This edited volume delves into the unexpected, intriguing depictions of monstrous mothers in different cultures, literatures, and the arts. This wide-ranging topic is explored through a variety of methodological approaches, spanning disciplines from sociology to film studies, and from comparative literature to cultural studies.

The scope of this collection is global, highlighting the presence of maternal monstrosity not only in Western cultures but also in a number of other cultural contexts worldwide. The book’s international and interdisciplinary perspective makes it relevant to a broad and diverse readership focusing on literary criticism, as well as cultural and gender studies.

Anna Chiara Corradino is Research Fellow at the Scuola Normale Superiore - Pisa, Italy. Her research interests include the dynamics of dominant femininity and reified masculinity, film, gender and cultural studies, and the transformation of ancient myths in contemporary literature and culture. She has published a monograph on the myth of Endymion and Selene (Bloomsbury, 2025) and essays on topics ranging from the classical tradition to representations of female necrophilia. She is currently writing a book on neon aesthetics in cinema.

Alessandro Grilli is Professor of Classics and Comparative Literature at the University of Pisa, Italy. He has written extensively on ancient drama and the classical tradition. His research interests include literary theory, applied rhetoric, film and gender studies. He has published monographs and essays on ancient and modern authors (from Aristophanes to Proust, from Catullus to Walter Siti), as well as on argumentation theory and film analysis. He is currently working on a book on the aesthetics of horror.