Hermès ou vers un effacement de la dichotomie genrée?

Abstract

The myth of Hermes is well rooted in the Parisian intellect which has always shown interest in the doctrine of Hermes Trimesgisto. This has been the case irrespective of whether we situate the origins of the myth in the Hermaphroditic Greek statues (in which according to Winckelmann and Gautier the ideal form, the beautiful in itself resided), or whether these origins emanate from the famous “Hermes of Olympia” in 1877, or the complete translation of the Hermes Trimegisto by L. Ménard in 1866 (this translation was preceded by a study on the origin of the hermetic books). The figure of Hermes leads us, therefore, from the 19th century to the present day, towards a doubleness that allows differences to be interconnected and to an ambiguity that suggests that the established duality of genres should disappear.