‘BORN TO INCARNATE MY WOUND’: (Dis)abilities and Haptics in a Modern World (1880-1950)

The Frenchman Joe Bousquet was wounded in battle in 1918. He considered this event, which left him paraplegic, as the moment of his ‘second birth’. It was the beginning of his career as an avant-garde writer and critical observer of modern life. Bousquet’s case will serve to introduce the central claim of my research project: sensory disabilities often entail a creative reorganization of the senses, opening up unexpected aesthetic and ethical horizons. In addition to this central claim, I will discuss the selection of suitable case studies and the particular focus on haptics in the period 1880-1950.