Surrealism's Praying Mantis and Castrating Woman

Abstract

insects (Orthopteran), relatives of the grasshopper, cricket, and locust.1 The word is derived from Greek and means soothsayer, diviner, or magician ordained with spiritual qualities. The scientific term Mantis religiosa is Mante or Prie Dieux in French, Gottesanbeterin in German, and Praying Mantis in English. These terms indicate a trans-linguistic connection between the mantis and prophecy, sanctity, and prayer. The term was apparently given to the mantis because of the insect's distinctive posture while awaiting its prey: holding its front legs together before its chest. The visual association with praying is enhanced by its habit of swaying back and forth, like a leaf in the wind, in order to mislead its victim. The mythologies that have evolved around the mantis in various cultures all feature a distinct ambivalence. It is simultaneously magical and holy as well as demonic and destructive. Since the mystical powers of the mantis (positive and negative) are always associated with the female, the insect will be referred to henceforth as she. The most characteristic idiosyncrasy of the female mantis is her devouring of the male during or directly after the sexual act. Sometimes she decapitates the male at its start, his body performing his duty automatically, like a sex-machine.2 Because of this brutal custom, it has been argued that the mantis should be called preying rather than praying.3 Some scientists claim that the beheading of the male results in reflexive and convulsive spasms that ensure successful fertilization, while others maintain that the female eats the male because copulation demands extra nourishment.4 In fact, this phenomenon is not as common as might be thought. Under natural conditions, many males escape, as cannibalism of the male is more frequent in the close confines of a small cage. Indeed, some scientists claim that the decapitation of the male is not a natural phenomenon at all and takes place only in captivity.5 Thus, while the mantis's bad reputation may be undeserved, the Surrealists, unaware of the scientific evidence, reinforced the myth to such an extent that the Praying Mantis is universally associated with the female. The French sociologist and avantgarde writer, Roger Caillois, contributed greatly to the mantis myth in his two essays published in the Surrealist journal Minotaure, La Mante religieuse (1934) and Mimetisme et psychastenie l6gendaire (1935). Both impressed the Surrealists.'