In de ban van het incestverbod : analyse van een historische omslag in de verbeelding van erotiek tussen broer en zuster

Abstract

Central in the representation of

eroticism between brother and sister, classical theme in litterature and

film, stands the incest prohibition as source of tension between

similarity and difference. Brother and sister share the same genes and because of this they belong together and go different paths. Until halfway through the twentieth century this theme possessed an absolute, because transcendental dimension. The incest prohibition was given from (a) god. However, in our secularized world this is no longer the case. Within this context this study explores the vision on similarity and difference, the two meaning-producing principles of our culture. More and more, formerly still irrefutable contradictions as ratio versus imagination, black versus white or man versus woman count as gradual differences. In de ban van het incestverbod shows this development on the basis of four paradigmatic texts – Debrot, Mijn zuster de negerin; Campert, Het satijnen hart; Van Woerden, Utramarijn – and Grimm, a film of Alex Van Warmerdam.