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Journal: Zoophilologica. Polish Journal of Animal Studies

The Fly in the Cultural System: From “Insignificance” to “Demonization” (a Discussion of Selected Examples)

Ilona Chylińska

Language: PL | Published: 29-06-2021 | Abstract | pp. 1-17

This article offers an overview of the literary functions of the fly, that seemingly meaningless and inconspicuous creature. The main inspiration for this analysis has come from observations of the diversity of the images, ideas, and interpretations related to the fly found on the pages of literary works. In them, the fly often becomes man’s “faithful companion,” a being a person can identify with; but it also tends to be represented as a creature towards which people remain indifferent.

2021-06-29



Journal: Zoophilologica. Polish Journal of Animal Studies

Swarm–Hybrid–Technology: The Transmedial Possibilities of Becoming-Insect

Piotr F. Piekutowski

Language: EN | Published: 21-06-2023 | Abstract | pp. 1-21

According to Rosi Braidotti, insects are determined by their in-between-ness and continuous becoming. The paper analyses the assemblage of insect figurations on two levels: non-human technology and unnatural narrative in stories about a transformation. Following Jussi Parikka’s media archaeology research, becoming-insect is examined on transmedial examples from literature (Franz Kafka—The Metamorphosis), film (David
Cronenberg—The Fly), video games and VR (All in! Games—Metamorphosis) and networked media. According to Jan Alber, exploration beyond human stances and defamiliarization in narrative fiction leads to the shift of cognitive frameworks. Radically Other insects transgress the anthropocentric paradigm and execute posthuman assumptions by a hybrid entanglement with humans and machines.

2023-06-21



Journal: Zoophilologica. Polish Journal of Animal Studies

Death of a Fly. On "The Hunger Artist Departs" by Tadeusz Różewicz

Jakub Orzeszek

Language: PL | Published: 25-12-2019 | Abstract | pp. 227-236

Western imagination describes a fly as an abject. It causes disgust and, as such, belongs to the “other world” of condamned and unwanted beings that define the end of humanity. This is the concept, which Tadeusz Rozewicz seems to undermine in The Hunger Artist Departs (1976). In Scene Four the main character of the play mourns for the fly he accidentally crushed in his hand, and furthermore he makes his “last confession” over insect’s corpse. This essay tries to examine the play with thanatological context (death of a fly as phantasmatic experience of protagonist’s own death). It also highlights funeral aspects of the work, which – together with The Trap (1982) and a poem interrupted conversation (1991) – expresses Rozewicz’s lament on Franz Kafka.

2019-12-25