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Maggot therapy and monstrosity: the grotesque in Margaret Atwood's The Year of the Flood

Speculative fiction is able to foresee the changes of the environment and social strata via imitation of future society (Gough, 2003; Otto, 2012). With the same intention, Margaret Atwood makes use of an alternative natural medication, maggot therapy, as an important recuperative method to cure phys...

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Main Authors: Ong, Li Yuan, Ali Termizi, Arbaayah, Moghadam, Nahid Shahbazi, Talif, Rosli
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Universiti Putra Malaysia Press 2018
Online Access:http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/66249/1/32%20JSSH%28S%29-0581-2017-3rdProof.pdf
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/66249/
http://www.pertanika.upm.edu.my/Pertanika%20PAPERS/JSSH%20Vol.%2026%20(2)%20Jun.%202018/32%20JSSH(S)-0581-2017-3rdProof.pdf
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spelling my.upm.eprints.662492019-02-12T06:52:49Z http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/66249/ Maggot therapy and monstrosity: the grotesque in Margaret Atwood's The Year of the Flood Ong, Li Yuan Ali Termizi, Arbaayah Moghadam, Nahid Shahbazi Talif, Rosli Speculative fiction is able to foresee the changes of the environment and social strata via imitation of future society (Gough, 2003; Otto, 2012). With the same intention, Margaret Atwood makes use of an alternative natural medication, maggot therapy, as an important recuperative method to cure physical lesions and injuries in The Year of the Flood (2009). Historically, although once a common practice among healers of antiquity, maggot therapy has since been discarded from medical context, partly due to its carnivorous and parasitic nature. The present paper intends to discuss the implication of this kind of natural therapy and its sense of monstrosity and grotesqueness as presented in Atwood's novel. In using this therapy as motif, the novel illustrates the grotesque through exaggeration and gory and monstrous features, which lead not only the characters but also the readers to experience disorientation due to the unfamiliar state of savagery. With a focus on relevant theories of the grotesque, the study aims to highlight how the monstrosity inherent in maggot therapy renders the grotesque in this novel, that is, by juxtaposing savagery and culture and evoking repulsion and attraction. Universiti Putra Malaysia Press 2018 Article PeerReviewed text en http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/66249/1/32%20JSSH%28S%29-0581-2017-3rdProof.pdf Ong, Li Yuan and Ali Termizi, Arbaayah and Moghadam, Nahid Shahbazi and Talif, Rosli (2018) Maggot therapy and monstrosity: the grotesque in Margaret Atwood's The Year of the Flood. Pertanika Journal of Social Sciences & Humanities, 26 (2). pp. 1111-1122. ISSN 0128-7702; ESSN: 2231-8534 http://www.pertanika.upm.edu.my/Pertanika%20PAPERS/JSSH%20Vol.%2026%20(2)%20Jun.%202018/32%20JSSH(S)-0581-2017-3rdProof.pdf
institution Universiti Putra Malaysia
building UPM Library
collection Institutional Repository
continent Asia
country Malaysia
content_provider Universiti Putra Malaysia
content_source UPM Institutional Repository
url_provider http://psasir.upm.edu.my/
language English
description Speculative fiction is able to foresee the changes of the environment and social strata via imitation of future society (Gough, 2003; Otto, 2012). With the same intention, Margaret Atwood makes use of an alternative natural medication, maggot therapy, as an important recuperative method to cure physical lesions and injuries in The Year of the Flood (2009). Historically, although once a common practice among healers of antiquity, maggot therapy has since been discarded from medical context, partly due to its carnivorous and parasitic nature. The present paper intends to discuss the implication of this kind of natural therapy and its sense of monstrosity and grotesqueness as presented in Atwood's novel. In using this therapy as motif, the novel illustrates the grotesque through exaggeration and gory and monstrous features, which lead not only the characters but also the readers to experience disorientation due to the unfamiliar state of savagery. With a focus on relevant theories of the grotesque, the study aims to highlight how the monstrosity inherent in maggot therapy renders the grotesque in this novel, that is, by juxtaposing savagery and culture and evoking repulsion and attraction.
format Article
author Ong, Li Yuan
Ali Termizi, Arbaayah
Moghadam, Nahid Shahbazi
Talif, Rosli
spellingShingle Ong, Li Yuan
Ali Termizi, Arbaayah
Moghadam, Nahid Shahbazi
Talif, Rosli
Maggot therapy and monstrosity: the grotesque in Margaret Atwood's The Year of the Flood
author_facet Ong, Li Yuan
Ali Termizi, Arbaayah
Moghadam, Nahid Shahbazi
Talif, Rosli
author_sort Ong, Li Yuan
title Maggot therapy and monstrosity: the grotesque in Margaret Atwood's The Year of the Flood
title_short Maggot therapy and monstrosity: the grotesque in Margaret Atwood's The Year of the Flood
title_full Maggot therapy and monstrosity: the grotesque in Margaret Atwood's The Year of the Flood
title_fullStr Maggot therapy and monstrosity: the grotesque in Margaret Atwood's The Year of the Flood
title_full_unstemmed Maggot therapy and monstrosity: the grotesque in Margaret Atwood's The Year of the Flood
title_sort maggot therapy and monstrosity: the grotesque in margaret atwood's the year of the flood
publisher Universiti Putra Malaysia Press
publishDate 2018
url http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/66249/1/32%20JSSH%28S%29-0581-2017-3rdProof.pdf
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/66249/
http://www.pertanika.upm.edu.my/Pertanika%20PAPERS/JSSH%20Vol.%2026%20(2)%20Jun.%202018/32%20JSSH(S)-0581-2017-3rdProof.pdf
_version_ 1643838550554181632
score 13.211869

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