Paralysed bodies and limited locomotor systems - a diachronic perspective on im/mobility in French literature (XVII-XXI c.)
Final Report Abstract
Under the umbrella of Disability Studies, the project develops a perspective on the history of knowledge and the cultural history of ‘paralysis’ (French ‘paralysie’, ‘plégie’) based on how it is represented in French literature. Using analogue and computer-aided methods, it analyses the collection “Les Classiques de la litterature” of the French National Library (BnF), which contains literary texts and a series of miscellanea. The study is interested in both the figurative and the concrete dimension of the concept of paralysis. By revealing how ideas of paralysis are embedded in their historical contexts of knowledge, how they emerge from a specific situation, solidify and circulate, the study encourages readers to scrutinise these ideas as constructions. On the other hand, it offers a tool to rethink current conceptions of paralysis, illness and disability on the basis of the knowledge contexts that actually surround them. The visible “main symptom” of paralysis, limited mobility, is important for the concept: the concrete, pathological sense nourishes the figurative concept, that fits multiple contexts. This figurative dimension has developed a powerful system of metaphors and the linguistic scope of the concept is relevant in order to understand how concrete realities of illness and disability are inscribed in social and cultural structures. The mutual influence of physical reality and metaphorizations, as practices of coproduction of knowledge, has fostered the consolidation and permanence of stereotypical ideas in dealing with paralysis. These exist in deviation from actual specific historical realities. This can be seen, for example, in the fact that medical, technical and social achievements have created conditions and opportunities for participation in social processes, but stereotypical views of paralysis are still deeply rooted in society and culture. The study shows that the fictions interact with the knowledge surrounding them and contribute to varying degrees to the consolidation of such ideas. The corpus, however, contains various (counter-)examples that pluralise the discourse. The main focus of the project is on the paralysed characters and thus the fictional embodiments of immobility. In many of the works, paralysed characters function as decorative elements and thus create an effect of reality. The study can illustrate here (especially for the 19th century) that there is a correlation with the presence of experiences of paralysis in non-literary reality, which were perceived as symptoms of illness. There are also numerous examples of the reduction of disability to metaphors and narrative, often negatively connoted, “short-cuts”, which is heavily criticised in disability studies. As metaphors, the paralysed characters serve, among other things, to clarify moral issues (for example in the area of social responsibility) or to take a critical stance on social, cultural and political aspects. In addition, the corpus contains texts that scrutinise the conditions of physical and social immobility itself and thus go beyond the status of metaphors. These appear as anticipations of the direct thematisation of paralysis as a disability that emerges in the texts of the 20th century. This increasing shift away from a fatalistic discourse on illness towards a discourse on disability changes the poetological significance: paralysis is elevated from a motif to a theme, which over time and in connection with other social discourses is more frequently politicised.
Publications
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„Penser le mouvement comme concept et métaphore à partir de la paralysie“, Beitrag zur Tagung Mouvement(s) et contraintes. Enjeux artistiques et politiques des dynamiques d’émancipation et de leurs représentations (volet 2), 23. Oktober
Daniela Kuschel
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"Romanfiguren mit Locked-In-Syndrom“, Blogbeitrag in: Images of Disability. The blog of the research project „Narrative, Expectation, Experience“, 18. Dezember, https://images-of-disability.uni-passau.de/romanfiguren-mit-locked-in-syndrom/
Daniela Kuschel
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Diskurs- und Motivgeschichte mit Methoden der Digital Humanities? Ein Versuch die Präsenz und Funktion von Lähmung und Im/mobilität in der französischen Literatur (1750-1914) zu erforschen. Vortrag im Rahmen des interdisziplinären literaturwissenschaftlichen Kolloquiums, Universität Marburg, 15. Juni
Daniela Kuschel
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„Behinderung, Heteronormativität und Geschlecht. Eine Analyse von Lähmungsdarstellungen in sechs französischsprachigen Comics”, Vortrag auf der Jahrestagung der Gesellschaft für Comicforschung, Göttingen, 11.-13. Dezember
Daniela Kuschel
