Arts and Humanities Commons^™

The Reality Of Artifice: Villiers De L'Isle Adam's L'Eve Future And The Anxiety Of Reproduction, Boyd J. Petersen

Boyd J Petersen

First, Villier's L'Eve future employs a poetics of confusion, calling into question binary oppositions and destabilizing the narrative. Second, the novel is concerned with the production of art in a technological age, calling into question the notion of an "original" in a world of technological reproduction. Third, the novel is concerned with the ethics of male desire and the construction of women's bodies. Finally, the text critiques the emerging scientific worldview as an alternate religion, requiring faith, administering sacraments, and officiating rituals.