Grotesque, Abject,uncanny Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

introduction de l'ouvrage publié chez Classiques Garnier en 2010

- by Remi Astruc
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- Anthropology, The Novel, The Grotesque (Gothic Literature), Humor

The grotesque is an effet, not a fact. On this basis, this essay tries to present an interpretation of the existential experience that is the grotesque before ever being an aesthetic category. By reading 19th and 20th century major novels through the " estrangement " effect on the reader and by putting them in relation with other similar cultural expressions of the past, this essay identifies the grotesque as a crucial anthropological device, which might be universal, that societies use to think alterity (therefore identities) and change. This leads to a new understanding of the aesthetic notion of the grotesque aswell as a new understanding of its role in present cultures.-Detailed structure of the essay: First is underlined the strange status of the category of " grotesque " in aesthetic theory today and specially within the literary field: it operates more or less as a deceptive or anti-cognitive concept to name what rational thinking does not manage to comprehend and, more broadly, what does not belong to Knowledge. If, in its current use, it designates what is ludicrous or morally unacceptable, Rémi Astruc shows that the floating meanings of the scholarly term come from the peculiar history of the word itself which escaped the pictural sphere to become of common use in literary criticism. These problematic meanings are then deconstructed throughout the essay by means of the analysis of novels, whose strange effect on the reader seems very similar and that therefore can be thought of as a modern form of grotesque. The originality of the approach lies much in its refusal to consider the grotesque as an aesthetic phenomenon but rather as something more general whose aesthetic outcome is only one among its many other forms of expression. Therefore an anthropological study is necessary, which allows to overcome the unsatisfiying present definition of the grotesque. In the first chapter, " looking for the grotesque " , R. Astruc presents the major ambiguities of the notion as it is commonly used nowadays by critics. There are mostly three: the difficulty to enclose the grotesque into a genre (comic or tragic), the difficulty to find valid criteria of identification in the texts (either thematic, linguistic or stylistic ones), the difficulty to determine the kind of representation of reality it conveys (realistic, fantastic or ludic). The solution in order to overcome these difficulties is to acknowledge indetermination itself as a positive mark of the category (and not of the helplessness of the critic!): ambiguity and imperfection are then operative notions allowing to acutely describe what goes on in the texts. The grotesque can therefore be properly identified as " the place where the impossible finds an actual occurrence " [in French: " une impossibilité réalisée " ], which explains how difficult it is to apprehend it in rational terms. But another important characteristic of the grotesque is its dimension of alterity: it alters the present world and transports the reader/beholder into another world. As a global phenomenon, it alters the perception of the reader, shifting his moral axis.

- by Remi Astruc
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- The Grotesque Body, Cultural Anthroplogy, Grotesque, Abject,uncanny, Modern Grotesque

Sarah Lucas is one of the greatest artists I know belonging to the generation that rose during the Clinton Nineties. She has a feeling for her materials that quite simply takes your breath away, a formidable command over sculptural form, a knack for the striking composition, juxtaposition or installation, an abiding interest in charged and often politically-incorrect content, a deliciously wicked sense of humor, and ranks among our better wordsmiths. “What is there not to like?”, one might ask. A more extensive version of this article is forthcoming.

- by Michael Amy
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- Caricature (Visual Studies), Humor, Surrealism, The Grotesque Body
- by Itzhak Benyamini
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- Psychology, Psychoanalysis, Social Psychology, Uncanny Valley
- by Zainob L
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- Abjection, Gothic Language, Female Gothic, Neo-Slave Narrative

“Holy Monsters, Sacred Grotesques” aims to create conversations on the impact of monstrosity and examples of the grotesque in discourse related to religion and the sacred. The tendency to populate religious landscapes with non-human entities, literally demonize opponents, perceive monsters as existing in far-reaching geographical borders (e.g., “the East” in Medieval Europe), and decorate sacred sites with grotesques is a trait shared throughout innumerable traditions. Recently the term "monster studies" was coined to cover the recent works dedicated to monsters by such authors as John Block Friedman, Jeffrey Jerome Cohen, and Asa Mittman, who have helped to provide a framework for the study of such phenomena, not only in religious studies but also in literature, art history, and history. Through this framework, monsters and grotesques have been revealed as important markers of marginality, social boundaries, liminality, identity, cultural borders, and the “Other.”

- by Michael E Heyes
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- Medieval History, Disability Studies, Medieval Studies, The Grotesque Body

On September 11, 2001, human bodies fell from some of the tallest buildings in the world and shattered on the pavement below. People jumped from the windows of the World Trade Center to escape fire, and this fire was sustained by the artefacts of early 21st-century technological progress: jet fuel, paper, people, and photocopiers. 9/11 was a symbolic act engaged with politics and aesthetics, but which also placed the base suffering of the human body and mind at its heart. The horror of the terrorist attacks was broadcast on television, another piece of technology deeply woven into Western consciousness. Footage of 9/11 played over and over again on multiple screens, and this footage is now easily accessible on the internet. 9/11’s images are repeated like the pop art of Andy Warhol, whose work Hal Foster describes as ‘a warding away of traumatic significance and an opening out to it’ (1996: 132). This is what occurred during 9/11, and it is what makes it an example of the sublime. Responses to 9/11 attempt to escape its traumatic consequences; but, to do so, one must accept the bodily experience of trauma. In the pages that follow, I will argue that post-9/11 intellectual discourse is informed by the “games” of ludic postmodernism, but in the non-ludic languages of trauma, the uncanny, and the sublime. Trauma theory bases itself in the human body, and I will be exploring how the sublime and the uncanny are understood as embodied in 9/11.

- by Elise Page
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- American Studies, Architecture, Embodiment, The Body
- by Michael Amy
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- Art History, Art, Installation Art, Contemporary Art

This paper operates on the notion of the unintentional grotesque and aims to explore elements of the grotesque in Lee Kok Liang‟s “Just a Girl” (1968) and Lisa Ho King Li‟s “The Tiger and the Moth” (1991). A grotesque reading of the two works was done
based on several reasons: the misfit characters, the grotesque elements present in the stories and ultimately, the grotesque manipulation of power towards the Other in society. This article aims to analyse elements of grotesque in the two stories via its
thematisation of notions of alterity and manipulation of power. I also argue that the grotesque elements serve as a critique of the social malaise portrayed in the stories. Lisa Ho‟s misfit is the effeminate Endi, an illegitimate child of mixed parentage with
mottephobia whose status as the other leads to a grotesque death. The misfit in Lee's work is portrayed via the nameless blind girl facing a bleak future as a result of her blindness and her father's abuse of paternal authority. While both protagonists are polar opposites, they both face grotesque consequences because of who they are. By relating to this, this paper argues that the grotesque elements expose readers to the unexpected,
dark side of society.

- by Frances S Connelly
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- The Carnivalesque, Grotesque, Grotesque, Abject,uncanny, Spielraum

En 1976, le phénomène punk surgit à Londres, semble remettre en cause certains des codes sociaux et des normes culturelles la société britannique, et est le sujet d’une « panique morale ». La même année, en Irlande du Nord, 297 personnes... more

- by Timothy A Heron
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- Semiotics, Sociology, Irish Studies, Music

This paper joins the revivalist bandwagon by offering yet another reading of Sandburg’s poetry via the concept of grotesque. I argue that the grotesque in Sandburg’s poetry tends to undermine the elitist principles of American modern poetry. Admittedly, Sandburg’s work falls short of the dominant, formalist standards in the tradition of New Criticism. But a close examination of aspects that considerably fall within the grotesque genre could open a renewed appreciation for his poetry.

Julia Kristeva (1980) afirma que lo abyecto no supone, en ningún caso, ausencia de limpieza o de salud, sino que lo abyecto es, más bien, todo aquello que perturba una identidad, un sistema, un orden, lo que no respeta límites, reglas, jerarquías, lugares –perspectiva que comparte Georges Bataille en sus ensayos-. Cristina Peri Rossi afirma en su libro Evohé (1971), aullido de bacante: “una poesía fuertemente sensual que hablaba de piel y de sexos, del goce físico elevado a la categoría de éxtasis místico que pareció una provocación […] parecía romper muchos tabús: la revolución, se olvida a menudo, que empieza en la cama” (Peri Rossi 2006, 12). El trabajo explora la conexión de lo abyecto y lo sublime en la poesía transgresora de Cristina Peri Rossi.

- by Chia-sui (Tracy) Lee
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- Ethics, Space and Place, Gender, Ghosts
- by Darlion Wang
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- Philosophy, Nature of Science, Philosophy of Nature, Theatre
- by Anneleen M Masschelein
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- Discourse Analysis, Cultural Studies, Psychoanalysis, Cultural Theory

This research paper was submitted for assessment under the GCE A'Level H3 Literature examination. Little girls grow up with the misleading notion that the suppression of their imperfections and personal desires is necessary for their... more

- by Choi YH
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- English Literature, Romanticism, Literature, Feminism

This article discusses Camille Cottin’s star image, considering more specifically what was at stake in her 2019 performance in Mouche, the French remake of British tragicomedy TV series Fleabag created by Phoebe Waller-Bridge. The framework of this remake and the transposition of Cottin in the character played by Waller-Bridge offers a discussion on the representation of female sexuality and gender through the main character of Mouche and Fleabag. It argues that the nexus of Cottin’s gendered stardom both meets and transgresses the ideals of the cinematic type of the Parisienne, which may lead to think that Cottin was the perfect fit to be the French version of Fleabag. However, as Mouche, her persona gestures toward the projection of a female subjectivity that escapes inscription into the French cultural imagination and social practices. Drawing from theories of the abject and the female grotesque as a subversive strategy to challenge gendered expectations in Fleabag, this article sheds light on how effectively this is transposed to Cottin’s version of the character. It also considers how the strategy of breaking the fourth wall, which creates a personalised connection with the character of Fleabag, mimics the personalised and intimate connection to celebrities that social media now offers. The article suggests that Cottin’s on-screen persona competes with her star image, threatening to eradicate the space of spectatorial jouissance necessary for the processes of cinematic identification and intimate connection.

- by Victoria Souliman and +1
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- Representations of femininity/masculinity, Stardom, Grotesque, Abject,uncanny, TV Series
- by Harry O . Maier
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- New Testament, Early Christianity, Biblical Studies, The Abject Body

An analysis and discussion of the various sources that served as inspiration for my visual art installation entitled The Disobedient Dollhouse. These sources include the literary fiction of the 19th-century Gothic novelists, gothic horror films, the Surrealists, and the grotesquery of Victorian art. Terms relating to the ‘Gothic’ aesthetic, namely ‘the abject’, ‘the grotesque’, and ‘the uncanny,’ are also explained and examined.

- by Jennifer Linton
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- Installation Art, Gothic Literature, Abjection, Printmaking

This interview was reprinted in Dutch by the Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens in Deurle, Belgium: "De chaos van het leven vatten: een gesprek met Peter Buggenhout", in "Museum Doordacht 8", 2009, pp. 47 – 50. It was also reprinted in English: "Peter Buggenhout, 'It’s a strange, strange world, Sally'”, in “'It’s a strange, strange world, Sally', Recent sculptures and installations by Peter Buggenhout", Tielt, Lannoo, 2010, pp.iii-viii.

- by Michael Amy
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- Contemporary Art, Abstract Art, Sculpture, Abject Art

Всеки път въвеждането на думата е свързано с преводачески бележки и обяснения кое и защо е избрано, но всъщност и какво е изпуснато. Подобни мъчни за превод термини изскачат в цялата история на философията от Платоновите mimesis или chora през Aufhebung на Хегел и Dasein на Хайдегер до différance на Дерида. В процеса на концептуализация при някои пластични понятия се появява остатък, нещо, което не може да се концептуализира докрай – нещо чуждо, непонятно и непреводимо. Случаят с unheimlich поддържа точно подобен хетерогенен срез.
С есето си от 1919 г. „Das Unheimliche“ Фройд въвежда нова естетическа категория, както има красивото, възвишеното, комичното, трагичното, така има и естетическият феномен unheimlich.

- by Kamelia Spassova
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- Philology, Translation Studies, Uncanny Valley, Martin Heidegger
- by Vincent Pham
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- Portraits, French Studies, Humor/Satire, History of Art

Film, oddziałując głównie na zmysły percepcyjnego dystansu-wzrok i słuch, stoi przed nie lada wyzwaniem, gdy pragnie wywołać wśród widzów uczucie wstrętu. Ten bowiem upodobał sobie raczej zmysły bezpośredniego kontaktu: smak, powonienie i dotyk. I choć kino podejmuje próby wywołania "repulsji", tworząc światy odbierane jako wstrętne fizycznie i moralnie, to zwykle czyni to przez wyróżnienie reakcji bohaterów, którzy uwiarygadniają swe odczucia, krzywiąc się, wzdrygając lub wymiotując. Widz za sprawą fizjologicznej identyfikacji może takiego protetycznego wstrętu doznać, podobnie jak w dziełach o turpistycznie i groteskowo przerysowanej wizji rzeczywistości, pozbawionej normalizującego spojrzenia protagonisty, gdzie coś, co wstrętne, staje się w zgodzie z panującą tam logiką akceptowalne. P aw e ł S o ł o dk i Lepkie teorie Julia Kristeva z tego, co wstrętne, "abiektalne", czyni główną myśl eseju Potęga obrzydzenia. Dla badaczki, będącej pod silnym wpływem myśli psychoanalitycznej, abiekt jest źródłem nie-skończonej i dojmującej odrazy, czymś, co z miejsca wywołuje torsje, ściska żołądek i winduje jego zawartość aż do gardła, a może i wyżej. Czymś, co stawia opór nawet semantyce, nie zasługując na miano przed-miotu (ob-ject), ani tym bardziej pod-miotu (sub-ject), stając się po-miotem (ab-ject)-"przed-miotem upadłym" (Kristeva 2007, s. 8). Kristeva w swojej opowieści sięga do dzieciństwa, własną magdalenką czyniąc mleczny kożuch i uczucie, jakiego za jego sprawą doznała, gdy laktozowa szumowina dotknęła jej podniebienia. Ten ciepławy glut sprawił, że wnętrzności przyszłej filozofki ścisnęły się nagle i wypchnęły kożuch poza organizm. Abiekt to coś, co domaga się wyrzucenia poza nasz system, odrzucenia i zapomnienia, choć nie jest to łatwe. Wstręt, który wywołuje, jest dojmujący, bo przypomina o tym, co

- by Paweł Sołodki
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- Film Theory, Horror Film, The Abject Body, Horror Cinema
- by Peter Cannavo
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- Political Theory, Computer Networks, Biotechnology, Databases
- by Michael Amy
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- Installation Art, Contemporary Art, The Body, The Abject Body

Damien Hirst is an artist who has been making an impact since the 90s as a sensational
figure in the concepts of artist, work, acclaim and production. Hirst has been deeply
affected by the blurring of the boundaries in the arts in the wake of Pop Art. Since the
beginning of his career, he has endeavored to show reality to the audience directly and to
come close to the reality in his work. This is a characteristic that can be seen in many of his
most well-known works and is also an example of how reality is interpreted in
contemporary art. In his latest exhibition, “Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable”,
Hirst has chosen to make use of the benefits of fiction. The exhibition is purported of works
of art salvaged from a sunken ship, and in this respect, the exhibition is intriguing. This
exhibition aims to embrace contemporary art through Hirst at a point that is between
reality and fiction, and in doing so, the exhibition first explains Hirst’s artistic persona and
his relationship with reality, which is a characteristic common ground of the works that
brought him fame. As to the following part of the exhibition, we will be compelled to spare
a thought for the exhibition and fiction and to comment on Hirst’s standing in our day.
Keywords: Damien Hirst, Fiction, Reality, Contemporary Arts, Artist, Visual Culture

- by engin ümer
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- Psychoanalysis, Art History, Art Theory, Contemporary Art

Images of abnormalities and aberrations abound in visual culture, and these have recently enjoyed a growing scholarly interest. My article takes as its collective subject this kind of image. Specifically, I discuss Neill Blomkamp’s blockbuster District 9 due to its abundance in aberration. Under the label ‘aberrant image’ I consider an array of
previously described visual (and experiential) categories, namely the grotesque, abject, monstrous-feminine and uncanny, because of the characteristic way they destabilise viewers. My hypothesis is that they share a particular kind of image operation, a concept which I borrow from Hans Belting. In aberrant images, this operation incorporates both visual elements and their affects (here understood as emotional and physical sensations experienced by sentient beings). For this reason, I read how these images work and work on us in terms of Georges Didi-Huberman’s phenomenological and psychoanalytical delineation of ‘the
symptom’; an ‘incomprehensible sign’ which both displays and dissimulates the process of figuration because it reveals the materiality
of images. However, I aim to broaden Didi-Huberman’s definition of representation with Belting’s conceptualisation of the image as operation, by applying it to the cinematic medium and to aberrant images. Therefore, I adapt the concept of ‘the symptom’ to describe a broader kind of image operation whereby what the image represents is
destabilising to the engendering of this image, so that it becomes a ‘symptomatic image’.

- by Johanet Kriel-de Klerk
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- Georges Didi-Huberman, Horror Film, The Abject Body, The Grotesque Body

A complex relationship to gestural expression can be discerned through a close reading of the writings of late nineteenth-century Parisian mime artists and critics. The textual examination that I conduct in this article illuminates anxieties over the ideological construct of the “natural” body as it was positioned against the constructs of socialisation and civilisation in the late nineteenth century and identified with concepts of gross materiality (such as bodily fluids) and the organic (the living, breathing body set against the cold corpse). I argue that late nineteenth-century nostalgia for and simultaneous disgust with a “natural” Pierrot influenced the development of techniques of mime based on minimalist movement. Minimalist here refers to small and contained bodily movements that are discernible only at close proximity, a mechanised performance style marked by rapid, rigid movements associated with the automaton—set against the “natural” body as identified with the fluid and organic.

- by Laura Purcell-Gates
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- Puppetry, Hybridity, Abjection, Phenomenology of the body
- by Andy Vantino
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- The Abject Body, Slavoj Žižek, Abjection, Abject Art
- by Benjamin Baumann
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- Southeast Asian Studies, Thai Studies, Khmer Studies, Horror Film

The objective of this work is to contribute to studies about the grotesque aesthetic in rock'n'roll and the use of different media platforms as a means of poetic styling and creating new narratives converge to Viver até Morrer. The grotesque as a visual representation of the anxieties and contradictions of an age full of constant daily shocks that the people is exposed challenge institutionalized social models through the aesthetics. The transmedia exhibition of the work provides an expansion of the fictional imaginary narratives through interconnections from different platforms and media languages such as animated film, the music video, comics and music.

- by neil maizels
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- Sociology, Personality Psychology, Psychoanalysis, Psychiatry
- by Christophe Meurée
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- French Literature, Theatre Studies, Dramaturgy, Scenography

Stworzenie precyzyjnej definicji jest tu o tyle trudne, że podobnie jak wiele innych żywych dziś zjawisk, choć przecież nie zrodzonych współcześnie, guilty pleasure leży w oczach (trzewiach?) doświadczającego i totalizującej definicji po prostu się wymyka. A przy tym można postawić tezę, iż doświadczanie takiej emocjonal-nej hybrydy nie jest obce nikomu z nas. Idealne byłoby zatem poczynienie w tym miejscu niejednego wyznania, najpierw przez samego siebie, a potem przez czytelników tego tekstu, by na podstawie zebranych przykładów spró-bować choć trochę zbliżyć się do opisania owego zjawiska. Podejrzewam jednak, że niejedna osoba ceniąca sobie "dobrą sztukę" czy "wysoką kulturę" mogłaby w trakcie czytania tych "wyznań" dostać palpitacji serca, a następnie wyprzeć się znajomości z autorem i jego naśladowcami. Ale sceptykami nie będę się tu zajmować. Bliższe jest mi raczej podejście współczesnych orędowników postiro-nii czy "nowej szczerości": zjawiska, które do niedawna można było z autorytarnych wyżyn zbywać ironicznym dystansem, wreszcie mogą doczekać się bardziej uważ-nych analiz, a ignorowane do tej pory obszary kultury mogą w końcu ujrzeć światło dzienne, tym razem bez narażania się na protekcjonalny ton. Wyobraźmy sobie zatem kilka sytuacji, które mogły-by uruchomić w nas-koneserach kina-poczucie guilty pleasure. Czy znalazłyby się na tej liście popularne polskie seriale (Klan [TVP1, 1997-], M jak miłość [TVP2, 2000-], Świat według Kiepskich [Polsat, 1999-]), zagraniczne tele-Choć trudno sformułować jednoznaczną definicję "wstydliwej przyjemności", wydaje się, że niewielu osobom termin ten jest obcy. Rzecz tyczy się tego dziwnego uczucia w trzewiach, gdy wzbierające poczucie winy, wstydu czy też zażenowania nie osiąga na tyle wysokiego poziomu intensywności, byśmy w jakikolwiek sposób zrezygnowali z tej silnej rozkoszy, której mimo wszystko doświadczamy. Uczucie to jest niejasne, sporo w nim pomieszania i niespójności, przyciągania i odpychania, ekscytacji i poczucia winy.

- by Paweł Sołodki
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- Anthropology, Film Theory, Art and Independent Cinema, Abject Art

Welcome to Issue 16 of Interpreting Ceramics. In his article entitled ‘Dora Billington: From Arts and Crafts to Studio Pottery’, Marshall Coleman illuminates the early career of one of the most important figures in twentieth century studio pottery in Britain. Although the production of her own ceramics was not extensive, Billington influenced generations of potters through her inspirational teaching. Her career as Head of Department at the Central School of Arts and Crafts in London in the 1950s is well documented but details of her work in earlier decades have until now been harder to find. The author’s research enables us to understand more fully the development of Billington’s ideas and teaching methods. In contrast to the meticulous historical approach of Marshall Colman, Helen Doherty offers a more personal but no less intriguing account of a ceramics studio in South Africa which has proved to be as controversial as it has been successful. As a white woman of South African origin, the author positions herself within the story. She acknowledges difficult cultural and political issues as she gives a critical appreciation of the Ardmore Ceramics Studio and the people who have worked there, including the founder Fée Halsted and the first artist to work with her, Bonnie Ntshalintshali. In addition to these articles, this issue of Interpreting Ceramics is particularly rich in reviews, with a broad range of book and exhibition reviews as well as reports of the Taiwan Ceramics Biennale and the SITE: Situating Ceramics colloquium at the University of Sunderland, UK.

- by Anthony D Merino
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- Art History, Art, Contemporary Art, Ceramics (Ceramics)
- by Giovanni Magliocco and +1
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- Comparative Literature, Folklore, Dystopian Literature, The Grotesque (Gothic Literature)