Abstract

With a focus on their depiction of the use of nonhuman animal materials this article examines how Barnes and Loy's modernism specifically negotiates and disrupts the uncertain boundary between natural and cultural meanings in their engagements with fashion and the decorative. The article considers animal fashions and the limits of the human in Djuna Barnes's writing, from early pieces such as ‘Vaudeville’ (1915) and ‘Madame Collects Herself’ (1918) to her late poetry, and in her journalism for New York newspapers, Vanity Fair, Charm and elsewhere. It also explores Mina Loy's engagement with decoration and fashion through her poetry, in her essay on ‘Modern Poetry’ and in her work as a designer and inventor (including her design for a ‘Horse Ear Hat’). The article argues that, through motifs of animal decorations in women's fashion, Barnes and Loy imagine animal-human confluences that deconstruct those dualisms and hierarchies that sustain an exploitative anthropocentric economy and a patriarchal cultural elitism.

摘要

本文着重于他们对非人类动物材料使用的描绘，考察了巴恩斯和洛伊的现代主义如何在与时尚和装饰的交融中特别协商并打破自然和文化含义之间的不确定边界。本文从杜瓦·巴恩斯（Djuna Barnes）的著作中探讨了动物的流行形式和人类的局限性，从早期的作品（如《沃德维尔》（Vaudeville）（1915年）和《夫人收藏自己》（Madame Collects Herself）（1918年）到她后期的诗歌，以及她在纽约报纸上的新闻报道，名利场，魅力和其他地方。它还通过她的诗歌，关于“现代诗歌”的文章以及她作为设计师和发明家的工作（包括她的“马耳帽”设计）探讨了Mina Loy对装饰和时尚的参与。文章认为，通过以女性时尚的动物装饰图案，巴恩斯和洛伊可以想象动物与人的融合破坏了那些维持剥削的以人类为中心的经济和父权文化的精英主义的二元论和等级制度。