Defiant Deviance: The Irreality of Reality in the Cultural Imaginary

This innovative study embarks, from a collaborative and interdisciplinary approach, on redefining the «supernatural» as elements that fail to be framed as «natural» by their socio-cultural environment. The «supernatural» elements depicted in this study encompass such monstrous representations as witches, vampires, angels, virgins, apparitions, and other universally recognized reflections of human existence - though not all «supernatural» representations are seen as «monstrous, » but as physical and psychological embodiments of common human experience. Contributors to this project represent a wide scope of literary genres and eras, as well as differing theoretical approaches, united by the common goal of defining the «irreality of reality.»