La mirada del monstruo. Apuntes para un bestiario fememinodel arte antiguo a la modernidad de Goya y su tiempo

Abstract

The duality in the form of attraction and rejection is a characteristic feature of monsters; they are interstitial beings that elevate and break out of the limits of category restraints; they exist outside laws and customs, and present a pattern of what is different; the otherness which makes us “normal”. In this respect, they constitutes a key ontological tool. They suggest models to avoid, but also hint at what could be in delicate patterns of our dreams, questioning all certainties or established attitudes. Our work is an iconographic and symbolic study of female monsters; it is a restricted analysis, given the extension and volume of the sample. These “notes” aim to sketch out the more or less hidden characteristics and relations of what are disparate imaginings, without dealing exclusively with a single subject, time or geography, as the idea is to build bridges between them. The research investigates in more detail the connective channels between text and image within and outside “fiction”, to create links with questions related to the role of monsters and women, mainly in Western and European societies. We propose a rhizome-type growth, which multiplies nodes and points of view, analysing their desires and fears, their assault strategies, through their eyes and our own...