wizarre bizard

*polymorphs you into a kitty* pspspsppspspspsps

[jesterbots]

“Larper” being used like “poser” is so annoying bc actual LARPers are cool as hell. Get me some armour and a fake sword too

[astriiformes]

College friendship is sending one of your friends who's graduating soon a giant list of monster theory and gothic horror academic reading recs so they can download as many PDFs as possible before they lose their university database access

[astriiformes]

Got a request for some of the recs here, so here's a short-ish list of some of the reading recs -- I've made an effort to link open source and/or at least slightly more accessible databases like JSTOR wherever possible, but some of these are, admittedly behind various paywalls that I wish everyone luck with circumventing in whatever manner you deem fit

Monster Theory - Really great anthology to start with, especially the first reading, Jeffrey Jerome Cohen's famous "Monster Culture (Seven Theses)" which is a personal favorite

The Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts - A general SF/F journal, but there are definitely a lot of great monster theory and gothic horror readings sprinkled throughout. Consider taking a look at Veronica Hollinger's "The Vampire and/as Alien," the special issue on Dracula, and Faye J. Ringel's "Genetic Experimentation: Mad Scientists and the Beast," among others

Werewolf Histories edited by Willem Blécourt - Phenomenal anthology on werewolf scholarship, especially if you're interested in the connections between werewolves and witchcraft and/or witch trials in Early Modern Europe

Skin Shows: Gothic Horror and the Technology of Monsters by Jack Halberstam - Of interest to those who are interested in the connection between the gothic and gender (among other topics). Halberstam has written extensively on both

The Journal of Dracula Studies - Exactly what it sounds like.

Preternature: Critical and Historical Studies on the Preternatural - Another journal, which focuses on the connections between witchcraft and occultism, monsters, demonology, and the like.

Susan Stryker's "My Words to Victor Frankenstein Above the Village of Chamounix" - An absolutely landmark piece of writing on Frankenstein and the transgender (and in particular the transfeminine) experience; one of my favorite pieces of academic writing of all time.

Speaking of Monsters: A Teratological Anthology - Another solid monster theory anthology

Arts of Living on a Damaged Planet: Ghosts and Monsters of the Anthropocene - A really, really good anthology about the ecological gothic that I cannot recommend enough. As a known werewolf guy I especially like the piece "Wolf, or Homo homini lupus" by Carla Freccero

The Vampire Lectures by Lawrence Rickels - So many vampires

Monster Culture in the 21st Century: A Reader - Another anthology, I in particular recommend Rosalind Sibielski's "Gendering the Monster Within: Biological Essentialism, Sexual Difference, and Changing Symbolic Functions of the Monster in Popular Werewolf Texts" in this one.

"The Trans Legacy of Frankenstein" by Jolene Zigarovich - Definitely a good read if you enjoyed the Stryker piece earlier; it's a more general survey of the idea but might give you some ideas for further reading

TransGothic in Literature and Culture - A whole anthology of works on transgender identity and the gothic!

Twenty-First Century Gothic: An Edinburgh Companion - Not to be confused with the other similarly named anthology earlier, this one is on various modern perspectives on the gothic.

"Christians and Jews in the Twelfth Century Werewolf Renaissance" by David A. Shyovitz - Stand-alone article but really really interesting

Wonders and the Order of Nature: 1150-1750 by Lorraine Daston & Katherine Park - Incredible volume that gets into several different subjects surrounding the fantastical in the medieval and early modern eras, monsters among them. The same authors have written some other fantastic work, such as "Unnatural Conceptions: The Study of Monsters in Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century France and England" and I honestly would recommend any of their work.

Monster Anthropology: Ethnographic Explorations of Transforming Social Worlds Through Monsters - A more anthropology focused volume, I particularly like Rozanna Lilley's "Drawing in the Margins: My Son's Arsenal of Monsters—(Autistic) Imagination and the Cultural Capital of Childhood"

Marvels, Monsters, and Miracles: Studies in the Medieval and Early Modern Imaginations - Another anthology, this time with a historical perspective

This isn't even everything I've dug into on the subject, but I hope it's enough to get folks started on some reading!

[peppermintbiotics]

it's because you're always in that damn coffin

[worldhistoryfacts]

’m sure you learned about Carthage in school. And I’d bet that what you learned about it was that Hannibal took some elephants over the Alps, gave the Romans a bad scare, and served as a worthy foe against which the Romans could test their mettle. Then the Romans destroyed Carthage.

But Carthage was much more than a foil for the Romans. It was a fascinating civilization, but, thanks to the Roman destruction, we can only get glimpses of their gods:

Their writing:

And their culture:

Much more about what we know (and don't know) about Carthage here:

Glimpses of Carthage

What can we know about one of the great ancient civilizations?

[nerdygaymormon]

[dunkthebiscuit]

This is why Pride is not just a party. It's a joyful celebration, but it's also a pointed and colourful two-finger salute to a world that stood back whilst so many of us died. And we'll never go quietly, never again.

[vexwerewolf]

Reminder that the AIDS crisis was an intentional genocide

[prokopetz]

Yeah, no, they decanonised my entire universe, but they kept me around because I'm important to Rebecca's backstory, so until I get a new origin trade I technically only exist while she's in the same room. It's super inconvenient.

[probuccalfat]

nobody else doing it like me. particularly because the way i’m doing it is needlessly difficult

[handweavers]

"The relationship of textiles to writing is especially significant, not only for the cuneiform-like qualities of many patterns (preserved in a Hungarian term irásos, meaning 'written'), but also for the parallels between ink on papyrus and pigment on bark cloth. There is, in fact, little difference between the two. Such connections are implied in many textile terms. For example, the Indian full-colour painted and printed 'kalamkari' are so named from the Persian for pen, kalam; the wax for Indonesian batiks is delivered by a copper-bowled tulis, also meaning pen. The European term for hand-colouring of details on cloth is 'pencilling'. The Islamic term tiraz, originally denoting embroideries, came to encompass all textiles within this culture that carried inscriptions. And the patterns woven into the silks of Madagascar are acknowledged as a language: the Malagasy vocabulary for writing and preparing the loom are synonymous, while the finest stripes are zanatsoratra, literally children of the writing, or vowels. The study of textiles is, in fact, a branch of palaeography, in which deciphering and dating reveals the stories encapsulated in cloth 'handwriting'. 

With or without inscriptions, textiles convey all kinds of 'texts': allegiances are expressed, promises are made (as in today's bank notes, whose value is purely conceptual), memories are preserved, new ideas are proposed. Records were kept in quipu (khipu) a method of knotting string used by the Incas and other ancient Andean cultures to keep accounts and communicate information, the oldest of which is some 4,600 years old. Many anthropological and ethnographical studies of textiles aim at teaching us how to read these cloth languages anew. The 'plot' is provided by the socially meaningful elements; the 'syntax' is the construction, often only revealed by the application of archaeological and conservation analyses. Equally, the most creative textiles of today exploit a vocabulary of fibres, dyes and techniques. Textiles can be prose or poetry, instructive or the most demanding of texts. The ways in which they are used - and reused - add more layers of meaning, all significant indicators of sensitivities that can be traced back to the Stone Age."

— Mary Schoeser, World Textiles

[screenshotsofdespair]

[baddywronglegs]

[aesungaia]

[tokkibean]

"work in progress" is actually so misleading like it assumes that im actually making progress on my work

[davidluongart]

The Greek Gods in the Late Middle Ages- early Renaissance, Eastern Europe-Middle East AU: Aris/Aristedes, Basileus and Autokrator of the Eastern Roman Empire, courting with Afroditi, Queen Regent of Cyprus, Syria, Phoenicia, Palestine, and Mesopotamia.

The clothing that Ares wore reflected the typical late 14th-15th cent. Byzantine Greek clothing style-when Sassanid Persian patterns/ motifs were adopted into the tunic (circular patterns of “tree of life”/ intertwined pomegranate flowers & fruits motifs, mythical simurghs and winged horses, chariot riding & hunting scenes); while Aphrodite’s dress and her giornea much more reflected upon Cyprus’s history- the adoption of medieval Frankish (and later Venetian) clothing after the Crusades, with tidbits of influence from the neighboring Mamluk Egypt and the Levant (the tantour headgear, the kohl makeup & henna hands); while still remaining maximalist Byzantine tastes. All decked in golden threads, sewn in with metallic sequins and carved gemstone beads, silk of all types (from lightweight, flowing liquid-like, ethereal to heavily brocaded shimmering damasks).

According to lugatism.com -one of my resources that specialized in the historical fashion of the Middle East from the time of Pre-Islamic Arabia to the time of the caliphs, the tall headdress tartur/tantour (similar to the Western medieval hennin) began to adorn the heads of many Egyptian, many Greek and Middle Eastern women during the second half of the 15th century for a short time, but only remained to be a traditional headdress to the region of Lebanon, Syria and Palestine 18th-19th century onwards- often bounded together with silken ribbons, and studded with pearls and gemstones. I also did try to stylize the Italian ferronnière jewelry that the goddess worn in her forehead in a much more Middle Eastern fashion; considering how much she is connected to that region, how much the pearl- a symbol of Aphrodite- had always been heavily traded in the Middle East, and how much pearl jewelry have always been held with high importance in many cultures across Europe and Asia.

[callese]

refseek.com

www.worldcat.org/

link.springer.com

http://bioline.org.br/

repec.org

science.gov

pdfdrive.com

[growing-yet-into-magic]

Worldcat is my bestie and my one true love!! Not only does it tell you what library a book is at, but it also price compares different used book sites against each other for easy view! It's how I got Tarot For the Master for $10!!

[growing-yet-into-magic]

Oh, and since I have your attention: z-library (books and textbooks) and sci-hub (gatekept scientific journal articles.) I just ripped a textbook for class off z-library and snatched a required reading from sci-hub. Life is good and education should be accessible at every stage and station of life.

[mckitterick]

information wants to be free

[no-one-offical]

@thesightofthestarsmakemesmile

[currentlycryingaboutlancelot]

[trying to connect with the interests of my normal friends] you know, the lancelot-grail cycle was something of the avengers endgame of the 13th century

[chronicgirlfail]

rose lalonde in project hail mary confirmed???

[yoruyorumarumaru]

[medievalsquire]

my knight said we are “laying siege” tomorrow and i asked how long that takes and he said “weeks, maybe months” and i just think we should have discussed that beforehand becausei packed one (1) apple

[lonestatus]

literally read more nonfiction if you learn about like deccan or glassblowing or manufacturing processes or buddhist holidays or the franco-prussian war or the oblast system of russia or islam or the silk road or music history or anything you will understand more about the world and will be able to use that knowledge in daily life