red and crude

and yet her name was like a summons to all my foolish blood

[wovi]

*

joy sullivan

[orpheuslament]

Written on the Body, Jeanette Winterson

[entrailhump]

Ulla Jokisalo, Saldo, 1989 - 1992.

[counttwinkula]

hey did you know that uhh

i. the monster's body is a cultural body

ii. the monster always escapes

iii. the monster is the harbinger of category crisis

iv. the monster dwells at the gates of difference

v. the monster polices the borders of the possible

vi. fear of the monster is really a kind of desire

vii. the monster stands at the threshold… of becoming

[counttwinkula]

oh shit i didn't expect this to actually get notes lmao

these are all direct quotes from jeffrey jerome cohen's "monster culture (seven theses)" (full pdf linked) i highly encourage you to read it yourself!

that said, while i think cohen's writing is evocative, it can be a little dense, so while i'm here, here's my capsule summary (you can also hear me talk about this in the first episode of my podcast) (listen to @ghostswerepeopletoo)

i. the monster's body is a cultural body - The monster is a work of fiction to be analyzed through tools of literary and sociological theory.

ii. the monster always escapes - As long as the cultural fear from which the monster stems persists, the monster will reappear in retellings, reimaginings, and sequels.

iii. the monster is the harbinger of category crisis - Monsters defy binaries and challenge easy comprehension or categorization.

iv. the monster dwells at the gates of difference - The monster represents the Other.

v. the monster polices the borders of the possible - Tales of the monster exist to discourage unacceptable or taboo behaviors.

vi. fear of the monster is really a kind of desire - Subjects can vicariously participate in the disruption of the social order through the monster.

vii. the monster stands at the threshold… of becoming - Within the monster we find information about the self.

[tenderloincherub]

E. R. Dodds in his Introduction to Euripides' Bacchae

[phantom-threaded]

Frankenstein (2025) + trivia

[mxryshcllcy]

“I saw—with shut eyes, but acute mental vision—I saw the pale student of unhallowed arts kneeling beside the thing he had put together. I saw the hideous phantasm of a man stretched out, and then, on the working of some powerful engine, show signs of life, and stir with an uneasy, half-vital motion. Frightful must it be; for supremely frightful would be the effect of any human endeavor to mock the stupendous mechanism of the Creator of the world. His success would terrify the artist; he would rush away from his odious handiwork, horror-stricken. He would hope that, left to itself, the slight spark of life which he had communicated would fade; that this thing, which had received such imperfect animation would subside into dead matter; and he might sleep in the belief that the silence of the grave would quench forever the transient existence of the hideous corpse which he had looked upon as the cradle of life. He sleeps; but he is awakened; he opens his eyes; behold, the horrid thing stands at his bedside, opening his curtains and looking on him with yellow, watery, but speculative eyes.”

— Mary Shelley, 1831 Introduction to Frankenstein, on her vision of the story

[apoemaday]

Go to the Limits of Your Longing

by Rainer Maria Rilke

God speaks to each of us as he makes us, then walks with us silently out of the night.

These are the words we dimly hear:

You, sent out beyond your recall, go to the limits of your longing. Embody me.

Flare up like a flame and make big shadows I can move in.

Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final. Don’t let yourself lose me.

Nearby is the country they call life. You will know it by its seriousness.

Give me your hand.

[gnossienne]

Alfred Agache, Enigma (1888)

[maeowl]

“Darling, darling. I live in you, and you would die for me. I love you so.”

carmilla (stone) lithograph | prints here

[gorgonapologist]

For all of the grotesqueness, the girl-monster is an appealing figure. This is the ambiguity of the abject. Female monsters, like the possession victim discussed by Creed, act radically outside the bounds of expected female behavior. Monstrousness, like possession, is “the excuse for legitimizing a display of aberrant feminine behavior which is depicted as depraved, monstrous, abject – and perversely appealing.”

THE RISE OF THE GIRL-MONSTER PART 1: BIRTH AND BODY, Sara McCartney

[sixplusfive]

…I don't care what you are. It's better than not having you here. Way better… …So, even if he's a fake, I want him to stay…

光が死んだ夏 The Summer Hikaru Died (2025) | 1.01 studio. CygamesPictures

[weepingwidar]

Esther Sarto (Danish, 1992) - Night in the Red Room (2017)

[woundgallery]

Rebecca Horn, The Kiss of Death

[r3dbite]

[tenderstems]

various sacred hearts (damien hirst; tim tate; antique ex-voto; 19th c. french religious card; 19th c. french reliquary; repousee antique; carved wood frame c. 1890-1920; unknown painting)

[dreamyvixen]