In December 2018, my article “L’influence des monstres littéraires sur le corps post-humain” (The Influence of Literary Monsters on the Post-Human Body) was published in MERIDIAN of CRITICISM – Annals of Stefan cel Mare University of Suceava, Romania, an issue edited by Daniela Petroșel. This article explores the links between the monstrous tradition from literature and the representation of the post-human body in contemporary art.
Article’s thumbnail: Photo by Bruno Guerrero on Unsplash
Article reference:
“L’influence des monstres littéraires sur le corps post-humain”, MERIDIAN of CRITICISM – Annals of Stefan cel Mare University of Suceava, Romania, Philological Series, no. 2, vol. 31, issue edited by Daniela Petroșel, Stefan cel Mare University of Suceava, Romania
The Monster, Between Fascination and Rejection
Since antiquity, the monster has occupied an ambivalent place in the collective imagination. Alternately a figure of horror or fascination, it embodies the taboos and fears of an era while pushing the limits of the possible. From the siren to Frankenstein, passing through the vampire or the Freaks, these unconventional figures have shaped our vision of otherness and the modified body.
The Post-Human Body as the Heir to the Literary Monster
With the rise of post-humanism, these monstrous codes are reinvested in contemporary art, particularly through photography. My article analyzes how artists like Joel-Peter Witkin, Pierre Molinier, Aziz et Cucher, and ORLAN reinterpret these figures of monstrosity to question the mutations of the body and the new frontiers between the human and the artificial.
Between Immortality and Hybridization: The Post-Human Body in Art
Photography of the post-human body oscillates between miraculous prodigy and out-of-norm anomaly. It appropriates the characteristics of the literary monster: the immortality of the vampire, the reassembly of Frankenstein, the seduction of the siren, and the mechanization of the cyborg. Through these representations, the image becomes a space where the body defies time and biological limits, reminiscent of The Picture of Dorian Gray.
An Interdisciplinary Publication
This article is part of an approach that intersects art history, philosophy, and literature of the imagination. By highlighting the influence of monstrous figures on post-human art, it proposes a reflection on the continuity of representations of otherness and the modified body through the ages.