Logogriphs. Reflections on the illegibility of bodies as a political strategy
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7203/HYBRIDA.2.20653Keywords:
body, monster, stigma, gender, race
Abstract
Having established that the body is part of a system of meaning, this article offers a diachronic analysis of several bodies that have been perceived or presented as “unreadable”: the body of Vellini, an independant and mysterious woman who is an essential character of Barbey d’Aurevilly’s novel Une vieille maîtresse, the body of the « monsters and marvels » that Ambroise Paré observed in the 16th century, and the body of the philosopher Paul B. Preciado, that is central to his theoretical and political work since 2005. Because they escape the social structures that seek to interpret, classify and nomalize them, these bodies were all designated as monstruous. This article questions the possible political uses of this “illegibility”, and notably its reappropriation by marginalized groups.
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Author Biography
Arthur Ségard, New York University
Doctorant à New York University (Department of French Literature, Thought and Culture / Institute of French Studies). Il travaille notamment sur les techniques de normalisation des corps et sur la représentation transmédiale des corps anormaux (littérature, cinéma, performance).
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