The Grotte du Renne, Leroi-Gourhan and Flaubert's La Légende de Saint Julien l'Hospitalier (1877): The Question of ‘Préhistoire(s)’ to Delimit the Human
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引用次数: 1
Abstract
This article reconsiders the important work of Leroi-Gourhan through the lens of Christopher Johnson's ‘Leroi-Gourhan and the Limits of the Human’ (2011) by returning to the context of French prehistory of the 1860s that lies behind Leroi-Gourhan's discoveries and interpretations of hominid remains and artefacts in the Grotte du Renne. The Exposition universelle of 1867 and French publications of the period capture the importance of ‘préhistoire’ for Second Empire France materialized in Napoleon III's establishment at Saint-Germain-en-Laye of the first national Musée des Antiquités Nationales dedicated to their collections. The archaeological discoveries, and the debates they inspired, did not escape the encyclopaedic bricolage and designs of Flaubert. With delicious clins d'oeil to the question of ‘l'homme fossile’ and ‘l'homme futur’ that he had already debated with Louis Bouilhet, this article uncovers how Flaubert's Légende de Saint Julien details the ‘limits of the human’ in Johnson's reading of Leroi-Gourhan. By returning to ‘real’ counterparts for the legendary Stag in Flaubert's tale, its contextual, allegedly fantastical, ‘préhistoires’ can better be excavated. To find the non-legendary, extreme contemporary, sources for Flaubert's disturbing text crucially informs a critique of the dehistoricization of seeing in post-war French cultural studies and sciences of the human.
本文通过克里斯托弗·约翰逊(Christopher Johnson)的《勒罗伊·古尔汉与人类的极限》(Leroi Gourhan and the Limits of the Human)(2011)的镜头,重新思考了勒罗伊·古尔汉的重要作品,回到了19世纪60年代法国史前史的背景下,这正是勒罗伊·古汉在雷恩河发现和解释人类遗骸和手工艺品的背后。1867年的世博会和这一时期的法国出版物捕捉到了“历史”对法兰西第二帝国的重要性,拿破仑三世在圣日耳曼建立了第一个国家古董博物馆,专门收藏他们的藏品。考古发现及其引发的争论并没有逃脱福楼拜百科全书式的拼凑和设计。这篇文章对他已经与路易·布伊莱特辩论过的“人类化石”和“人类未来”问题进行了精彩的探讨,揭示了福楼拜的《圣朱利安的légende de Saint Julien》如何在约翰逊对勒罗伊·古汉的解读中详细阐述了“人类的极限”。通过回到福楼拜故事中传说中的雄鹿的“真实”对应物,可以更好地挖掘其背景,据称是幻想的“历史”。为福楼拜令人不安的文本寻找非传奇的、极端的当代来源,至关重要地为批判战后法国文化研究和人类科学中的去历史化提供了信息。
期刊介绍:
Founded in 1983, Paragraph is a leading journal in modern critical theory. It publishes essays and review articles in English which explore critical theory in general and its application to literature, other arts and society. Regular special issues by guest editors highlight important themes and figures in modern critical theory.