Return of the Monsters

[Muireann Maguire]

Dear SEELANGS colleagues,

Many of you helped me with my request some months ago for help in compiling
a list of monsters from Russian literature and film. I have now finished the
list, and in due course a final, reduced selection will be included in the
international Encyclopedia of Monsters, edited by Jeffrey Weinstock and
forthcoming from Ashgate Press.

I also received requests from many SEELANGERS to post the final monster
selection to the list, and am therefore providing you with the following link:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Avfdab0LyF2FdFBZNUpGcDdQOXYyQ1loenl2anhoRUE&hl=en

which should enable you to view the Monster Spreadsheet (important note: not
all the information in the cells is immediately visible; double-click on
individual cells to read more). 

I realize this list is not absolutely definitive: if you spot any omissions
or errors of fact, please contact me off-list at
muireann.maguire at googlemail.com so I can correct them. Additionally, the
official list has had to omit all 'human monsters', i.e. nasty but still
human individuals, but since I am no longer bound by the encyclopedia's
requirements I can now relax this rule. If you feel Stavrogin or some other
unpleasant individual should be on the list, please make his case: I can
include a 'human monsters' category. In due course, we may be able to refer
to this spreadsheet as the Master Monster List.

Apologies in advance to all who are outraged by the inclusion of Cheburashka
- I feel that, as a freak of nature, he qualifies under the Encyclopedia's
working definition of a monster (whereas Gena, as a biologically normal
crocodile, doesn't qualify).

With many thanks again for your invaluable contributions!

Best wishes,

Muireann

Dr Muireann Maguire                  
Jesus College, Cambridge
Pushkinskii Dom, St Petersburg

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