«The Ocean disgorged her self of a Mightie Sea-Monster». Giganti marini nella letteratura di strada dell’Inghilterra early modern: segni divini tra monito e dono

The present essay takes into account some broadsheets and pamphlets published in London between the sixteenth and seventeenth century; they dealt with the capture of marine giants or, more often, with their stranding on the oceanic coasts. The close reading of these texts highlights the concurrence of different reactions to the monster that comes from the sea waters. On the one hand, the boundless anatomy of the creature is read from a religious perspective: the event becomes the manifestation of a social pathology, while the gigantic, abnormal body denounces some guilt and stimulates repentance. On the other hand, the rare aquatic animal arouses admiration and offers itself as a fortuitous economic resource: its flesh can be eaten, its blubber can be used to produce oil and thus warmth and light. The overlapping of emotions, interpretations and discordant actions shows the dynamic coexistence of a numinous reading that does not exclude the “consummation” of the monster as a resource: in conclusion, in early modern England, the sea giant appears as a “border monster”, a “forewarning” as well as a “gift of God”