Absorption and Theatricality in the Staging of Contempt: Flaubert, Baudelaire, Huysmans

Authors

  • Julien Zanetta Ca’ Foscari University, Venice, Italy

Abstract

Drawing on two categories suggested by art historian Michael Fried – absorption and theatricality –, this article suggest a specification relative to how we feel and express a particular emotion: contempt. To better understand the distinction between absorbed and distanced contempt, and all the emotional consequences that ensue, three specific and contrasting examples taken from Flaubert, Baudelaire and Huysmans are analysed here.

Author Biography

Julien Zanetta, Ca’ Foscari University, Venice, Italy

Julien Zanetta holds a PhD in Literature from the University of Geneva (2014), with a doctoral dissertation written under the supervision of Patrizia Lombardo. His work focuses mainly on Charles Baudelaire – to whom he dedicated his doctorate –, art criticism and aesthetics in the 19th century, the relationship between literature and painting, and the work of Jean Starobinski. He teaches history of French literature at Ca’ Foscari University in Venice. He is the author of five monographs – Baudelaire, la  mémoire et les arts (Classiques Garnier, 2019), D’après nature. Biographies d’artistes au XIXe siècle  (Hermann, 2019), Niveurmôrre. Versions françaises du corbeau au XIXe siècle (Droz, 2020), L’Hôpital de la peinture (Rue d’Ulm, 2022), À proportion. Eugène Delacroix et la mesure de l’homme (Bord de l’Eau, 2023) –, and a translation of essays on aesthetics and literature by William Hazlitt (Sentiment et raison, Sorbonne Université Presses, 2019).

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Published

2025-01-19

How to Cite

Zanetta, J. (2025). Absorption and Theatricality in the Staging of Contempt: Flaubert, Baudelaire, Huysmans. Studia Universitatis Babeș-Bolyai - Dramatica, 69(2), 61–74. Retrieved from https://dramatica.ro/index.php/j/article/view/322