Hannah Jones/Winonan

Ah, the Winona State Athenaeum series: a perfect way to stimulate and enrich the scholastic sensibilities.

The second floor of the library, pristine and brightly-lit by the tall windows and the midday sun, becomes a site for learning, lecture, theses, theories, vampires, zombie children, partial decapitation, syphilis—
—Okay, wait, back up. Vampires? Zombies? In what academic forum are these sensational, slimy, smarmy characters welcome?

What can we possibly learn from the monsters of our closets, bad dreams, and favorite gory films?

Last week’s Athenaeum presentation, “Birthing the Monster,” took place on Halloween, allowing Winona’s two resident monster scholars, Dr. Andrea Wood and Dr. Brandy Schillace, to present their respective papers on how these nightmares arose from our collective societal fears and desires, specifically pertaining to reproduction.

From zombie pregnancies to syphilitic vampirism, the two speakers’ presentations both sparked the interest and chilled the blood of their rapt audience.

As an added perk, the two of them dressed the part.

Wood, armed and dangerous in her zombie hunter costume, explained how the presence of zombie children in popular films—from “Night of the Living Dead” to “28 Days Later”—represent anxieties over “failed futurity” in the face of humanity’s near-extinction at the hands of gurgling, leg-dragging zombies.

Zombie children, who serve to represent the tragic failure of the human race to restore normality to a post-apocalyptic world, demonstrate a literal “dead end” to normative reproduction and perpetuation of society, as we know it. An example of this is the infected little girl “Karen,” a key character in the 1968 film “Night of the Living Dead,” who embodies the figurative demise of the nuclear family unit, by literally goring and devouring both of her parents.

For her presentation on the parallels between syphilitic children and vampire reproduction in Bram Stoker’s “Dracula,” Schillace came in full Victorian attire as Josephine Butler.

Her presentation on female culpability for venereal disease—and vampirism—explored Stoker’s canonical classic in light of his timely syphilis diagnosis. The symptoms of inborn syphilis closely mimic those of vampire attack in Stoker’s novel, a wasting disease that manifests itself only in the weakness and pallor of the afflicted child.

Schillace likened Dracula’s female victims to carriers of the syphilitic contagion, unwittingly spreading the disease.

Vampirism as an STI; looks like a fresh new angle for the “Twilight” franchise.

Wood and Schillace normally operate in very different textual spheres. The former’s specialty is in the contemporary study of film, whereas the latter works primarily with eighteenth-century literature. Nonetheless, the two found common ground in their discussions on monster reproduction, and the two of them, together, are co-editing a book: “Birthing the Monster of Tomorrow”.

After their presentations, the two of them smiled and posed for pictures, a Victorian-era activist and a certified undead executioner—two unlikely partners to find on the second floor of a university library.

“Birthing the Monster” posed questions about what we, as human beings, are truly afraid of. Yes, the immediate answer is typically mush-brained legions of the dead or fanged bloodsuckers, but deep down, what scares us as a society?

The very idea of facing our perpetuation—or extinction—with our attempts to properly replicate ourselves and the consequences of failing—or doing it horribly, horribly wrong— that is the terror of the world of reproduction: that is scary stuff. We look into the future the same way we look under the bed for monsters: with extreme caution, and uncontrollable heebie-jeebies.

As the spectators began to mill out of the library, Schillace retrieved her parasol, an additional element to her period costume, and walked out of the library at Wood’s side.

A metal sign safety-pinned to Wood’s back read: “Professional Zombie Slayer.” I sincerely hope there’s a course for that.

Contact Hannah at [email protected]