Zoomorphism
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Zoomorphism, from the Greek ζωον (zōon), meaning animal, and μορφη (morphē), meaning shape or form. It is defined as:
- The representation of gods as animals or the attributing of animal characteristics to gods.
- The use of animal figures in art and design or of animal symbols in literature.
- The viewing of human behavior in terms of the behavior of animals.
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Examples
- Art that imagines humans as animals
- Art that creates patterns using animal imagery, or animal style
- Animal-deities, such as exist in Egyptian mythology
- Therianthropy: the ability to shapeshift into animal form
- The tendency of viewing human behaviour in terms of the behaviour of animals, analogous to anthropomorphism, which views animal behaviour in human terms
Common misconceptions
Zoomorphism is often mistaken for anthropomorphism, or the act of attributing human qualities to non-human things, while in fact, zoomorphism can often be better described as "the act of attributing animal qualities to non animal things".
In literature
HP Lovecraft
A motif that predominates H. P. Lovecraft's fiction is zoomorphism. A strong example of this motif can be found in The Festival, a story in which Lovecraft's protagonist is lured by a cacophony of strange sounds to a ritual held in the bowels of decaying city. There he finds a horde of creatures leaking into our reality: "There flapped rhythmically a horde of hybrid winged things...not altogether crows, nor moles, nor buzzards, nor ants, nor decomposed human beings but a combination of these things that I can not and must not fully recall..." (The Doom..., pp. 54) --© 2001 John R. Harford, Surrealism , H.P. Lovecraft and Dream Reality
Lautréamont
Even in his last essays André Breton continued to champion the writings of Lautréamont above the works of most of surrealism's contemporaries and influences. It is also in the works of Lautreamont that some blooming surrealist motifs become evident. (Balakian, pp. 51)
One of the key motifs which Lautreamont employs is zoomorphism. In Les Chants de Maldoror, the protagonist and other human characters are often seen metamorphosing into, or taking on the characteristics of animals in a literal or behavioral sense.
See also
