The Artist as Animal in Nineteenth-Century French Literature [Paperback]

The Artist as Animal in Nineteenth-Century French Literature traces the evolution of the relationship between artists and animals in fiction from the Second Empire to the fin de si?cle. This book examines examples of visual literature, inspired by the struggles of artists such as Edouard Manet and Vincent van Gogh. Edmond and Jules de Goncourts Manette Salomon (1867), ?mile Zolas Ther?se Raquin (1867), Jules Laforgues At the Berlin Aquarium (1895) and Impressionism (1883), Octave Mirbeaus In the Sky (1892-1893) and Rachildes LAnimale (1893) depict vanguard painters and performers as being like animals, whose unique vision revolted against stifling traditions. Juxtaposing these literary works with contemporary animal theory (McHugh, Deleuze, Guattari and Derrida), zoo studies (Berger, Rothfels and Lippit) and feminism (Donovan, Adams and Haraway), Claire Nettleton explores the extent to which the nineteenth-century dissolution of the human subject contributed to a radical, modern aesthetic. Utilizing these interdisciplinary methodologies, Nettleton argues that while inducing anxiety regarding traditional humanist structures, the artist-animal, an embodiment of artistic liberation within an urban setting, is, at the same time, a paradigmatic trope of modernity.

1. Introduction.- Part I Behind Bars: Artists and Animals of the Second Empire.- 2. A Caged Animal: The Avant-garde Artist in Edmond and Jules de Goncourts Manette Salomon.- 3. Buffon Versus the Beast: Taming the Wild Artist in ?mile Zolas Th?r?se Raquin.- Part II The Decadent Animals of the Third Republic.- 4. The Decadent Deep Sea: Jules Laforgues At the Berlin Aquarium.- 5. Said the Spider to the Fly: Thel3Ý