“I know not […] what I myself am”: Conceptual Integration in Susan Heyboer O’Keefe’s Frankenstein’s Monster (2010)
“I know not […] what I myself am”: Conceptual Integration in Susan Heyboer O’Keefe’s Frankenstein’s Monster (2010)

Summary/Abstract: The article proposes a cognitive-poetic reading of Susan Heyboer O’Keefe’s novel Frankenstein’s Monster (2010) – a modern rendition of the myth of Victor Frankenstein and his Creature – with regard to the theory of conceptual integration proposed by G. Fauconnier and M. Turner (2002). It is argued that the reader’s conceptualization of the eponymous Monster emerges in the process of conceptual blending, where several input mental spaces, constructed around elements of the philosophical concept of the Great Chain of Being, are merged to produce a novel entity. Thus, the reader’s active participation in meaning construction allows her/him to redefine her/his perception of monstrosity.

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