The monsters that inhabit our world are born not just of nature but of human conception. They wander forth out of evolution and of language, out of brain physiology and the pages of fiction, out of the human imagination and the studios of art. It is this variety that we endeavor to capture in this course as we ask how our notions of the monstrous help us to understand who we are, what we fear, and with what consequence we misperceive those human and non-human forms that haunt us both from within and without.

Students in Monster will engage with articles, short stories, novels, book excerpts, and films, many with an emphasis on French authors/directors and texts in which French culture plays a significant role. Students will write reading responses and papers that connect science and the humanities and, often, the personal. In discussion-based class sessions, we will not work toward agreement on who is the monster, but instead explore the liminal, often ambiguous spaces of perception of humans and humanity.

This course is 3 Rice credit hours.

No

Yes, students will receive D3 credit for this course.

This course also fulfills the Analyzing Diversity requirement.

Priority Deadline: December 10, 2025
Final Application Deadline: February 1, 2026

For details on these two deadlines, please navigate to the Application Timeline section of the Program Information & FAQs page.

For questions regarding the course content, please contact the course instructor (see below).

For questions regarding the program (budget, application process, financial aid, global awards), first read through the Rice Global Paris Summer Program Information and FAQs page on our website. If you cannot find the answer to your question, email us at globalowls@rice.edu.