion
• Fashion Theory
• Fashion, Politics, and Ideology: e.g. 'message' fashion; fashion as a political platform, fashion as defiance; graffiti as a fashion statement

2. Studying Fashion

• Tools and Methodology; disciplines and perspectives; professions and trades
• Documentation
• Identifying, defining and refining concepts: e.g. 'style', 'fashion', 'look', 'fad', 'trend', 'in & out'
• 'Chasing' Fashion: Studying fashion collections, archives, and museums
• Fashion collections; fashion archives
• Designers and Muses

3. Cultures of Fashion

• Fashion in the City
• Men and Fashion; Children and Fashion
• Fashion Subcultures: e.g. pets and fashion, sports and fashion, supermodels, The Red Carpet, celebrity, vintage, glamour, gothic, etc.
• Fashion and Nostalgia
• Fashion and Professional Dress: e.g. Fashion and the Law
• Ethical Issues in Fashion: e.g. cruelty free fashion; PETA anti-fur movement; slave labour. sweatshops, child labour; the growing 'fakes' market

4. Fashion and Identity

• Fashion, Culture, and the Human Body (e.g., beauty standards, body art, weight, plastic surgery)
• Self-fashioning: e.g., fashion as performance; body modifications, including make-up, hair design, piercings, tattoos, body sculpting, plastic surgery
• Fashion and Social Status: Gender, Sexuality, Class, Race, Age and Fashion
• Fashion and National Identities
• Fashion and Transnational Identities
• Fashion and Religion

5. Fashion, Representation, and Evolving Patterns of Communication & Criticism

• Fashion Photography, Magazines, Blogs, and Twitter
• Fashion Icons
• Fashion, Films and the Performing Arts
• Fashion and Music
• Fashion and Fantasy
• Fashion and Television

6. Fashion Practice

• Fashion and Curatorial Practice: e.g. possibilities and problems of creating fashion Archives; creating and accessing private and public fashion collections
• Fashion Design
• Fashion Specialists: e.g. pattern makers, fitters, embroiderers, tailors, textile experts
• Fashion Economies and the business of fashion, e.g. traditional markets, the luxury industry, the design industry, producing and displaying fashion (building showrooms, production sites, runway)
• Beyond Dress: e.g. architecture, food, furniture, kitchens, perfume
• Style Guides and Makeover Shows

7. The Future of Fashion

• Trends and Cycles; predicting fashion
• The Materials of Fashion: e.g. eco-fashion, intelligent textiles, nano-technology, etc.
• The rise of the Accessory as the Driving Force of Fashion: e.g. handbags and shoes
• Branding the Mass Market, and Consumerism: e.g. designer collections at H & M, Top Shop, M & S, Target, Wal-Mart
• Celebrities as Fashion Designers: e.g. J LO, Jessica Simpson, Kate Moss, Victoria Beckham, P Diddy
• Anti-Fashion

Papers will be accepted which deal with relate areas and themes.

The 2011 meeting of Fashion - Exploring Critical Issues will run alongside our project on Multiculturalism, Conflict and Belonging and we anticipate holding sessions in common between the two prjects. We welcome any papers considering the problems of addressing issues of Fashion and Multiculturalism, Conflict and Belonging.

Papers will be considered on any related theme. 300 word abstracts should be submitted by Friday 4th March 2011. If an abstract is accepted for the conference, a full draft paper should be submitted by Friday 22nd July 2011.

300 word abstracts should be submitted to the Organising Chairs; abstracts may be in Word, WordPerfect, or RTF formates, following this order:

a) author(s) b) affiliation c) email address d) title of abstract e) body of abstract

Emails should be entitled: Fashion Abstract Submission

Please use plain text (Times New Roman 12) and abstain from using any special formatting, characters or emphasis (such as bold, italics or underline). We acknowledge receipt and answer to all paper proposals submitted. If you do not receive a reply from us in a week you should assume we did not receive your proposal; it might be lost in cyberspace! We suggest, then, to look for an alternative electronic route or resend.

Organising Chairs:

Jacque Lynn Foltyn
Chair, Dept. of Social Sciences, College of Letters and Sciences, National University, CA, USA

Rob Fisher
Network Founder and Network Leader, Inter-Disciplinary.Net, Freeland, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom

This conference is part of the Critical Issues series of research projects. The aim of the conference is to bring together people from different areas and interests to share ideas and explore various discussions which are innovative and exciting. All papers accepted for and presented at this conference are eligible for publication in an ISBN eBook. Selected papers may be invited to go forward for development into a themed ISBN hard copy volume.

For further details about the project click here.

For further details about the conference click here.

She-Wolf of the Mere vs. She-Wolf in the Closet

When I first decided to start researching female werewolves, I christened my project 'She-Wolf', as I enjoy the many resonances of this term. At the time I came up with the idea, Shakira was making waves with her lycanthropy-inspired 'She-Wolf':



As a bit of Shakira fan, I'll admit that I enjoyed the way my conference and book caused a lot of my friends and colleagues to have that song running through their heads on a regular basis.

But when I pitched the idea to my department, one of my colleagues in medieval studies, Professor Gale Owen-Crocker, was more insistent that I gave some consideration to Grendel's mother in Beowulf. After all, Professor Owen-Crocker said, she is the 'She-Wolf of the mere'.

This was not that long after Robert Zemeckis' performance capture version of Beowulf hit the big screens, which featured a truly memorable performance by Angelina Jolie as Grendel's mother:



Watching those two videos, the parallels between Shakira's 'She-Wolf in your closet' and Jolie's 'She-Wolf of the mere' are striking. Lithe, nude, contorting female flesh both demands and threatens the male gaze. Hints of violence are offered and diffused by sexual, vibrant femininity. I think it's no coincidence that these visual depictions of the 'She-Wolf' appeared within a year or so of one another, and signalled the start of an onslaught of 'She-Wolf' imagery in popular culture.

However, today's blog post is less concerned with Jolie's depiction of Grendel's mother - interesting though it is - than with the parallels between Shakira's 'She-Wolf' and the depiction of Grendel's mother in the poem Beowulf. These texts are created near enough 1000 years apart (depending on the date we give for the composition of Beowulf), and yet there are some striking similarities in the way the 'She-Wolf' is portrayed.

While Grendel's mother is never actually described as a female werewolf, her association with the wolf is underlined at several points in the poem. She is the 'brimwylf [water-wolf]' (l. 1506) who lives in a 'wulfhleothu [wolf-haunted]' land (l. 1358), with her monstrous son. The multiplicity of the threat this wolf-like creature poses to the heroic male is made clear in her initial introduction: 'Grendles modor,/ ides, aglaecwif [Grendel's mother, woman, she-monster]' (ll. 1258-59). The repetition of 'ides' and 'wif', both Old English words for '[human] woman', along side terminology of the monster, is telling; the constant focus on her maternity is also significant. Wolf - woman - mother - outcast - enemy. This imagery is resonant with the presentation of female werewolves from the Victorian era to the present day. Indeed, Shakira's video makes references to this connection between the female werewolf and monstrous maternity by having the singer dance around in a red-lined cave-like set, which is highly suggestive of a womb (see. 1:39-1:49, for example).

In her influential 1980 article, 'The Structual Unity of Beowulf: The Problem of Grendel's Mother', Jane Chance hints at a way of reading the monstrousness of Grendel's mother as a specifically sexual threat to the hero. Certainly if one takes a Freudian view of the poem, it is hard to ignore the fact that when Beowulf attacks the 'brimwylf', 'sweord aer gemealt,/ forbarn brodenmael [the sword melted, its blade burned away]' (ll. 1615-6). So, here is a woman that can liquidize the ultimate token of masculinity. This is an image that is played out to the extreme in Zemeckis' 2007 film.

But is this enough to connect Shakira's 'She-Wolf' to Grendel's mother? I'd suggest not. In fact, the parallels between the two millenium-separated she-wolves lies in a different, though not wholly unrelated, aspect of their presentation.

Consider the opening lines to Shakira's song: 'A domesticated girl, that's all you ask of me./ Darling it's no joke, this is lycanthropy.' Thus, 'domestication' stands in sharp contrast to 'lycanthropy'. The video plays on this; the 'domesticated' (may I say, 'wifely'?) woman, lying in a pristine white double bed with her unaware male partner, rises and enters the closet. This unleashes a side of the woman which stands in stark distinction to the 'homely'. The song continues: 'I've been devoting myself to you Monday to Monday, Friday to Friday./ Not getting enough retribution or incentives to keep me at it.' The frame of reference here is the workplace, underlined by the female voice likening herself to a 'coffee machine' that has been 'abused'. So, 'lycanthropy' is an alternative to the patriarchal control of both 'domesticity' (literally, 'the home') and the contemporary workplace.

Grendel's mother also represents a threat to patriarchal structures. Her attack on 'Heorot' (literally, 'the deer hall'), the symbolic centre of the Danish comitatus, hits heroic masculinity right where it hurts, so to speak. Her decapitation of Aeschere is a feminine assault on the warrior world. Elsewhere in the poem, women are the tools by which the masculine realm functions; Wealtheow and Hildeburgh are devices to lubricate the wheels of the male domain (much like abused coffee machines, if you will). Grendel's mother bursts into this, and literally slices it to pieces.

The 'brimwylf' also challenges hegemony by dint of her position as 'mother'. She is a 'wyf', but of no man; she is a 'modor', but there is no father. Grendel's heritage is presented as purely matrilineal, which stands at a threatening remove to the patrilineal world of the rest of the poem. Even the reference to his biblical forebear, Cain, is dangerously feminine. 'Cain's kin' is likely a reference to Genesis 6:4, and the mating of the 'Sons of God' with the 'Daughters of Man'. Cain's kin, in the medieval world, carried with it the understanding that it was Cain's daughters than begot the race of giants. In the world of Beowulf, remnants of this female line were powerful enough to even, apparently, survive the flood sent by God to destroy them.

So, to return to my comparison with Shakira's 'She-Wolf', both texts present a dangerous and predatory female. In Shakira's song, this potential for violence is played out in a 'closet' fantasy; for Grendel's mother, it manifests in physical acts of revenge. Nevertheless, both attack the 'home' (be it domesticity or the mead hall) and the 'work-place' (whether the office or the comitatus). The smooth-running of the masculine world is disrupted by the intrusion of the She-Wolf: claws, teeth, sexuality, monstrosity, maternity, corporeality.

In the end, though, Shakira's She-Wolf leaves the closet. She writhes and fantasizes, but eventually comes home. At the close of the video, she returns to the clean white sheets of the marital bed and forgets her lycanthropy. Grendel's mother, on the other hand, is ultimately slain by Beowulf. Again, we see parallels. Both she-wolves are, eventually, 'put to bed'; they cease to threaten and are brought back into the hegemonic scheme of masculine control.

And yet, the transgressive potential of the lycanthropic woman remains. Beowulf's sword melts; Shakira's she-wolf gives a knowing full-moon-framed glance to the camera. Whatever opportunities are offered for feminine destruction of male-centred hegemonic structures are curtailed by the reinstating of the warrior's sword and the husband's bed - but these opportunities can not be truly forgotten.

One thousand year apart, and yet the She-Wolf of the Mere and the She-Wolf in the Closet bear striking similarities. Neither one fully delivers on her promise, but the threat to domesticity, the family and patriarchy is there. As Shakira says, the She-Wolf is 'coming out, coming out, coming out'. What does she does when she gets there still remains to be seen.




Quotes from Beowulf are taken from Michael Swanton's edition (Manchester University Press, 1997). Due to the limitations of blogspot.com, I've modernized orthography.

CFP: Before Man and God: Sin, Confession, Forgiveness and Redemption in the Anglo-Saxon World

Sixth Annual Postgraduate Conference

March 7-8, 2011

John Rylands Library, Deansgate

University of Manchester

Before Man and God

Sin, Confession, Forgiveness and Redemption in the Anglo-Saxon World

In Anglo-Saxon England, the priest was expected to teach both from the Bible and his Scriftboc (handbook of penance). He was to educate his flock in matters of sin, make judgements on the size of tariffs for penance, and show the sinner how to atone for his misdeeds. Sinners were urged to confess with humility all their sins, whatever their nature. Better to feel shame before a man now than to do so before God on Judgement Day!

This conference aims to draw together evidence for the practice of private confession throughout the Anglo-Saxon period and to situate it within the history of confession up to and including the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215, when the Church stipulated an annual requirement for confession. In doing this, it also aims to explore the Anglo-Saxon world through its understanding of sin, confession, penance, forgiveness and redemption. It will ask questions such as: How did the theology of confession influence Anglo-Saxon society more broadly? What was the impact on law? How are sin and confession represented in literature, art and architecture? Can the evidence from penitential literature be understood as social commentary?

Postgraduate and early-career researchers are invited to submit abstracts of no more than 250 words for 20-minute papers that engage with the conference's themes. The following list of topics for consideration is not exhaustive:

• Anglo-Saxon penitential literature: the relationship of vernacular texts to Latin sources; the relationship between penitentials and law codes; penance tariffs
• Anglo-Saxon confessional literature within the history of private and/or public confession: comparative analysis of Irish and continental penitentials; comparative analysis of later confessional literature (twelfth- and thirteenth-century)
• Sin as (theological) discourse: e.g. the meaning of sin, including guilt and shame
• The priest and his scriftboc: pastoral care and education
• Confession/penance and types of sin: e.g. sexual sins, theft, manslaughter
• Fasting, almsgiving and singing psalms
• Penitential/confessional dialogue
• Confession and gender; confession and status
• Anglo-Saxon readings of original sin
• Confession as poetic motif
• The confessional 'self'
• Sin/the sinner/confession/penance in Anglo-Sexon art and sculpture
• Judgement Day: the sinner before God in literature and/or art

A keynote address and masterclass will be delivered by Dr. Catherine Cubitt (York)

Submissions by January 28th, 2011 and registration enquiries to Christopher Monk.

Conference supported by SAGE, SAHC and John Rylands Library, Deansgate

Review: Martin Millar, Lonely Werewolf Girl (Piatkus, 2009)

Given my interest in female werewolves, it's actually quite shocking that it has taken me this long to read Martin Millar's Lonely Werewolf Girl. First published in 2007, Millar's book tells the story of Kalix - the eponymous 'lonely werewolf girl' - an exiled daughter of the MacRinnalch clan.

After attacking her father for banishing her lover, Kalix is exiled from her Scottish home. When the novel begins, she is drifting through the streets of London, addicted to laudanum, anorexic (except when in werewolf form) and cutting herself. As all characters, including Kalix, constantly remind us, Kalix is "mad". If this were all the book had to offer, it would still be worthy of note. Millar's portrayal of the detachment, isolation and abjection of the self-harming anorexic, as well as the matter-of-fact comfort taken in self-destructive behaviours, is both sensitive and brutal - and utterly believable. The hopeless and hostile Kalix is neither victim nor abuser, and she requests neither our sympathy nor our censure. In fact, the lonely werewolf girl doesn't seem to want any emotional engagement from anyone - not the other characters in the book, and not the readers.

But readers, like the other characters, can't help but be drawn to Millar's creation. She is violent, antagonistic and destructive - but also sweet, loyal and heart-breakingly low on self-esteem: "Kalix felt like a young and very boring werewolf with nothing interesting to say. She wanted to leave but she couldn't seem to find an opportunity to say goodbye." Although Kalix tries her best to make herself difficult to like - something that her sister Thrix also feels about her - the novel sees her negotiating a number of unexpected new relationships, against her better judgement.

While Kalix attempts to make herself as near invisible as possible in London, trouble stirs in the MacRinnalch clan's Scottish home. Kalix's father has died, partly as a result of the injuries he received during his daughter's attack. This means that a new Thane must be selected, and Kalix's brothers - Markus and Sarapen - are each determined to fight (and fight dirty) for the title. The MacRinnalch werewolves are divided between the two brothers, which leads to violence, betrayal and plotting. Dragged into this conflict are Kalix's cousins, Butix and Delix, a pair of dissolute werewolves who have changed their names to Beauty and Delicious, dyed their hair and run off to London to be rock stars. In order to secure the support of the "cousins about whom the family did not speak", Mistress of the Werewolves Verasa sends Dominil, an intellectual but cold-hearted, white wolf to act as their band manager. Dominil is possibly my favourite character in the novel as, although Beauty and Delicious write songs about her entitled "Stupid Werewolf Bitch" and "Evil White-Haired Slut", everything she says makes complete sense, and she approaches life with a logical, rather than emotional, eye.

Like all the characters in the novel, Dominil has her flaws. And this is the major strength of Millar's writing. While much fantasy literature - and, to be honest, literature in general - still clings to the Mary/Eve distinction of female characters (put her on a pedestal or condemn her to Hell), Millar's creations are far more nuanced and layered. I would go as far as to argue that Millar has created some of the most fully-rounded, three-dimensional female werewolves that you will come across. Yes - they are highly sexed, aggresive and violent. But they are also by turns vain, selfish, obstinate, illiterate, intellectual, creative, loyal, vengeful, funny, drug-addicted, talented, gentle, caring, spoilt... In other words, Millar's female werewolves are about as close to human as you can get. Without wishing to make unfair generalizations, it is refreshing to see a male writer approach female characters by privileging 'character' over 'female'.

By contrast - and, as a feminist, I had to smile at the reversal of fortunes - Millar's male characters are, on the whole, a series of near caricatures. There is Sarapen, Kalix's older brother. Sarapen is a vicious and thuggish bully, whose idea of courtship is to abduct a woman and lock her in a cell. When she refuses his 'advances', he beats her to within an inch of her life. Cross-dressing Markus is the spoilt younger brother: a vain, preening mummy's boy who treats all women as objects to boost his vanity and sense of self-worth. Gawain, Kalix's idealized lost love, plays pretty much the role of the female love interest in the majority of fantasy fiction. The only exception to this portrayal of male characters is Daniel, the human boy who attempts to help Kalix in London. Daniel is boring and hopeless with women, but has a certain hapless charm about him. As events unfold and become increasingly dangerous and strange, Daniel is revealed to be a warm, sympathetic and loyal person, who becomes more and more likable as the novel progresses.

The innovation and originality of Lonely Werewolf Girl lie not in its basic plot nor in its version of werewolf mythology- both of these are in many ways similar to other fantasy fiction. However, the characterization in the novel is striking, and it is this that makes the novel one of the strongest female werewolf stories I have read. In addition to this, Millar's storytelling is quirky and compelling. The novel contains 236 short chapters, some of which are less than a page long, and moves briskly between scenes. This technique allows Millar to strictly control pacing, which is handled very well. As the story develops, the disparate scenes begin to come together, drawing the reader onwards to the climactic scenes. The combination of dynamic storytelling and careful characterization makes the conclusion very satisfying.

So, although I come late to the party, I now strongly recommend Lonely Werewolf Girl. Well-written, eccentric and some of the most memorable female werewolves in fiction.

Manchester: Then & Now Tour

I've recently been contacted by Walk Talk Tours with some interesting information about their audio tour of Manchester:

We're recently made our 2.4 mile (3.8km) Manchester: Then & Now tour completely free - for good.

The audio downloadable tour is available in MP3 format and can be played on iPods, iPhones, smart phones, MP3 players and other devices with MP3 playing capabilities.

The tour offers descriptions of "some of the key socio-economic developments and personalities responsible for shaping Manchester's past and present".

Check out their blog for more info.

The Lexis of Cloth and Clothing Project at the University of Manchester

Although this blog began life as a home for female werewolf-related news, I'd like to post about something slightly different - but equally interesting - today.

The Lexis of Cloth and Clothing Project at the University of Manchester is a major AHRC-funded project, headed up by Professor Gale Owen-Crocker and a dedicated team of academics and researchers, which will provide interdisciplinary research into the terminology of medieval dress and textiles in Britain (c.700-1450). Their website offers the following introduction to the project:

In the Middle Ages dress was an identifier of occupation, status, gender and ethnicity; textiles ranged through opulent, symbolic, utilitarian and recycled. Cloth production and international trade constituted a major sector of the economy of medieval Britain.

While the importance of cloth and textiles to medieval culture cannot be denied, researchers must currently look to a diverse range of disciplines, specialist dictionaries, artefacts and texts in order to explore the meanings and significances of a particular term or object. The Lexis Project is intended to offer an analytic corpus of the lexis of clothing and textile, and to offer a significant exploration of the development of this vocabulary. The project continues to assemble and examine citations and terminology in all the early languages of Britain and to provide a database of definitions, artefacts, images and technical processes.

I've been fortunate enough to already benefit from this project - despite the fact that my research is not primarily focused on medieval textiles. Last year, while working on the fourteenth-century werewolf poem William of Palerne, I gave a paper about a knight who has sex with a pillow. (ed. - How strange my life is sometimes!) I have become quite fixated on this knight and his relationship with his soft furnishings, and Professor Owen-Crocker was kind enough to encourage me to consult the Lexis database. In hardly any time at all, I was able to access a bank of information about medieval pillows, their uses and their connotations. The detail was fascinating - and certainly helped me to understand exactly what that poor knight was doing to the upholstery!

In addition to the database, The Lexis Project will also be producing The Encyclopaedia of Medieval Dress and Textiles, which will be published by Brill. The encyclopedia will comprise of essays and short pieces from research scholars from all over the world. The contents cover a vast array of subjects. I've co-written a piece on 'Cross-Dressing' with Professor Owen-Crocker, and other entries include armour, the wool trade, various literary texts and religious dress.

I'd strongly encourage anyone interested in medieval culture to check out the project website. The Word of the Month is a great feature, and is guaranteed to give you some insight into the significance of medieval cloth and clothing, as well as the continuation of these ideas beyond the Middle Ages.

For more information, click here.

Call for Submissions: Wolf-Girls: Dark Tales of Teeth, Claws and Lycogyny

Call for Submissions

Wolf-Girls

Dark Tales of Teeth, Claws and Lycogyny

Submissions wanted for a new anthology of short stories of bad, bad, female werewolves. Kicking, biting, clawing, fighting: the new lycogyny is far from pretty. We're looking for new and established writers to contribute dark fiction tales for a new collection of stories filled with feral and feisty lupine femmes.

Editor: Hannah Kate

Publisher: Hic Dragones

What we want: Edgy dark fiction short stories about female werewolves. Male characters are, of course, allowed, but the central character(s) should be female. We have no preconceptions about what 'female' or 'werewolf' might mean - so all interpretations welcome. Any genre considered: dark fantasy, urban fantasy, horror, sci fi, steampunk, cyberpunk, biopunk, dystopian, crossover. Queer, trans, cis, straight are all welcome. High fantasy, revenge fantasy and anything about 'lunar cycles' and 'Mother Nature' will be considered, but are discouraged. Rather, we're looking for new takes on an old legend, stories that challenge and unsettle. (And it should go without saying that we won't be including any misogyny, misandry, homophobia, transphobia or racism!)

Word Count: 3000-5000

Submission Guidelines: Electronic submissions as .doc, .docx, .rtf attachments only. 12pt font, 1.5 or double spaced. Please ensure name, title and email address are included on attachment. Email submissions to this address. Submissions are welcome from anywhere, but must be in English.

Submission Deadline: Monday 4th April 2011

Payment: 1 contributor copy (how we wish it could be more!)

For more information, click here or email Hic Dragones.

Beautiful, Strong, Broken Women

Those of you who follow me on Twitter will know that tonight I watched Buffy s5 ep12 ('The Body') for the first time in ages. In case you can't recall, this is the episode where Buffy finds her mother's dead body on the couch and has to deal with the immediate aftermath. The episode is wonderfully played by Sarah Michelle Gellar, and beautifully directed. There is no soundtrack, and each of the central characters plays out the most attractive facet of their character. As I said on Twitter, I'll only get behind a Buffy reboot if they can pull off something as beautiful as that episode.

Sarah Michelle Gellar's performance as the amazingly strong, yet perfectly vulnerable, Buffy got me thinking about femininity. And the way in which women are forced to juggle 'surviving' with 'being beautiful' and 'being good'. This is something I've had to deal with in my own life - as an apparently 'confident' and 'successful' woman - and I'm going to give you a run-down of women that have given me strength. Don't get me wrong... I find strength in so many women (from Emmeline Pankhurst to my bestest mate K), but these are the beautiful, strong, broken women who speak to my experience.

I would love to hear who your beautiful, broken icons are...

5. Buffy. This time last year, my dad found out he had cancer. During the time of his treatment, I got dumped and had to deal with my younger brother's 'issues' with his relationship to our dad. Of course, there are a lot of background issues, and my brother is only 16 months younger than me, but up until now his whole experience with death has revolved around my protecting him from it (mine hasn't - as my job from being 16 entails I've had to go to a lot of colleagues' funerals). Our (me and my bro) first bereavement was three days before my 8th birthday - I understood, he (aged 6) didn't - and our next was on his 13th birthday, and I've spent a lot of time making sure his birthday doesn't remind him of Grandma's death (he doesn't actually remember that Granny died around my birthday, but I'd rather he didn't remember our first bereavement). When the next death happened (when I was 17, he was 15), I had to be the one to break it to him. I might not be a slayer, but I am a big sister - and a child of a cancer patient -which is why Buffy is the first on my list of beautiful women. I can't show the whole episode, and you really do need the whole soundtrack-less thing to get the picture, but you'll get it from this:




4. Stacey Slater in Eastenders. Bipolar rape victim who wasn't totally sure what consent might mean when she was ill. (And the older, wiser me will say, hun, you can't consent if you're having an episode. And yes - I am bipolar. And yes - I am a rape victim.) Found one good man... and he died for her 'crime'. Beautifully, beautifully portrayed by Lacey Turner:



3. Tina Turner. This should be considered a clarion call to all of us who have suffered domestic abuse. And trust me, I know whereof I speak (My ex - hit me, hit his son, hit the cat). When they hit us, when they make us feel small, when they rape us, we should remember:




2. Blanche Dubois. A double one here. The character is a (possibly) mentally ill rape victim; the actress is a perfect, fragile, violent, broken harridan. No-one wanted to help Blanche or Vivien, because they were too much like hard work. I'm mentally ill (which should have been apparent throughout this post), and I've been forced to accept all NHS treatments short of sectioning. Blanche took it like this (I didn't... and Vivien Leigh didn't either...):



1. Judy Garland. I left her to last, because this says it all. For me, she is the beautiful, strong, broken woman par excellence. This is one of the most painful videos I've ever seen. Look into her eyes. You will see her soul... and mine:

Review: Jennifer Lynn Barnes, Raised by Wolves (Quercus, 2010)

Raised by Wolves, published by Quercus in 2010, is a YA urban fantasy novel, which tells the story of Bronwyn (otherwise known as Bryn), a girl raised by a werewolf pack. When she was four years old, a lone "Rabid" werewolf - the "Big, Bad Wolf" - attacked and killed Bryn's family. She only escaped by hiding in a cupboard until the Stone River Pack arrive to kill the lone wolf and save the girl's life. Bryn is then taken into the pack by powerful alpha Callum, who "Marks" her and raises her. When human woman Ali arrives - searching for her sister who has run off with a werewolf - she is given Bryn as a surrogate daughter, despite being only a few years older. This semi-stable family set-up continues until Bryn is seventeen, when the arrival of newly-converted "Were" Chase causes Bryn to question everything she thinks she knows about the pack and her place within it.

Barnes' werewolves are of a recognizable type: presented as a sort of cohabitation of human and wolf within one 'shifting' bodyt; 'born' not 'made' (on the whole); subject to the strict regulation of a hierarchical pack structure; and telepathic via a "Pack bond", a shared consciousness that links all members of a particular pack. The societal organization of the pack is utterly patriarchal, reliant on obedience to the alpha male. Bryn is doubly subject to this patriarchy; as a woman, but also a human, she has ostensibly little power to rebel against the rigorous and controlling influence of alpha Callum. The novel begins with Callum chastizing Bryn for three transgressions: she has 'borrowed' a motorbike from a classmate [What is it with YA heroines and secret motorbikes??]; her Algebra marks are low; she hasn't fully complied with her curfew. These circumstances may be reasonably familiar to readers of YA fiction. However, on eof the strengths of Raised by Wolves is that Barnes extends this marginalized, powerless situation of the heroine to a wider presentation of women within the werewolf world.

It is made clear throughout the book that there are very few female werewolves. This is presented as a fluke of werewolf biology: "Something about the chemistry involved in werewolf conception made it impossible for girl embryos to survive the first trimester, unless they were half of a set of twins and had a brother to mask their presence in the womb." This 'scientific fact' has a series of deep repercussions for the female characters in the novel. It makes female werewolves very rare: Bryn's foster-sister Kaitlin and close friend Lake are unusual, and thus highly prized members of the pack. As werewolves are 'born' and not 'made', the only way to breed 'purebred' werewolves is for these females to mate with male members of the pack. Their relative scarcity means that they are the focus of an undercurrent of sexual violence and coercion. In the later chapters of the novel, Bryn becomes aware of this when Lake - a rebellious tomboy of breeding age - hides in the mountains when a group of alphas visit her home. As Lake's father explains: "Some Weres, especially the dominant ones, get real funny around females, and Lake's not a kid anymore." Not only is the fifteen-year-old Lake now at risk of the "real funny" behaviour of dominant males, she may also be subject to "bartering" by her own alpha. Bryn comes to a realization that her friend - and, evenutally, her younger sister - will be seen as "commodities" by Callum.

One of the ways alphas exert power over each other is through the size of their pack. The more members to a pack, the more power the alpha has. As there is no way - apparently - of converting humans into werewolves, breeding is an important concern for the pack. The rareness of female werewolves results in most werewolves taking human wives. Barnes is fairly stark in her portrayal of these women - they are little more than breeding machines, and maternal mortality rates are ridiculously high. At one point, the narrator Bryn comments on mass, unmarked graves of female women who have died giving birth to werewolf children. The cumulative effect of this focus on reproduction, mating and mortality is to create a world in which to be female is to be inferior, fragile and vulnerable to patriarchal violence and control. Barnes sustains this throughout her novel, adding to the tension and precariousness of Bryn's situation.

Nevertheless, Bryn is not the sort of heroine who will simply compel with such monolithic societal controls. As Lake's father comments, she is "scrappy". The characterization of Bryn, and her determination to rebel against and subvert the world in which she lives, is one of the most compelling aspects of the novel. Bryn is adept at finding loopholes in pack rule, and discovers a number of skills and attributes that allow her to fight back against the injustices she has faced. (And I will say no more on these, as they are integral to the development of the plot.) Moreover, Bryn configures an alternative society, at odds with the traditional pack, made up of the marginalized, the disenfranchised and the powerless. This social group includes Chase (the werewolf convert who 'shouldn't' exist), Lake and Bryn's close friend Devon - "the world's only metrosexual werewolf". This group - also incorporating Bryn's strong and principled foster-mother Ali and adorable wolf-cub Kaitlin - is likable and sympathetic. The reader sides with them easily against the rigid and brutal pack patriarchy.

Although, as I have said, Barnes' werewolves are of a reasonably familiar type, the author plays around with the usual formula. For example, the "Pack bond" shared by the werewolves can also be enjoyed by humans who have been "Marked". Bryn and Ali have the opportunity to share in this bond, but choose to close off their minds to it. This leads to some consideration by Bryn about what exactly separates humans from "Weres". Though she realizes that she is not actually a werewolf, Bryn doesn't feel or act fully human either. Snarling in anger and revelling in the unrestrained physical freedom of "running with the Pack", Bryn seems to be part-werewolf, despite the impossibility of this. This all raises an interesting question: is it nature or nurture that makes a werewolf?

Raised by Wolves is an enjoyable and gripping YA fantasy. Believable characters and a well-handled and suspenseful plot make for a great read. While the basic premise of the book (and its werewolf world) may seem like well-trodden territory, Barnes' handling of these ideas is original and fresh. The writing bears favourable comparison with other bestselling examples of YA fantasy - and, indeed, is an instance of the genre at its best. Definitely recommended.

CFP: Revenge - Probing the Boundaries

16th July 2011 - Monday 19th July 2011
Mansfield College, Oxford, United Kingdom

Call for Papers

Revenge, so we are told, is a dish best served cold: a ‘sweet’ wreaking of vengeance on those who have – either in reality or in our minds – slighted, wronged or in some way ‘injured’ us and who are now ‘enjoying’ their just deserts by an avenging angel (or angels) on the great day of reckoning. This inter- and multi-disciplinary research and publications project seeks to explore the multi-layered ideas and actions of vengeance or revenge. The project aims to explore the nature of revenge, its relationship with issues of justice, and its manifestation in the actions of individuals, groups, communities and nations. The project will also consider the history of revenge, its ‘legitimacy’, the‘scale’ of vengeful actions and whether revenge has (or should have) ‘limits’. Representations of revenge in film, literature, tv, theatre and radio will be analysed; cultural ‘traditions’ of retaliation and revenge will be considered. And the role of mercy, forgiveness and pardon will be assessed.

Papers will consider the following indicative themes:

• the nature of reveng
• vengeance in history
• revenge cross-culturally
• the role of revenge
• is there any proper and improper time for revenge? Can an act of revenge be carried across generations?
• revenge, vengeance, retaliation: to avenge
• justice and revenge; redressing the balance, just desert
• betrayal, humiliation, shame, resentment and revenge
• revenge and the individual; revenge and the group; revenge and the nation
• revenge in literature and the arts
• revenge in music
• revenge in tv, film, radio and theatre: the nemesis
• relationship between revenge and mercy, forgiveness, pardon
• revenge case-studies: individual and collective

Papers on any other topic related to the theme will also be considered. The Steering Group particularly welcomes the submission of pre-formed panel proposals. Papers will also be considered on any related theme.

300 word abstracts should be submitted by Friday 14th January 2011. If an abstract is accepted for the conference, a full draft paper shouldbe submitted by Friday 27th May 2011.

Abstracts should be submitted simultaneously to both Organising Chairs; abstracts may be in Word, WordPerfect, or RTF formats with the following information and in this order: a) author(s), b) affiliation, c) email address, d) title of abstract, e) body of abstract

E-mails should be entitled: REV2 Abstract Submission.

Please use plain text (Times Roman 12) and abstain from using footnotes and any special formatting, characters or emphasis (such asbold, italics or underline).

We acknowledge receipt and answer to all paper proposals submitted. If you do not receive a reply from us in a week you should assume we did not receive your proposal; it might be lost in cyberspace! We suggest, then, to look for an alternative electronic route or resend.

Joint Organising Chairs:

Karolina Wigura
Institute of Sociology,
Warsaw University,
Warsaw,
Poland

Rob Fisher
Network Founder and Leader
Inter-Disciplinary.Net
Freeland,
Oxfordshire,
United Kingdom

The conference is part of the Probing the Boundaries programme of research projects. It aims to bring together people from different areas and interests to share ideas and explore various discussions which are innovative and exciting. All papers accepted for and presented at this conference will be eligible for publication in an ISBN eBook. Selected papers may be invited for development for publication in a themed hard copy volume(s).

For further details about the project please click here.

For further details about the conference please click here.

Vampires, Memeplexes and McFly

This is not one of my planned blog posts - I have some interesting things lined up to say on Shakira and on medieval research at the University of Manchester - but it came to me, and I feel compelled. Apart from being a scholar of medieval literature and contemporary popular culture, apart from being an aspiring novelist and a published poet, I am also a massive McFly fan. And I make no apologies for that.

When I heard that McFly were releasing a video featuring vampires (for the 2010 single 'Party Girl'), I was interested on two levels. One: I adore McFly. And two: I have a scholarly interest in vampires, monsters and all things strange. Given the preponderence of abstinent and sympathetic vampires in literature (and I mean here, in all literature - I am of the school of thought that sees Dracula as a break in tradition, not the tradition itself), I expected this band to appeal to the Twilight generation. I thought I would see tragic, struggling vamps, forcing themselves to endure blood pangs with a romantic fortitude. (I mean, I love McFly, but I still expected them to tap in to mainstream tastes.)

However, this is the video:



Some really interesting things occur to me in watching this video, and I think the theory of memes and memeplexes is useful here. A meme is a piece of information, which survives and flourishes through transmission, replication and mutation. The idea of the the meme was originally posited by Richard Dawkins in 1976 - before he went all fundamentalist athesist - and was understood as the cornerstone of human intelligence. Call it 'understanding', 'intelligence' or 'consciousness', it's all down to 'memes'. Furthermore, memes evolve in much the same way as genes do... they pass on through endless repetition and replication; a mutation occurs; the mutated version is then relicated. (Although, unlike genes, memes do not need a mutation to be 'beneficial' in order for the mutation to survive.) A memeplex is a complex group of memes, which exists in much the same way. Within the memeplex are a wide variety of memes, all or some of which are necessary for the overall concept to be understood. Thus, the 'vampire memeplex' is a complex 'grab bag' of ideas that exists (in some combination or another) for the concept of the 'vampire' to be understood. We might include in this aversion to garlic, aversion to sunlight, heightened sexuality, heightened sense of morality/immorality, aversion to silver, affiliations to the Victorian era, etc.

The idea of the 'memeplex' overlaps, to some extent, with the idea of 'mythos'. Additionally, issues of intertextuality are equally difficult to separate from 'memeplex'. This overlapping and intercrossing is evident in watching the McFly video. As the video starts, we see red letters on a black background, and a cross serving as the letter 't' in 'party'. This draws on both colour associations and intertextual reference to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The font of the wording should also be familiar to any pop culture vampire afficianados.

Following this, we have a series of visual referents for the vampire genre: black birds circling, a single star, a tortured male face. At 00.15 in the video, you will also notice a clear visual depiction of an eclipse (referencing Stephenie Meyer's book/movie of the same name). Next, we see a gargoyle - evidence of the use of gothic architecture in almost all vampire fiction.

The image which follows signals a diversion from the more common pop culture 'abstinent male vampire' memes. A large, red-lipped, fanged, and undoubtedly female mouth fills the screen. The mouth reminds me of Barbara Creed's association of the vampiric mouth with the mythical 'vagina dentata', and this reminds us that the focus of the song is a 'Party Girl'. The lyrics, and much of the rest of the video, concentrate on the idea of dangerous and seductive femininity. We see Harry engaging in seedy sex in a dark room, being infected and singing 'fangs out' on stage. We also have an image (at 1.30 in the video) of 'Dracula's brides' attacking the male protagonist. Words flash up on the screen to remind us of this feminine monstrousness: 'doomed', 'kill', 'kiss', 'sinks her teeth in'.

Nevertheless, there is much more to this video than simply a rehashing of the monstrousness of female sexuality. Consider, for example, the fact that the main female vamp is originally presented (at 1.03 in the video) as an apparent victim of sexual assault. Her appearance as a killer (1.17) is shadowed by the earlier image of her victimhood. Additionally, the video makes explicit reference to ideas of uncontrollable and dangerous testosterone: see 1.18 as an instance. At 1.54, there is an image of a very gentle and feminine female face, followed immediately by a further image of the 'macho' male lifting weights. Polaroid photographs suggest pornographic treatment of women. And, towards the end of the video, we see blood dripping slowly down a very phallic guitar, before the McFly boys break into another riff.

In this way, the Party Girl video presents images of out-of-control feminine sexuality/monstrosity, while always undermining them with the violence of patriarchal masculinity. This is further underlined by the ambiguity of the lyrics: "I love this little party girl/ yeah/ she likes to dance all by herself". Is this the story of the fetishization of an infantilized female? Or the empowerment of the female through monstrosity?

The McFly video plays around with pop culture references. Among them are a vamp-dusting in the style of Buffy and (my favourite) Breaking Dawn-esque flying feathers (1.33 onwards). This demonstrates the overlapping of 'memeplex' - the ideas that create our concept of 'vampire' - and intertextuality. However, what is also of interest is the apparently easy crossover between the vampire memeplex and that of the werewolf. At 1.47, Harry stands illuminated by a full moon, in the grips of an apparently painful transformation (sans shirt). At 2.43, Danny is heard to say 'Dougie - don't go into the woods!': surely, this is more reminiscent of werewolf films than vampire films?

So, what do we make of these conflicting referents in the McFly video? It could be argued that the team behind the video are simply cashing in on a slew of visual referents to mainstream pop culture texts. Nevertheless, I would suggest that this video, in fact, reveals how use of a 'grab bag' mythos - or memeplex - along with a 'postmodern' sense of intertextuality, creates twenty-first-century cultural products. All contemporary vampiric texts have one eye backwards and one eye sideways... McFly are simply utilizing this to encourage downloads. The complexity of the references in this particular video, along with the ambiguity of the lyrics, is one of the main reasons why I am not ashamed to describe myself as a McFly Fangirl and Proud. I love pop culture in all its bizarre forms and complexities.

And in case you think that the vampiric context of this latest video is simply a cash-in on recent pop culture trends, have a look at the video for McFly's 2007 single 'Transylvania'. I know I've admitted I'm a fangirl - but even the most anti-McFly amongst you will be hard-pressed not to love such a beautifully absurist mash-up of vampire memeplex, WWI imagery, fin-de-siecle extravagance, cross-dressing, Nosferatu and 'Bohemian Rhapsody' reference. And it begins with a sample for Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor'. Enjoy...




And here's a lovely presentation of zombie imagery with reference to the 'Thriller' vid (and a nice little intertextual reference to the film that gave the band their name - released the very year guitarist/vocalist Tom Fletcher was born):

Call for Submissions: Steampink Anthology

Library of Fantasy presents

Steampink: Queered Visions of Steampunk

Edited and compiled by Bill Tucker and Tonia Brown

Searching for steampunk stories that have a queered twist. The stories should have at least one glbt main character and/or theme.

Word count is 3-7k.

Rich text format please.

Indent paragraphs 1 tab.

Single spaced.

Use italics - do not underline.

No page numbers/headers.

Place your name, address, telephone number, email and the approximate word count on the title page please.

Payment is 1 cent per word and 1 contributor copy.

Please email submissions to this address (click for link).

Last day to submit submissions is March 15, 2011.

Click here for further details.

Light of my life... fire of my loins... My Comment on Twilight

In the past ten days, I have worked my way through Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series. Although I have been tweeting my immediate reactions to the books, I felt that a lengthier review was in order. This post is intended to address my main misgivings with the series. I think my approach should be fairly self-explanatory.

Quotations are taken from Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita (1955; Penguin Books, 1995) and Stephanie Meyer, Twilight (Atom, 2006); Eclipse (Atom, 2007); Breaking Dawn (Atom, 2008)

Light of my life... fire of my loins...

"While my body knew what it craved for, my mind rejected my body's every plea. One moment I was ashamed and frightened, another recklessly optimistic. Taboos strangulated me." (Lolita, p. 18)

"He started to pull away - that was his automatic response whenever he decided things had gone too far, his reflex reaction whenever he most wanted to keep going. Edward had spent most of his life rejecting any kind of physical gratification. I knew it was terrifying to him trying to change those habits now." (Breaking Dawn, p. 23)

"He had the utmost respect for ordinary children, with their purity and vulnerability, and under no circumstances would he have interfered with the innocence of a child, if there was the least risk of a row. But how his heart beat when, among the innocent throng, he espied a demon child..." (Lolita, pp. 19-20)

"'Quil... imprinted... with a two-year-old?' I was finally able to ask.
[...]
'You're making judgments,' he accused. 'I can see it on your face.'
'Sorry,' I muttered. 'But it sounds really creepy.'
'It's not like that; you've got it all wrong,' Jacob defended his friend, suddenly vehement. 'I've seen what it's like, through his eyes. There's nothing romantic about it all, not for Quil, not now. [...] When you see her, suddenly it's not the earth holding you anymore. She does. And nothing matters more than her. And you would do anything for her, be anything for her...'" (Eclipse, p. 156)

"Let me repeat with quiet force: I was, and still am, despite mes malheurs, an exceptionally handsome male; slow-moving, tall, with soft dark hair and a gloomy but all the more seductive cast of demeanour. Exceptional virility often reflects in the subject's displayable features a sullen and congested something that pertains to what he has to conceal. And this was my case. Well did I know, alas, that I could obtain at the snap of my fingers any adult female I chose; in fact, it had become quite a habit with me of not being too attentive to women lest they come toppling, bloodripe, into my cold lap." (Lolita, p. 25)

"'That's Edward. He's gorgeous, of course, but don't waste your time. He doesn't date. Apparently none of the girls here are good-looking enough for him.'" (Twilight, p. 19)

"When he sat next to me in class, as far away from me as the table would allow, he seemed totally unaware of my presence." (Twilight, p. 59)

"I find it most difficult to express with adequate force that flash, that shiver, that impact of passionate recognition... the vacuum of my soul managed to suck in every detail of her bright beauty..." (Lolita, p. 39)

"I could see that now - how the universe swirled around this one point. I'd never seen the symmetry of the universe before, but now it was plain.
The gravity of the earth no longer tied me to the place where I stood.
It was the baby girl in the blonde vampire's arms that held me now." (Breaking Dawn, p. 331)

"I shall probably have another breakdown if I stay any longer in this house, under the strain of this intolerable temptation, by the side of my darling - my darling - my life and my bride." (Lolita, p. 47)

"'Why are you doing this to me?' he said through his teeth, his tone suddenly angry. 'Isn't it hard enough without all of this?' He grabbed a handful of lace that was ruffled on my thigh. For a moment, I thought he was going to rip it from the seam. Then his hand relaxed. 'It doesn't matter. I won't make any deals with you.'" (Breaking Dawn, p. 93)

"By this time I was in a state of excitement bordering on insanity; but I also had the cunning of the insane. Sitting there, on the sofa, I managed to attune, by a series of stealthy movements, my masked lust to her guileless limbs. It was no easy matter to divert the little maiden's attention while I performed the obscure adjustments necessary for the success of the trick." (Lolita, p. 58)

"His hand curved around my elbow, moving slowly down my arm, across my ribs and over my waist, tracing along my hip and down my leg, around my knee. He paused there, his hand curling around my calf. He pulled my leg up suddenly, hitching it around his hip.
I stopped breathing." (Eclipse, p. 165)

"In my self-made seraglio, I was a radiant and robust Turk, deliberately, in the full consciousness of his freedom, postponing the moment of actually enjoying the youngest and frailest of his slaves." (Lolita, p. 60)

"'Getting married is a stretch for me. I'm not giving in unless I get something in return.'
He leaned down to whisper in my ear. 'No,' he murmured silkily. 'It's not possible now. Later, when you're less breakable. Be patient, Bella.'
[...] He was too beautiful. What was the word he'd used just now? Unbearable - that was it. His beauty was too much to bear...
[...] 'I'm not saying no,' he reassured me. 'I'm just saying not tonight.'" (Eclipse, p. 399)

"The word 'forever' referred only to my own passion, to the eternal Lolita as reflected in my blood." (p. 65)

"I laughed breathlessly when his urgent kiss interrupted my efforts again.
[...] 'Damn it,' he growled, kissing hungrily down the edge of my jaw.
'We have plenty of time to work on it,' I reminded him.
'Forever and forever and forever,' he murmured." (Breaking Dawn, p. 699)

"Then she crept into my waiting arms, radiant, relaxed, caressing me with her tender, mysterious, impure, indifferent, twilight eyes - for all the world, like the cheapest of cheap cuties. For this is what nymphets imitate - while we moan and die." (Lolita, p. 120)

"... so tonight I pulled out one of the scarier pieces as I got ready in the panelled bathroom. It was black, lacy, and embarrassing to look at even when it wasn't on. I was careful not to look in the mirror before I went back to the bathroom. I didn't want to lose my nerve.
I had the satisfaction of watching his eyes pop open wide for just a second before he controlled his expression.
[...] I couldn't tell if he was moved by the tears trembling in my voice, or if he was unprepared to deal with the suddenness of my attack, or if his need was simply as unbearable in that moment as my own. But whatever the reason, he pulled my lips back to his, surrendering with a groan." (Breaking Dawn, pp. 92; 98)

"I was still firmly resolved to pursue my policy of sparing her purity by operating only in the stealth of night, only upon a completely anaesthetized little nude." (Lolita, p. 124)

"I still didn't turn around. 'How often do you come here?'
'I come here almost every night.'
I whirled, stunned. 'Why?'
'You're interesting when you sleep.' He spoke matter-of-factly." (Twilight, p. 256)

"This was a lone child, an absolute waif, with whom a heavy-limbed, foul-smelling adult had had strenuous intercourse three times that very morning. Whether or not the realization of a lifelong dream had surpassed all expectations, it had, in a sense, overshot its mark - and plunged into a nightmare. I had been careless, stupid, and ignoble." (Lolita, p. 140)

"His eyes tightened. 'How badly are you hurt, Bella? The truth - don't try to downplay it.'
[...] 'Why would you jump to that conclusion? I've never been better than I am now.'
His eyes closed. 'Stop that.'
'Stop what?'
'Stop acting like I'm not a monster for having agreed to this.'
[...] Under the dusting of feathers, large purplish bruises were beginning to blossom across the pale skin of my arm. My eyes followed the trail they made up to my shoulder, and then down across my ribs. I pulled my hand free to poke at a discoloration on my left forearm, watching it fade where I touched and then reappear. It throbbed a little.
So lightly that he barely touching me, Edward placed his hand against the bruises on my arm, one at a time, matching his long fingers to the patterns.
[...] 'I'm... so sorry, Bella,' he whispered while I stared at the bruises. 'I knew better than this. I should not have -' He made a low, revolted sound in the back of his throat. 'I am more sorry that I can tell you.'" (Breaking Dawn, pp. 80-82)

"Presently, making a sizzling sound with her lips, she started complaining of pains, said she could not sit, said I had torn something inside her." (Lolita, p. 141)

"I took a deep breath. I was feeling more of the soreness now, but it wasn't that bad. Sort of like the day after lifting weights." (Breaking Dawn, p. 83)

"I want to protect you, dear, from all the horrors that happen to little girls in coal sheds and alley ways, and, alas, comme vous le savez trop bien, ma gentille, in the blueberry woods during the bluest of summers. Through thick and thin I will stay your guardian, and if you are good, I hope a court may legalize that guardianship before long." (Lolita, p. 149)

"'It's going to sound cruel, I suppose. But I've come too close to losing you in the past. I know what it feels like to think I have. I am not going to tolerate anything dangerous. [...] No werewolves.'
'I'm not going along with that. I have to see Jacob.'
'Then I'll have to stop you.'" (Eclipse, pp. 29-30)

"'I don't need any fanfare. You won't have to tell anyone or make any changes. We'll go to Vegas - you can wear old jeans and we'll go to the chapel with the drive-through window. I just want to make it official - that you belong to me and no one else.'" (Eclipse, p. 404)

"... with patience and luck I might have her produce eventually a nymphet with my blood in her exquisite veins, a Lolita the Second, who would be eight or nine around 1960, when I would still be dans la force de l'age..." (Lolita, p. 174)

"'Because you're the one who told me this. Do you remember? You said we belonged in each other's lives, right? That we were family. You said that was how you and I were supposed to be. So... now we are. It's what you wanted.'
[...] 'You think you'll be part of my family as my son-in-law!' I screeched.
[...] 'Do you remember how much you wanted me around three days ago? How hard it was to be apart from each other? That's gone now for you, isn't it? [...] That was her,' he told me. 'From the very beginning. We had to be together, even then.'" (Breaking Dawn, pp. 415-16)

"First the old ogre drew up a list under 'absolutely forbidden' and another under 'reluctantly allowed'... She might visit a candy bar with her girl friends, and there giggle-chat with occasional young males, while I waited in the car at a discreet distance..." (Lolita, p. 186)

"The Quileute school was already out for the summer, so he told me to come over as early as I could. I was pleased to have an option besides being babysat. There was a tiny bit more dignity in spending the day with Jacob.
Some of that dignity was lost when Edward insisted again on delivering me to the border line like a child being exchanged by custodial guardians.
[...] He laughed again, but suddenly stopped when we turned the last bend and saw the red car waiting. He frowned in concentration, and then, as he parked the car, he sighed." (Eclipse, pp. 282-83)

"On playgrounds and beaches, my sullen and stealthy eye, against my will, still sought out the flash of a nymphet's limbs, the sly tokens of Lolita's handmaids and rosegirls." (Lolita, p. 257)

"I kept going north, and it got more and more crowded. Eventually, I found a big park full of kids and families and skateboards and bikes and kites and picnics. [...] I walked around for what felt like hours. Long enough that the sun changed sides in the sky. I stared into the face of every girl who passed anywhere near me, making myself really look, noticing who was pretty and who had blue eyes and who looked good in braces and who had way too much make-up on. I tried to find something interesting about each face, so that I would know for sure that I'd really tried. [...] As time went on, I started noticing all the wrong things. Bella things. This one's hair was the same colour. This one's eyes were sort of shaped the same. This one's cheekbones cut across her face in just the same way." (Breaking Dawn, pp. 304-305)

"She was frankly and hugely pregnant. Her head looked smaller (only two seconds had passed really, but let me give them as much wooden duration as life can stand), and her pale-freckled cheeks were hollowed, and her bare shins and arms had lost all their tan, so that the little hairs showed. She wore a brown, sleeveless cotton dress and sloppy felt slippers." (Lolita, p. 269)

"Bella's body was swollen, her torso ballooning out in a strange, sick way. It strained against the faded grey sweatshirt that was way too big for her shoulders and arms. The rest of her seemed thinner, like the big bulge had grown out of what it had sucked from her. It took me a second to realize what the deformed part was - I didn't understand until she folded her hands tenderly around her bloated stomach, one above and one below. Like she was cradling it.
I saw it then, but I couldn't believe it. I'd seen her just a month ago. There was no way she could be pregnant. Not that pregnant." (Breaking Dawn, p. 160)

"'You chump,' she said, smiling sweetly at me. 'You revolting creature. I was a daisy-fresh girl, and look what you've done to me. I ought to call the police and tell them you raped me. Oh, you dirty, dirty old man." (Lolita, p. 141)

On Werewolves, Witchhunts and Cooks Source Magazine

Many of you may already be familiar with the story of Pernette Gandillon, as it is recounted in both Sabine Baring-Gould's The Book of Were-Wolves and Henri Boguet's Discours des Sorciers (Baring-Gould, in fact, draws his version of the tale from Boguet's earlier work). However, for those of you who are not, I will give a brief overview.

Pernette Gandillon was a young woman who lived in the Jura Mountains in the late-sixteenth century. As Baring-Gould and Boguet recount, Pernette was prone to running around the countryside on all fours, and apparently believed that she was a wolf. In 1598, she is reported to have attacked two young children, as a result of her "sudden passion for blood". When the male child, a four-year-old, attempted to defend himself and his sister, Pernette tore at his throat and fatally wounded him. When this was discovered, the people of the village tore Pernette to pieces in "rage and horror".

Following the lynching of Pernette, other members of the Gandillon family were rounded up for trial on charges of witchcraft. Pierre and Georges were alleged to have led children to the witches' sabbath, transformed themselves into wolves and attacked local animals. Antoinnette confessed to having had sexual congress with the devil at the sabbath. All three confessed, were found guilty and were hanged and burned.

While by no means isolated, the story of the Gandillon family is an interesting illustration of the complexities of werewolf belief in the sixteenth century. Note, for example, the connection between lycanthropy and devil worship, and the insistence on an unnatural bloodlust in the transformed wolf. Baring-Gould also reports that Pierre and Georges behaved like "maniacs" while imprisoned, and labels Pernette's "transformation" as an ostensibly misguided "belief she was a wolf". This suggests a link between madness and werewolfism.

The Gandillon story also tells us something about sixteenth-century justice and punishment for werewolves. Pernette is dealt with by mob justice - there is no question in any reports that she committed the murder, and she is never brought to trial. Her execution - or, more accurately, lynching - is a gruesome (and, one suspects, public) dismemberment brought about by "rage and horror", rather than by a desire to see justice done. It is interesting to consider, here, whether or not we believe Pernette to be as guilty as did the vigilante mob of executioners. If, indeed, she was a werewolf, do we feel the punishment met the crime? Was she mentally unstable? Was her crime due to "diminished responsibility"? How much evidence did the mob actually have to confirm her guilt?

Baring-Gould is rather coy on the subject of the other Gandillons' confessions, simply stating that they "readily admitted" to various charges. Our knowledge of sixteenth-century techniques of extracting confessions from heretics and witches may lead us to question how "readily" the Gandillons gave forth their stories. We may also wonder why the Gandillon family were arrested "directly after" the lynching of Pernette. Were they tainted by association? Was Pernette's crime too hideous to be an isolated instance? Do we, enlightened twenty-first-century readers that we are, really believe that the Gandillon family were guilty?

Fast forward to November 2010...

As I'm sure many of you will be aware, a social media storm erupted on Thursday 17 November. Food blogger Monica Gaudio blogged that an article she had posted on her blog had been printed (without permission or remuneration) in the now-infamous Cooks Source Magazine. For the sake of my eyes and yours, I will limit the hyperlinks in this post to the above (which links to the Guardian's analysis of the controversy). A simple Google search for 'Cooks Source Magazine' will let you fill in any blanks.

Gaudio not only blogged about the infringement of her copyright, but also published the condescending response she had received from Cooks Source's editor, Judith Griggs. Griggs' response revealed an arrogant disregard for Gaudio's intellectual property rights, and a distinct lack of understanding as to the role and function of the internet in the publishing industry. Other bloggers linked to Gaudio's piece, and the story began to be circulated via Twitter. The first tweet I received about the story appeared to be a cautionary tale to warn bloggers of potential danger. However, events soon started to move in a different direction.

Filled with "rage and horror" at Cooks Source's crime, and disgusted by Griggs' unapologetic attitude, social media users embarked upon what has been described by some as "frontier justice". The Cooks Source Facebook page was inundated with hostile, insulting and threatening messages. Fake Twitter and Facebook accounts were set up for the magazine, and for Griggs herself - who was, by now, the scapegoat being led to slaughter. As the mob grew, the phone number and address of Cooks Source magazine was circulated to literally thousands of people. People screamed across cyberspace for an end to Griggs' career and financial security - as well as for worse.

Directly after the figurative lynching of Griggs, people's attention turned to the advertisers who had paid for promotion in Cooks Source magazine. Many of these were small businesses, who received thousands of emails - many angry and abusive - and phone calls which disrupted their working day. One company reported being told that "when you lie down with dogs, you're bound to get fleas". No advertiser publicly stood by the magazine. All "readily admitted" that they had paid for advertising in a publication that was beyond redemption, and accepted that they would not do so again.

While no-one (thankfully) was physically torn to pieces in this case, one is left pondering the similarities between the sixteenth-century lynching of Pernette Gandillon and the "frontier justice" administered to Judith Griggs.

At no point in the past week has anyone questioned Griggs' guilt. We know she was guilty of copyright infringement - we saw the email - just as those Jura villagers saw the child's body. Both Gandillon and Griggs committed crimes recognized and punishable by recourse to contemporaneous legal channels, and yet were dealt with outside of official channels. Both cases enabled further accusations to be levelled against those associated with the original 'monster', and resulted in further coerced 'confessions'. The punishments of both women seem somehow out of proportion to the crimes committed. It is possible that Pernette was, in fact, being punished for being 'different' (perhaps, mentally ill), while Judith Griggs was undoubtedly being punished more for her lack of knowledge of the how the internet works than for her initial plagiarism - consider the scorn poured upon Cooks Source when they claimed their Facebook page had been "hacked", when, in truth, it had simply been bombarded with comments. Pernette Gandillon and Judith Griggs were not, by the standards of their day and the environment in which they operated, 'one of us'.

Some internet users are very aware of the comparison to be made between early modern witchhunts and the Cooks Source Magazine debacle. Some have spoken of "pitchforks and burning torches", others directly referring to "witchhunts" and "lynchings". The Cooks Source Facebook page has become a repository of other 'humorous' charges levelled at the magazine and, more specifically, its editor. One ironic poster claims "Cooks Source magazine has commerce with the devil." Wasn't that what Antoinnette Gandillon was burned for?

Nevertheless, the majority of posters seem somewhat less aware. Their messages are crude, designed to cause cruel laughter and provoke further response. Those involved do not appear to be directly affected or concerned by Griggs' crime - in fact, many have ceased making any reference to it whatsoever. The initial transgression of the accused is no longer the issue, the point is to keep waving the pitchforks until you have someone to burn.

One wonders how the Jura villagers felt after the dismemberment of Pernette Gandillon. Were they relieved to have dispatched such a great threat? Were they fearful that such a thing might happen again? Or were they exhilarated in the wake of their "driveby justice"? There must be something quite compelling in the idea of being part of a mob baying for justice - after all, five centuries on, people are still pretty quick to pick up their pitchforks and lift up the torches. Reading the relish with which bloggers and online journalists have described the fate of Cooks Source Magazine, it would seem that people enjoy a virtual lynching. All that "rage and horror" has not gone away, it's just gone online.