
Becoming-cat or what a woman’s body can do
Author(s) -
Maria Tamboukou
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
matter
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2604-7551
DOI - 10.1344/jnmr.v2i2.35894
Subject(s) - narrative , meaning (existential) , aesthetics , throwing , psychoanalysis , sociology , art , literature , psychology , philosophy , epistemology , mechanical engineering , engineering
Drawing on a body of literature that considers narrative meaning emerging in intra-species entanglements, in this paper I read Gwen John’s letters revolving around her relationship with the many cats she lived with throughout her life. I am particularly interested in throwing light at moments when a woman’s body makes strong connections with the animal’s body blurring the boundaries between humans and non-humans through a cosmological ethics of care. In doing so, I follow trails of Deleuze’s and Guattari’s idea of becoming-animal, as it is fleshed out through a narrative analysis of a modernist woman artist’s letters.