Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: monsters

  • Fortunio Liceti (1577-1567)—Aristotelean teratologist

    Fortunio Liceti’s mother was seven months pregnant when on a sea voyage to Rapallo (on the coast of Liguria) she went into labor—supposedly because of the motions of the ship. It has been said that her baby was so small that it fit into the palm of one hand. The father, a physician, placed it…

  • Blood is the life

    Saameer Pani Sydney, Australia Vampire—the very word itself conjures up images of supernatural creatures who look not unlike you and me, prowl about at night, prey on unsuspecting souls, and sink their fangs into innumerable, hapless victims to quench their thirst for blood. Monstrous but beautiful, repulsive yet magnetic, vampires have fascinated us for centuries…

  • A proliferation of monsters: Art of the weird as expressions of anxiety in Britain and Japan

    Steve WheelerGreenwich, London, England The human fascination with fear of the unknown has been documented in art and literature across civilization for centuries. In every culture, this has manifested itself in the form of creatures as bizarre as they are terrifying. Since the evolution of language, humans have invented and told stories about monsters to…

  • Graphic medicine

    Ian WilliamsWales, United Kingdom Introduction In case you have not noticed, graphic novels have been cropping up in literary reviews that would have previously been the reserve of prose. Thanks to the UK broadsheet newspapers, which have been championing the graphic form for a good 10 years or so, a distinct genre of autobiographical comics…