Sit venia verbo: A case for dermacriticism

This article introduces the term “skinnedness” as a complementary notion to what we commonly refer to as skin. The term allows for a fundamental conceptual discussion that brings together human skin, animal skin, and other types of organic or artificial skin, such as fruit skin or the soft outer lay...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inOrbis litterarum Vol. 79; no. 5; pp. 449 - 471
Main Author Hron, Irina
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Malden Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.10.2024
Subjects
affordance
dermacriticism
literature and art
skin
skinnedness
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Summary:This article introduces the term “skinnedness” as a complementary notion to what we commonly refer to as skin. The term allows for a fundamental conceptual discussion that brings together human skin, animal skin, and other types of organic or artificial skin, such as fruit skin or the soft outer layer of a doll. The dermacritical approach developed here explores the unique affordances of skin and skin‐like phenomena, including their “graphordance,” that is, the implicit invitation to write on them. Through a thorough discussion of works by Oskar Kokoschka, Hermine Moos, Lester Gaba, and Herta Müller, this paper offers a philosophically and historically informed perspective on the skinnedness of skin, integrating its symptomatic, semantic, and aesthetic dimensions from a comparative literary perspective.
ISSN:0105-7510
1600-0730
DOI:10.1111/oli.12463