Unlike much work in the English Studies department, which often attributes a text’s age to our understanding of it, my paper with put two texts of similar subjects in direct conversation with one. The term, chronohybridity, refers to the idea that the premodern and contemporary may co-exist in a matter of hybridity, rather than working as an exemplification of evolution or metamorphosis. The core texts of my paper, the premodern “Bisclavret” and the contemporary television series “Being Human” will then exemplify the perpetual state of the werewolf and how our representation of the werewolf continues to reinforce our thoughts and fears about humanity.

Even through centuries of change, the instillation of monsters in literature has conveyed a timeless message questioning the boundaries of humanity and personhood. Through analysis of both texts, as well as secondary sources, I hope to compare the representations of the werewolf and what either do in a larger conversation about how we perceive ourselves as human. While I am challenged with the idea of chronohybridity in literature, I have also tasked myself with a subject that personifies the idea of hybridity. Throughout the paper, I will analyze the representations of a divine/human hybrid such as the werewolf or Christ as well as the ideas involving humanity and humanism these creatures challenge.