Asibong, Andrew (2003) "Mulier Sacra": Marie Chauvet, Marie Darrieussecq and the Sexual Metamorphoses of `Bare Life'. French Cultural Studies 14 (2), pp. 169-177. ISSN 0957-1558.
Abstract
In his recent work "Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life", the prolific Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben elaborates an idiosyncratic and highly provocative conception of sacredness. I want to explore the ethical and political implications of Agamben’s concept of "homo sacer" or sacred man, juxtaposing his philosophical insights into the brutal workings of modern ‘democratic’ power with comparable literary visions provided by two controversial women authors: the Haitian novelist Marie Chauvet (1916– 1973) and the French writer Marie Darrieussecq (b 1969). Chauvet and Darrieussecq’s disturbing, sexually violent narratives both illustrate and anticipate Agamben’s theory of the modern ‘camp-like’ State, but in doing so problematize Agamben’s apparent presentation of its deathly processes as essentially indifferent to the question of sex.
Metadata
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Additional Information: | Copyright © 2003 SAGE Publications. All rights reserved. Not for commercial use or unauthorized distribution |
| School: | Birkbeck Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences > School of Creative Arts, Culture and Communication |
| Research Centres and Institutes: | Birkbeck Interdisciplinary Research in Media and Culture (BIRMAC) (Closed), Aesthetics of Kinship and Community, Birkbeck Research in (BRAKC) |
| Depositing User: | Administrator |
| Date Deposited: | 06 Aug 2007 |
| Last Modified: | 09 Aug 2023 12:29 |
| URI: | https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/533 |
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