British Literature - Week 2 - The "abject" in Beowulf

Last week I began a series on the British Literature to 1650 class I taught this spring. We looked at what "monstrous" means, and who is really monstrous in Beowulf. Reading and analyzing literature is not simply an intellectual exercise. It does not end with understanding what the author meant, or how it applied to the culture at the time it was written. All good literature has implications for the time period in which it was written, and the future, including today. Discussing literature, characters' behavior and motivation, sheds a light on why humans act the way they do--including us!

Our class looked closely at "the abject" in relation to Beowulf, but the concept applies to many other works of literature, and our modern-day lives as well. Julia Kristeva, a Bulgarian-French philosopher, literary critic, semiotician, and novelist, posited a theory on "the abject" which relates directly to Beowulf. According to Kristeva, "the abject refers to the human reaction (horror, vomit) to a threatened breakdown in meaning caused by the loss of the distinction between subject and object or between self and other" (Felluga).

Three aspects of the abject as it relates to Beowulf include:
1) the abject person - in the case of Beowulf, Grendel--provokes a horror based on a confused mix of connection and distance. I am like this person, or I could be this person, but I can't stand this person.
2) the process of rejecting the abject person is both individual and collective. Beowulf "rejected" Grendel, and killed him in the process, but everyone in Heorot, from King Hrothgar to the maids, also rejected Grendel.
3) the abject person, the outcast, is rejected because of the eerie and threatening resemblance to the collective group. So Grendel's rejection is based not on how different he is, but on how similar he is to our hero Beowulf.

We covered this concept last week -- the differences between the hero Beowulf, and the monster Grendel, are not as stark as they initially appear.

In class, we delved into a discussion on the Border Wall and immigration. What do people fear from immigrants? From what emotional place does the animosity toward immigrants emerge? President Trump stokes the fires of anger and discontent, but the embers glowed long before he became president. President Trump's mother was born in Scotland, and his grandfather is German. His wife Melania is also an immigrant. Why the vitriol about immigrants?

If we apply the theory of the abject, people fear immigrants because they are similar, not because they are different. We are all immigrants! Only Native Americans did not immigrate to the U.S. All the rest of us can trace our lineage to another country, whether recently or centuries back, whether willing immigrants, or enslaved peoples.

Is it possible the irrational fear of immigrants is a deeper fear of what we were, what we could be, or what we could become. Is the line separating immigrants from citizens so thin we fear if immigrants could cross over to "our" side, we could also be threatened with expulsion?

Next week we will dive into boasting in Beowulf! Join us!


_________________________________________________________________________________

Work Cited

Felluga, Dino. "Modules on Kristeva: On the Abject." Introductory Guide to Critical Theory. Date of last update, which you can find on the home page. Purdue U. Date you accessed the site. .