THE PERFORMANCE OF A GROTESQUE BODY: E.T.A. HOFFMANN’S “LITTLE ZACHES CALLED CINNABAR” FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF DISABILITY STUDIES

Abstract

The article offers an interpretation of disability as based on “Little Zaches Called Cinnabar” (“Der kleine Zaches genannt Zinnober”, 1819) by the renowned German Romantic writer E.T.A. Hoffmann (1776–1822). It is stated that the depiction of the main character Zaches as an “ugly beast”, a “little monster”, and a hunchback is positioned between fantasy and a natural phenomenon which offers a vast space for interpretation. In view of the current stage in the development of disability studies, Hoffmann’s short story becomes an object for active revisiting, focusing on Zaches’s deformed body as a sign of ambiguity. Thus, the study aims to highlight the contemporary original interpretation of the classic text of the 19th century German literature. One of the core principles of disability studies is the literary representation of disability with metaphoric and symbolic purposes, the problematization of suffering caused by the state of the body, and the identification of the impaired body with one that may threaten social balance with its attributes. From this standpoint, we see that a deformed body prevails in Hoffmann’s story. It is depicted as a grotesque image, while under the influence of magic, it appears as something that it is not, which serves as a characteristic of society. The paper argues that speaking about identity via references to body characteristics is problematic. The main character in “Little Zaches” is used as an example upon which the transition between folklore and science emerges along with the establishment of the discourse of medical humanities. The analysis exemplifies how a conflict materializes between the rational and romantic positions. The romantic approach imagines, creates and fictionalizes the things that are seen, which results in the perception of a non-conventional body in its connection to folklore, while its demonization and denaturalization are perceived as absolutely appropriate. The naturalistic approach of Enlightenment was, on the contrary, trying to become free of such views of the body, even though deformities and ugliness continue to play an important role in this discourse.