RT Article
T1 Painted Eroticism: Sex and Death in Cain and Abel’s Story
JF Biblical interpretation
VO 29
IS 1
SP 1
OP 24
A1 González Holguín, Julián Andrés
LA English
PB Brill
YR 2021
UL https://www.ixtheo.de/Record/1749484382
AB Using George Bataille’s concepts of continuity/discontinuity, eroticism, and death, I read the stories of Genesis 3–4 to demonstrate how these notions provide a hermeneutical framework to understand the myths of creation. I present a unique perspective around the idea of continuity/discontinuity, the role of work, and the possibility of killing latent in all humanity. I demonstrate how eroticism is part of the semantical potential of the stories and how the artistic renderings of Cain and Abel’s tale by Albrecht Dürer, Jan Harmensz, Daniele Crespi, and Alexandre Falguière actualize it. I analyze how in the paintings the experience of pleasure in eroticism is tightly bound together with states of fear and pain. I demonstrate how the visual representations can contribute to decentering closed models of subjectivity and spirituality that emerge within the history of interpretation. Finally, I offer an alternative reading of Cain’s mark using Bataille’s notions.
K1 Paintings
K1 Spirituality
K1 Work
K1 Death
K1 continuity/discontinuity
K1 Eroticism
DO 10.1163/15685152-00284P01