Theories of the Abject discussed
Introduction Definitions of the Abject The cast off; the taboo; the unclean; filth The excrescence: mucus, blood (especially menstrual), nails, urine, excrement, vomit The uncanny; the corpse A psychoanalytic and aesthetic theory expounded by Julia Kristeva in Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection. “On close inspection, all literature is probably a version of the apocalypse that seems to me rooted, no matter what its sociohistorical conditions might be, on the fragile border (borderline cases) where identities (subject/object, etc.) do not exist or only barely so—double, fuzzy, heterogeneous, animal, metamorphosed, altered, abject.” (Kristeva) "To each ego its object, to each superego its abject". (Kristeva) Outline of the Strengths and weaknesses of the Kristeva's model of the Abject Strengths Appeals to universal sense of disgust when faced with body fluids and waste products Explains popular cultural narrative of horro