French Literature Reviews - 2026
Z. Schweitzer, La Scène cannibale. Pratiques et usages de la transgression au théâtre XVIe-XXIe s. (préf. O. Py)
Theatre and Performance
Zoé Schweitzer, La Scène cannibale. Pratiques et usages de la transgression au théâtre (XVIe-XXIe siècle)
Preface: Olivier Py
Classiques Garnier, coll. "Perspectives comparatistes", série "Dramaturgie comparée", September 2021
351 p. - 34 euros - ISBN 978-2-406-11937-1
Since antiquity, cannibalism has run through the history of tragedy as a haunting primal scene exploring the limits of humanity. It blurs the boundaries between barbarism and civilization, offering theater a laboratory in which to reassess its nature, functions, and effects.
Table of Contents:
Preface: Thyestes' Kitchen, by Olivier Py...
Introduction
Facts and Discourses
The Cannibal Corpus on Stage
Perspectives, Issues
PART ONE / IDENTITIES
- Who Is a Cannibal?
Anthropological Chronologies
Mythographic Resources
- Who's Afraid of Cannibals? The Spectator's Imaginary
- Atrocious Antiquities
A Familiar Framework
A Hybrid Framework
Axiologies of Cannibal Antiquity
PART TWO / PRACTICES
- Ontology of Meat
Cuisine Does Not Make the Essence
A Circumstantial Meal
Anything Becomes Meat Provided It Enters It
– Anthropology of Desire and Hunger
Desiring, Eating Without Borders
Rape and Meat
Carnivorous Depravities. Suddenly Last Summer and Vitrioli
– The Cannibal Metaphor
Eating to Survive: A Matter of History
Cannibalism and the Eucharist
Cannibalism and Theatrical Poetics: The Bloody Cup
PART THREE / REPRESENTATIONS
– A Matrix Motif
Family Heritages, Literary Filiations: Debates on the French Tragic Model (Second Half of the 18th Century)
The Cannibal Helper (Renaissance – Early 17th Century)
The Cannibal Stimulant (England, Second Half of the 20th Century)
– The Model of Thyestes
Translating Thyestes: A Humanist Activity?
Seneca's Laboratory (Second Half of the 17th Century, 20th Century)
– The Cannibal Banquet: A Tragic Workshop
On the Anthropophagous Menu: The Alloy of the Mundane and the Exceptional
The Banquet of the Living Dead
Culture and Barbarism, or the Critical Workshop
The figure of the cannibal has long served as a motif in dramatic literature, functioning as a threshold between the civilized and the barbaric. This work explores how playwrights from the Renaissance to the contemporary era have utilized this trope, tracing its presence from classical antiquity through to modern interpretations. Readers interested in the history of dramatic motifs and the representation of transgressive acts in European theater may find this analysis relevant.
Central to this inquiry is the role of the spectator and the ways in which the act of consumption on stage challenges moral and aesthetic boundaries. The text considers how cannibalism functions as a metaphor for desire, survival, and historical trauma, while also examining its application within the French tragic tradition and broader European contexts. By examining the interplay between the mundane and the exceptional in the staging of these scenes, the work explores how theater serves as a laboratory for reassessing the nature and effects of human behavior throughout the centuries.