Vagina loquens

Last updated

The vagina loquens, Latin for "talking vagina", is a significant tradition in literature and art, dating back to the ancient folklore motif of the "talking cunt". [1] [2] These tales usually involve vaginas talking due to the effect of magic or charms, and often admitting to their unchastity. [1] Another tradition is a vagina that acquires the power of speech to play the role of informant and reveal a history of previous lovers. [3]

Contents

History

Talking vaginas are an early theme in French literature, most notably in the 13th-century fabliau Le Chevalier qui faisoit parler les cons et les culs, [1] [4] and in Les bijoux indiscrets , the first novel by Denis Diderot. Published anonymously in 1748, Les bijoux indiscrets (The Indiscreet Jewels) is an allegory that portrays Louis XV as the sultan Mangogul of the Congo who owns a magic ring that makes women's genitals ("jewels") talk. A comparable trope that Diderot must have known is found in the ribald fabliau. [1]

In American literature, a talking vagina is featured in the Ozark folktale The Magic Walking Stick, [1] in which vaginas are made to act as informants.

Contemporary usage

In modern art, the talking vagina theme is featured prominently in the works of Stephanie Sarley in a subset of her "Crotch Monster" series. The talking vagina characters are depicted as anthropomorphized vulvae reacting emotionally and engaging in various activities. [5]

The talking vagina theme is the central trope of the 1996 play The Vagina Monologues . [2]

The pornographic film Le Sexe qui parle (1975), its sequel (1978), and its non-pornographic remake, Chatterbox , [6] feature talking vaginas.

On television, Debi Mae West (in parody of Joan Rivers) portrayed Princess Clara's talking vagina, Vajoana, on Drawn Together .

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Denis Diderot</span> French Enlightenment philosopher, writer and encyclopædist (1713–1784)

Denis Diderot was a French philosopher, art critic, and writer, best known for serving as co-founder, chief editor, and contributor to the Encyclopédie along with Jean le Rond d'Alembert. He was a prominent figure during the Age of Enlightenment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fairy tale</span> Fictional story typically featuring folkloric fantasy characters and magic

A fairy tale is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic, enchantments, and mythical or fanciful beings. In most cultures, there is no clear line separating myth from folk or fairy tale; all these together form the literature of preliterate societies. Fairy tales may be distinguished from other folk narratives such as legends and explicit moral tales, including beast fables. Prevalent elements include dragons, dwarfs, elves, fairies, giants, gnomes, goblins, griffins, merfolk, monsters, talking animals, trolls, unicorns, witches, wizards, magic, and enchantments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fairy</span> Mythical being or legendary creature in European folklore

A fairy is a type of mythical being or legendary creature, generally described as anthropomorphic, found in the folklore of multiple European cultures, a form of spirit, often with metaphysical, supernatural, or preternatural qualities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Erotic literature</span> Literary genre

Erotic literature comprises fictional and factual stories and accounts of eros intended to arouse similar feelings in readers. This contrasts erotica, which focuses more specifically on sexual feelings. Other common elements are satire and social criticism. Much erotic literature features erotic art, illustrating the text.

A fabliau is a comic, often anonymous tale written by jongleurs in northeast France between c. 1150 and 1400. They are generally characterized by sexual and scatological obscenity, and by a set of contrary attitudes—contrary to the church and to the nobility. Several of them were reworked by Giovanni Boccaccio for the Decameron and by Geoffrey Chaucer for his Canterbury Tales. Some 150 French fabliaux are extant, the number depending on how narrowly fabliau is defined. According to R. Howard Bloch, fabliaux are the first expression of literary realism in Europe.

Cricket is an illustrated literary magazine for children published in the United States, founded in September 1973 by Marianne Carus whose intent was to create "The New Yorker for children."

Jean Seznec was a historian and mythographer whose most influential book, for English-speaking readers, is La Survivance des dieux antiques (1940), translated as The Survival of the Pagan Gods: Mythological Tradition in Renaissance Humanism and Art (1953). Expanding the scope of work by Warburg Institute scholars Fritz Saxl and Erwin Panofsky, Seznec presented a broad view of the transmission of classical representation in Western art.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fantasy trope</span> Type of literary tropes that occur in fantasy fiction

A fantasy trope is a specific type of literary trope that occurs in fantasy fiction. Worldbuilding, plot, and characterization have many common conventions, many of them having ultimately originated in myth and folklore. J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium for example, was inspired from a variety of different sources including Germanic, Finnish, Greek, Celtic and Slavic myths. Literary fantasy works operate using these tropes, while others use them in a revisionist manner, making the tropes over for various reasons such as for comic effect, and to create something fresh.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">18th-century French literature</span> Literature-related events in France during the 18th century

18th-century French literature is French literature written between 1715, the year of the death of King Louis XIV of France, and 1798, the year of the coup d'État of Bonaparte which brought the Consulate to power, concluded the French Revolution, and began the modern era of French history. This century of enormous economic, social, intellectual and political transformation produced two important literary and philosophical movements: during what became known as the Age of Enlightenment, the Philosophes questioned all existing institutions, including the church and state, and applied rationalism and scientific analysis to society; and a very different movement, which emerged in reaction to the first movement; the beginnings of Romanticism, which exalted the role of emotion in art and life.

<i>The Indiscreet Jewels</i> 1748 novel by Denis Diderot

The Indiscreet Jewels is the first novel by Denis Diderot, published anonymously in 1748. It is an allegory that portrays Louis XV of France as Mangogul, Sultan of Congo, who owns a magic ring that makes women's vaginas ("jewels") talk. The character of Mirzoza represents Louis XV's mistress Madame de Pompadour. Diderot portrayed Pompadour in a flattering light in The Indiscreet Jewels, most likely to ensure her support for his Encyclopedie.

The libertine novel was an 18th-century literary genre of which the roots lay in the European but mainly French libertine tradition. The genre effectively ended with the French Revolution. Themes of libertine novels were anti-clericalism, anti-establishment and eroticism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Erotic horror</span> Erotic subgenre, horror subgenre

Erotic horror, alternately called horror erotica or dark erotica, is a term applied to works of fiction in which sensual or sexual imagery are blended with horrific overtones or story elements for the sake of sexual titillation. Horror fiction of this type is most common in literature and film. Erotic horror films are a cornerstone of Spanish and French horror.

<i>Le Sexe qui parle</i> 1975 French film

Le Sexe qui parle is a 1975 French adult film by Claude Mulot. It was the first exclusive hardcore feature film produced and released in France to meet international success, and has been called a cult film. In 1977, Mulot directed the sequel Le Sexe qui parle II, which starts with the "infection" passed by Eric to a prostitute.

Caribbean folklore includes a mix of traditions, tales, and beliefs of the Caribbean region. Caribbean folklore was shaped by a history filled with violence, colonialism, slavery, and multicultural influences. Specifically, influences from African, Creole, Asian, Indigenous American, European, and Indian cultures converged in the Caribbean to create a blend of lore unique to the region. Caribbean folklore has a variety of different characters that portray different traits. Folklore has evolved by blending folk speech, Creole dialogue, and various other elements that create the literary form of folklore, which portrays the "spirit" and "soul" of the Caribbean. Many themes are covered in Caribbean folklore, including colonial legacies, diversity in cultures, and the search for identity. Writers such as Nalo Hopkinson use these folklore elements in their writings by weaving myths and traditions into their modern-day storytelling.

Robert Mazlo is a French art jeweller and goldsmith of Lebanese origin who has been the head of the Paris-based Mazlo jewellery house since the late 1970s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tú Duyên</span> Vietnamese painter (1915–2012)

Nguyễn Văn Duyến, art name Tú Duyên was a Vietnamese painter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bijou (jewellery)</span> Intricate jewellery piece

A bijou from the French bijou is an intricate jewellery piece incorporated into clothing, or worn by itself on the body.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vagina and vulva in art</span> Visual art representing female genitalia

The vagina and vulva have been depicted from prehistory onwards. Visual art forms representing the female genitals encompass two-dimensional and three-dimensional. As long ago as 35,000 years ago, people sculpted Venus figurines that exaggerated the abdomen, hips, breasts, thighs, or vulva.

Der Rosendorn is a thirteenth-century German poem. It tells of a virgin who is separated from her vagina, and her dialogue with it forms the structure of the piece. They argue about what it is that men want in a woman: the woman claims that men want for herself and her beauty, whereas the cunt dismisses this, claiming that she is all men really want. The two go different directions to discover the truth; neither is successful, and both are treated badly by the men they meet. To conclude the story, the maid is physically reunited with her cunt with the assistance of a passing young man.

"The knight who could make cunts speak" is a French fabliau. Seven versions of it remain, including one in MS Harley 2253.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Vance Randolph, Gershon Legman (1992). Unprintable Ozark Folksongs and Folklore: Blow the candle out. University of Arkansas Press. pp. 819–820. ISBN   1557282374.
  2. 1 2 Slavoj Zizek (2004). Organs without bodies: Deleuze and consequences. Routledge. p. 173. ISBN   0415969212.
  3. "vagina loquens". Definition Of. Retrieved 30 March 2012.
  4. Susanna Greer Fein (2015). "Art. 87, Le chevaler qui fist les cons parler". In The Complete Harley 2253 Manuscript. Vol. 3. Kalamazoo, MI: Medieval Institute Publications, n.p.
  5. Priscilla Frank (16 March 2016). "You Can Start A Small Revolution Just By Drawing A Vagina". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 2016-03-16.
  6. Shumate, Nathan. "Chatterbox (1977)". Cold Fusion Reviews. Retrieved 30 March 2012.