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A New Look at the Gothic Monster(SAMLA, Durham, North Carolina. Nov. 9-11, 2012)South Atlantic Modern Language Associationcontact email:shutchis@fhsu.eduA New Look at the Gothic MonsterThis panel explores the cultural roles that monsters inhabit in  Gothic fiction. Since the late-Victorian period, popular fiction has  featured a panoply of monsters—vampires, werewolves, ghosts, zombies,  mummies, shape-shifters, unknowable, and amorphous “things,” and a  variety of other undeads. The evolution of monsters, what they  represent, and why audiences need them are subjects of interest for this  panel. Topics may include, but are not limited to, the following areas:  psychology and the monster; the abhuman; the post-human and the  monster; the monster in imperial Gothic fiction; popular fiction and the  monster; cultural transformations of the monster.By May 30, 2012, please submit 300-word abstracts to Sharla Hutchison, Fort Hays State University, at shutchis@fhsu.edu.