Books by Tina Boyer
This book is informed by a psychological analysis based on Jeffrey Cohen's Monster Theory. Howeve... more This book is informed by a psychological analysis based on Jeffrey Cohen's Monster Theory. However, it also counters the monstrous status of giants and its inclusion in the monstrous races, mentioned by Pliny, Isidore de Seville, and St. Augustine. Methodologically speaking, this book engages in an analysis of St. Augustine's discussion of giants in the City of God and Bernard of Clairvaux's deliberations on monsters and marvels. Outside of the religious sphere, Tomasin von Zerclaere's Welsche Gast and the prologue of the Straßburger Heldenbuch provide insights into the secular and courtly realms. This places the figure of the giant within the cultural and religious confines of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and allows an in-depth analysis of the literary sources through political, social, religious, and gender identities. In these texts, courtly and religious values are often at the forefront. Giants, fluctuating on a spectrum from courtliness to monstrosity, reflect these tensions. In this work, the central question of the giant's transformation into a heroic character is divided into five parts. The first category deals with " uncourtly " giants (Epics of the Dietrich cycle, Orendel, Yvain, Erec). Their mostly antagonistic stance, place them in opposition to the courtly world and any dealings with them are violent. Category two examines a courtly framework, where giants have sworn their service to the main antagonist of the hero, in reverse, the next category analyzes giants who exist in the same bonds of loyalty and help the hero on his quest (Daniel von dem Blühenden Tal, Virginal, Boeve de Haumtome, König Rother). This is turned around, yet again, in the fourth category, where the hero pledges his service to a court of giants to help in their cause (Herzog Ernst). Lastly, the giant is analyzed as the heroic character and moves into the center of the story (Fierabras, Eckenlied). This, ultimately, shows the transformation process of the monstrous figure and the spectrum of courtliness and religiosity on which heroic and monstrous characters fluctuate.
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Abstract: The Anatomy of a Monster: The Case of Slender Man
In this anatomical study of a single ... more Abstract: The Anatomy of a Monster: The Case of Slender Man
In this anatomical study of a single monster and its birth, the questions as to form and function are raised. Signifiers of cultural fears, social taboos, and psychological anxieties, monsters function as outlets to and catalysts of these fears. Monsters, like Slender Man that have been newly created on social media sites (internet forums, blogs, youtube) show us, although, constructed in and around established myth patterns that the narrative and legend making process finds new forms on the internet.
Monsters do not emerge out of a cultural void; they have a literary and cultural heritage. Yet when they are newly conceived, the need to construct a background becomes imperative. Since Slender Man is a prohibitive monster, but without a clear explanation as to what lines may or may not be crossed, the arbitrariness of his actions and characteristics offered a variety of possible backgrounds. The first narratives to emerge were linked to Norse and Native American mythology and medieval art (the danse macabre). Despite the culturally diverse character of the internet, the folkloric and mythic sources used to form a social background for Slender Man were typical of the Western tradition.
In terms of legend making and oral tradition social networks have become a focal point of sharing traditional folklore and myth patterns. The shift from oral storytelling to the internet free form of writing, blogging, and videotaping is intriguing because it shows no difference in dynamic. The creation of Slender Man demonstrates that legend making and telling - even without the direct oral link - obeys the same rules of performativity, critique, embellishment, and progression as it does in the oral telling of a story. The audience and the primary story creator share the legend as a performance to stage their ideas of reality and normative social expectations within a construct of bizarre and preternatural circumstances.
Tags: Monster; Medieval Art; Norse Mythology; Folklore; Urban Legend; Popular Culture
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Book Chapters by Tina Boyer
Heads Will Roll, 2012
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Ain güt geboren edel man, A Festschrift for Winder McConnell on the Occasion of his Sixty-Fifth Birthday, 2011
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Intertextuality, Reception, and Performance: Interpretations and Texts of Medieval German Literature (Kalamazoo Papers 2007-2009), 2010
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Er ist ein wol gevriunder man: Essays in Honor of Ernst S. Dick on the Occasion of his Eightieth Birthday, 2009
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Wort unde wîse - singen unde sagen: Festschrift für Ulrich Müller zum 65. Geburtstag, 2007
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Patentlösung oder Zankapfel?:" German Studies" für …, Jan 1, 2005
A German Immigrant's Tale-The Huning-Fergusson Family Correspondence By Tina Boyer Resea... more A German Immigrant's Tale-The Huning-Fergusson Family Correspondence By Tina Boyer Researchers and historians have pointed to a remarkable era surrounding German immigrant Franz Huning from Albuquerque, New Mexico. He and his relatives played an important role in the ...
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Reviews by Tina Boyer
Jegp Journal of English and Germanic Philology, 2014
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Jegp, Journal of English and Germanic Philology, 2012
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Dissertation by Tina Boyer
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Papers by Tina Boyer
The Giant Hero in Medieval Literature, 2016
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Preternature: Critical and Historical Studies on the Preternatural, 2013
In this anatomical study of a single monster and its birth, the questions as to its form and func... more In this anatomical study of a single monster and its birth, the questions as to its form and function are raised. Monsters do not emerge out of a cultural void; they have a literary and cultural heritage. Yet when they are newly conceived, the need to construct a background becomes imperative. Since Slender Man is a prohibitive monster, but without a clear explanation as to what lines may or may not be crossed, the arbitrariness of his actions and characteristics offered a variety of possible backgrounds. The first narratives to emerge were linked to Norse and Native American mythology and medieval art (the danse macabre). Despite the culturally diverse character of the Internet, the folkloric and mythic sources used to form a social background for Slender Man were typical of the Western tradition. In terms of legend making and oral tradition, social networks have become a focal point of sharing traditional folklore and myth patterns. The shift from oral storytelling to the Internet...
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JEGP, Journal of English and Germanic Philology, 2014
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Books by Tina Boyer
Articles by Tina Boyer
In this anatomical study of a single monster and its birth, the questions as to form and function are raised. Signifiers of cultural fears, social taboos, and psychological anxieties, monsters function as outlets to and catalysts of these fears. Monsters, like Slender Man that have been newly created on social media sites (internet forums, blogs, youtube) show us, although, constructed in and around established myth patterns that the narrative and legend making process finds new forms on the internet.
Monsters do not emerge out of a cultural void; they have a literary and cultural heritage. Yet when they are newly conceived, the need to construct a background becomes imperative. Since Slender Man is a prohibitive monster, but without a clear explanation as to what lines may or may not be crossed, the arbitrariness of his actions and characteristics offered a variety of possible backgrounds. The first narratives to emerge were linked to Norse and Native American mythology and medieval art (the danse macabre). Despite the culturally diverse character of the internet, the folkloric and mythic sources used to form a social background for Slender Man were typical of the Western tradition.
In terms of legend making and oral tradition social networks have become a focal point of sharing traditional folklore and myth patterns. The shift from oral storytelling to the internet free form of writing, blogging, and videotaping is intriguing because it shows no difference in dynamic. The creation of Slender Man demonstrates that legend making and telling - even without the direct oral link - obeys the same rules of performativity, critique, embellishment, and progression as it does in the oral telling of a story. The audience and the primary story creator share the legend as a performance to stage their ideas of reality and normative social expectations within a construct of bizarre and preternatural circumstances.
Tags: Monster; Medieval Art; Norse Mythology; Folklore; Urban Legend; Popular Culture
Book Chapters by Tina Boyer
Reviews by Tina Boyer
Dissertation by Tina Boyer
Papers by Tina Boyer
In this anatomical study of a single monster and its birth, the questions as to form and function are raised. Signifiers of cultural fears, social taboos, and psychological anxieties, monsters function as outlets to and catalysts of these fears. Monsters, like Slender Man that have been newly created on social media sites (internet forums, blogs, youtube) show us, although, constructed in and around established myth patterns that the narrative and legend making process finds new forms on the internet.
Monsters do not emerge out of a cultural void; they have a literary and cultural heritage. Yet when they are newly conceived, the need to construct a background becomes imperative. Since Slender Man is a prohibitive monster, but without a clear explanation as to what lines may or may not be crossed, the arbitrariness of his actions and characteristics offered a variety of possible backgrounds. The first narratives to emerge were linked to Norse and Native American mythology and medieval art (the danse macabre). Despite the culturally diverse character of the internet, the folkloric and mythic sources used to form a social background for Slender Man were typical of the Western tradition.
In terms of legend making and oral tradition social networks have become a focal point of sharing traditional folklore and myth patterns. The shift from oral storytelling to the internet free form of writing, blogging, and videotaping is intriguing because it shows no difference in dynamic. The creation of Slender Man demonstrates that legend making and telling - even without the direct oral link - obeys the same rules of performativity, critique, embellishment, and progression as it does in the oral telling of a story. The audience and the primary story creator share the legend as a performance to stage their ideas of reality and normative social expectations within a construct of bizarre and preternatural circumstances.
Tags: Monster; Medieval Art; Norse Mythology; Folklore; Urban Legend; Popular Culture