FAR MORE IMPORTANT than the literary awards it has won, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time's ability to rock our conception of what is normal or dysfunctional, clear-headed or soft-hearted, significant or insignificant, symbolic or real, speaks powerfully to our “PC” culture. Christopher Boone, Mark Haddon's protagonist, is a benevolent monstrosity. This sounds negative but Chris has just the right blend of what philosopher of horror literature, Noel Carroll, calls ontic ambiguity. Like Frankenstein's monster before him, Christopher lacks a tell-tale human quality – genuine emotional empathy. His limitations, even his inability to understand nuanced feelings and