The Ambiguity of the Sacred: Revisiting Roger Caillois’s L’Homme et le sacré
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/jasr.32096Keywords:
Caillois, Sacred, Profane, Pure, ImpureAbstract
This article focuses on the ambiguity of the sacred and looks at Roger Caillois’s L’Homme et le sacré as a fundamental text for understanding the role of ambivalence in the dynamic relationship involving the duo sacred and profane. Due to the paucity of critical commentary in English on Caillois, the article first seeks to restore Callois’s insights to our critical vocabulary. It then evaluates his work’s analytical potential both substantively and historically, also in connection with the resurgence of Durkheimian studies. Finally, it argues that Caillois’s emphasis on the relationship between pure and impure is fundamental for rethinking the dualism of sacred and profane, more specifically the oppositional logic by which the profane excludes the sacred.References
Caillois, Roger 1938. Le Mythe et l’homme. Gallimard, Paris.
Caillois, Roger 1950. [1939] L’Homme et le sacré. Gallimard, Paris.
Caillois, Roger 1958. Les jeux et les hommes. Gallimard, Paris.
Caillois, Roger 1959. Man and the Sacred, translated by Meyer Barash. The Free Press, Glencoe, IL.
Caillois, Roger 1961. Man, Play, and Games, translated by Meyer Barash. The Free Press, Glencoe, IL.
Caillois, Roger 1970. Le Grand-Pontonnier. In Cases d’un échiquier, 17-27. Gallimard, Paris.
Caillois, Roger 1974a. Spéci?cation de la poésie. In Approches de l’imaginaire, 15-18. Gallimard, Paris.
Caillois, Roger 1974b. ‘Procès intellectuel de l’art’. In Approches de l’imaginaire, 35-54. Paris: Gallimard.
Caillois, Roger 2003a. The Praying Mantis: From Biology to Psychoanalysis. In The Edge of Surrealism: A Roger Caillois Reader, edited by Claudine Frank, 69-81. Duke University Press, Durham, NC.
Caillois, Roger 2003b. Mimicry and Legendary Psychastenia. In The Edge of Surrealism: A Roger Caillois Reader, edited by Claudine Frank, 89-103. Duke University Press, Durham, NC.
Caillois, Roger 2003c. Paris, a Modern Myth. In The Edge of Surrealism: A Roger Caillois Reader, edited by Claudine Frank, 173-89. Duke University Press, Durham, NC.
Caillois, Roger 2003d. For a Militant Orthodoxy: The Immediate Tasks of Modern Thought. In The Edge of Surrealism: A Roger Caillois Reader, edited by Claudine Frank, 130-38. Duke University Press, Durham, NC.
Caillois, Roger 2003e. Dionysian Virtues. In The Edge of Surrealism: A Roger Caillois Reader, edited by Claudine Frank, 155-59. Duke University Press, Durham, NC.
Caillois, Roger 2003f. The Great Bridgemaker. In The Edge of Surrealism: A Roger Caillois Reader, edited by Claudine Frank, 337-42. Duke University Press, Durham, NC.
Eliade, Mircea 1949. Traité d’historire des religions. Morphologie du sacré, Preface by Georges Dumézil. Payot Paris.
Falasca-Zamponi, Simonetta 2011. Rethinking the Political: The Sacred, Aesthetic Politics, and the Collège de Sociologie. McGill-Queen’s University Press, Montreal.
Felgine, Odile 1994. Roger Caillois, biographie. Stock, Paris.
Frank, Claudine 2003. Introduction. In The Edge of Surrealism: A Roger Caillois Reader, by Roger Caillois. Duke University Press, Durham, NC. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-55723-1_1.
Girard, Rene 1979. Violence and the Sacred. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.
Henricks, Thomas 2011. Caillois’s Man, Play, and Games: An Appreciation and Evaluation. American Journal of Play 3: 157-85.
Hertz, Robert 1960. The Collective Representation of Death. In Death and the Right Hand, Introduction by E.E. Evans-Pritchard, translated by Rodney and Claudia Needham. The Free Press, Glencoe, IL.
Hollier, Denis (ed.) 1988. The College of Sociology 1937–39, translated by Betsy Wing. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis.
Huizinga, Johan 1950. Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play Element in Culture. Routledge, London.
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Otto, Rudolf 1958. [1917] The Idea of the Holy: An Inquiry into the Non-Rational Factor in the Idea of the Divine and Its Relation to the Rational. Oxford University Press, London.
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Caillois, Roger 1950. [1939] L’Homme et le sacré. Gallimard, Paris.
Caillois, Roger 1958. Les jeux et les hommes. Gallimard, Paris.
Caillois, Roger 1959. Man and the Sacred, translated by Meyer Barash. The Free Press, Glencoe, IL.
Caillois, Roger 1961. Man, Play, and Games, translated by Meyer Barash. The Free Press, Glencoe, IL.
Caillois, Roger 1970. Le Grand-Pontonnier. In Cases d’un échiquier, 17-27. Gallimard, Paris.
Caillois, Roger 1974a. Spéci?cation de la poésie. In Approches de l’imaginaire, 15-18. Gallimard, Paris.
Caillois, Roger 1974b. ‘Procès intellectuel de l’art’. In Approches de l’imaginaire, 35-54. Paris: Gallimard.
Caillois, Roger 2003a. The Praying Mantis: From Biology to Psychoanalysis. In The Edge of Surrealism: A Roger Caillois Reader, edited by Claudine Frank, 69-81. Duke University Press, Durham, NC.
Caillois, Roger 2003b. Mimicry and Legendary Psychastenia. In The Edge of Surrealism: A Roger Caillois Reader, edited by Claudine Frank, 89-103. Duke University Press, Durham, NC.
Caillois, Roger 2003c. Paris, a Modern Myth. In The Edge of Surrealism: A Roger Caillois Reader, edited by Claudine Frank, 173-89. Duke University Press, Durham, NC.
Caillois, Roger 2003d. For a Militant Orthodoxy: The Immediate Tasks of Modern Thought. In The Edge of Surrealism: A Roger Caillois Reader, edited by Claudine Frank, 130-38. Duke University Press, Durham, NC.
Caillois, Roger 2003e. Dionysian Virtues. In The Edge of Surrealism: A Roger Caillois Reader, edited by Claudine Frank, 155-59. Duke University Press, Durham, NC.
Caillois, Roger 2003f. The Great Bridgemaker. In The Edge of Surrealism: A Roger Caillois Reader, edited by Claudine Frank, 337-42. Duke University Press, Durham, NC.
Eliade, Mircea 1949. Traité d’historire des religions. Morphologie du sacré, Preface by Georges Dumézil. Payot Paris.
Falasca-Zamponi, Simonetta 2011. Rethinking the Political: The Sacred, Aesthetic Politics, and the Collège de Sociologie. McGill-Queen’s University Press, Montreal.
Felgine, Odile 1994. Roger Caillois, biographie. Stock, Paris.
Frank, Claudine 2003. Introduction. In The Edge of Surrealism: A Roger Caillois Reader, by Roger Caillois. Duke University Press, Durham, NC. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-55723-1_1.
Girard, Rene 1979. Violence and the Sacred. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.
Henricks, Thomas 2011. Caillois’s Man, Play, and Games: An Appreciation and Evaluation. American Journal of Play 3: 157-85.
Hertz, Robert 1960. The Collective Representation of Death. In Death and the Right Hand, Introduction by E.E. Evans-Pritchard, translated by Rodney and Claudia Needham. The Free Press, Glencoe, IL.
Hollier, Denis (ed.) 1988. The College of Sociology 1937–39, translated by Betsy Wing. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis.
Huizinga, Johan 1950. Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play Element in Culture. Routledge, London.
Mauss, Marcel 1979. Seasonal Variations of the Eskimos: A Study in Social Morphology, written in collaboration with Henri Beuchat. Routledge, London.
Mauss, Marcel 1990. The Gift: The Form and Reason for Exchange in Archaic Societies, Foreword by Mary Douglas, translated by W.D. Halls. W.W. Norton, New York.
Mukherjee, Romi S. 2010. Festival, Vacation, War: Roger Caillois and the Politics of Paroxysm. International Social Science Journal 185: 119-38.
Otto, Rudolf 1958. [1917] The Idea of the Holy: An Inquiry into the Non-Rational Factor in the Idea of the Divine and Its Relation to the Rational. Oxford University Press, London.
Smith, J.Z. 2004. Relating Religion: Essays in the Study of Religion. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Vizedom, Monika 1960. Book Review. American Anthropologist 62: 698-99.
Voget, Fred 1961. Book Review. The Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science / Revue canadienne d’Economique et de Science politique 27(3): 405-407. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/aa.1960.62.4.02a00230.
Published
2017-07-19
Issue
Section
Articles
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Equinox Publishing Ltd.
How to Cite
Falasca-Zamponi, S. (2017). The Ambiguity of the Sacred: Revisiting Roger Caillois’s L’Homme et le sacré. Journal for the Academic Study of Religion, 30(1), 3-21. https://doi.org/10.1558/jasr.32096
