Artaud, Germ Theory, and the Theatre of Contagion

This article explores the influence of Pasteurian germ theory on Antonin Artaud's concept of theatre as plague. Drawn to the corporeal focus of germ theory while resisting its medicalized discourse, Artaud's theatre of cruelty tropes the Pasteurian body, refigures its structures of time an...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Theatre journal (Washington, D.C.) D.C.), 2006-03, Vol.58 (1), p.1-14
Main Author: Garner, Stanton B.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
19th century
20th century
Anarchism
Artaud, Antonin (1896-1948)
Artaud, Antonín
Attitudes
Disease transmission
Dramas
Dramatic theory
Dramatists
Epidemics
Epidemiology
Germ theory
History of medicine
Infectious diseases
Medical science
Medicine
Microbiology
Microorganisms
Sociocultural Issues
Theater
Theater directors
Theater history
Tuberculosis
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Description
Summary:This article explores the influence of Pasteurian germ theory on Antonin Artaud's concept of theatre as plague. Drawn to the corporeal focus of germ theory while resisting its medicalized discourse, Artaud's theatre of cruelty tropes the Pasteurian body, refigures its structures of time and space, and imposes an ecstatic performativity on its narrowly microbial understanding of contagion. In so doing, Artaud points to a broader epidemiological modernity in which scientific and cultural notions of contagious disease propose new and often contending ways of theorizing individual and collective bodies.
ISSN:0192-2882
1086-332X
1086-332X
DOI:10.1353/tj.2006.0072