Zwischen Ergriffenheit und Ekel. Blutopfer und rituelles Blutbad als literarischer Gegenstand der Moderne (Fichte, Leiris, Montherlant, Carpentier)

Abstract

Bloody sacrifice is perhaps the most disconcerting expression of that sacred violence that attracted twentieth-century ethnographers, historians of religion, and writers. Fictional and non-fictional descriptions of contact with the blood of sacrificial animals range from the aestheticism of Henry de Montherlant’s Bestiaires to Michel Leiris’ and Hubert Fichte’s ethnological encounters with African and Afro-American religion. The reactions of these authors oscillate between fascination and desire of participation on the one hand, and delusion, uneasiness, or pure disgust on the other.