O kreaturach. Lekcja entomologii
On Creatures: A Lesson in Entomology
Author(s): Patrycja CembrzyńskaSubject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, Politics, History, Social Sciences, Recent History (1900 till today), Demography and human biology, Nationalism Studies, WW II and following years (1940 - 1949), Sociology of Politics, Politics of History/Memory
Published by: Instytut Badań Literackich Polskiej Akademii Nauk
Keywords: insects; representations of the enemy; chemical warfare; aerial warfare; progress; violence; natural history of destruction; creaturely life
Summary/Abstract: This article examines relationships between humans and insects in the context of war. Drawing on both literary works and popular culture, Cembrzyńska analyses images of the enemy as an insect. She points out the conjunction between research on chemical weapons and on methods of pest control. Nature takes on the role of a history teacher (as in Walter Benjamin and W. G. Sebald). The article discusses the effects of progress and the blind force of history. These effects include the fauna of dirt and ruins (results of chemical and aerial warfare), the eruption of monstrosity in the form of a plague of crawling creatures, as well as the homeless life that Eric L. Santner described as ‘creaturely life’.
Journal: Teksty Drugie
- Issue Year: 2016
- Issue No: 4
- Page Range: 275-393
- Page Count: 19
- Language: Polish
- Content File-PDF