Russian Monster Hunt

[Muireann Maguire]

Dear Seelangers,

I'm writing to you in my capacity as subject area editor for Russian
literature and film for the forthcoming Ashgate Encyclopedia of Literary
Monsters, of which Jeffrey Weinstock is overall editor. My task is to track
down and classify monstrous beings from Russian literature and cinema of all
historical periods, then decide whether they merit inclusion in the
encyclopedia. While my own specialisation in Russian Gothic has provided me
with a good grounding in monsters, I am anxious not to miss out any nasties
and would be more than grateful for the combined wisdom of the SEELANGS
community on the subject. Please do reply on- or off-list with your suggestions.

All suggestions are gratefully considered; if you come up with a monster
that I've missed out of my own list and which belongs in the encyclopedia,
you will at the very least be credited in the acknowledgements, and it may
be possible to invite you to contribute a short article on your monster. I
would be particularly grateful for leads on cinematic monsters.

I'm copying below the criteria which have been made available to me for
defining monsters for the purposes of the encyclopedia.

*        Please consider monster to refer to a gross exception to the
norms of a given culture's ecosystem.  A monstrous being for our
purposes is someone or something very morally objectionable, physically
or psychologically hideous, or a freak of nature.  This definition
accommodates both human and non-human creatures. Ghosts, demons and
automatons all count as monsters.
*         Please do not include historical personages unless they have
been incorporated in some way into a literary tradition in a significant
way.
*         Similarly, please do not include monsters generally associated
with regional folklore but not firmly associated with any particular
literary or cinematic text.
*       Obviously, some monsters like ghosts and vampires appear in many
different literatures and time periods.  Please DO include these
monsters and indicate their most significant
manifestations.

With many thanks,

Muireann Maguire

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