The Other in the Eye: A Transgeneric Approach to the Neo-Baroque Monster

Abstract

[Abstract] My purpose on this degree dissertation is to examine horror creatures in English-language fiction. To achieve this, three different texts have been selected: Arthur Machen's short story ““The Great God Pan”” (1890), H.P. Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness (1936) and Ridley Scott's film Alien (1986). The main goal of this paper is to analyze the meaning given to these neo-baroque monsters, whether it is conscious or not. The transgeneric approach of this paper proves to be especially useful in that allows me to compare and contrast different manifestations of this aesthetic model. In order to carry out this project, I have employed a postructuralist theoretical framework, including Linda Hutcheon's theorization of postmodern literature. By means of close-reading, I tease out the postmodern aspects of the neo-baroque according to the taxonomies developed by authors such as Alejo Carpentier and Tzvetan Todorov. These taxonomies and post-structuralist theory, in turn, allow me to apply Lacanian psychoanalysis to these works.