Through the Skin We Will Make Metaphysics Enter the Spirits
Spirituality and Glossolalia in Antonin Artaud
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35699/2317-2096.2026.63581Keywords:
Antonin Artaud, glossolalia, cruelty, spirituality, body without organsAbstract
This article examines the relationship between glossolalia, spirituality, and cruelty in the work of Antonin Artaud, treating these elements as central operators of a radical critique of representational language and Western logocentrism. Drawing on Georges Bataille, Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, and Gilles Deleuze, glossolalia is analyzed not as a pathological deviation or an experimental aesthetic device, but as a spiritual practice that entails the dissolution of discursive intelligibility and of the linguistic organism itself. The analysis moves through theoretical texts, letters, and Artaud’s late works, with particular attention to Journey to the Land of the Tarahumaras, the Rodez writings, and the radio work To Have Done with the Judgment of God. It argues that glossolalia functions as a necessary violence against meaning, instituting a limit-experience in which body and spirit merge, making possible an immanent, corporeal, and non-transcendent conception of spirituality.
Downloads
References
ARTAUD, Antonin. Escritos. Seleção, tradução e notas de Cláudio Willer. São Paulo: L&PM, 1986.
ARTAUD, Antonin. O teatro e seu duplo. Tradução de Teixeira Coelho. São Paulo: Martins Fontes, 1999.
ARTAUD, Antonin. Œuvres complètes. Tome 9. Nouvelle édition revue et augmentée. Paris: Gallimard, 1979.
BATAILLE, Georges. A experiência interior. Tradução de José Thomaz Brum. São Paulo: Ática, 1992.
BÍBLIA. Bíblia Sagrada: Almeida Corrigida Fiel – Leitura Perfeita. São Paulo: Thomas Nelson Brasil, 2023.
BRANDÃO, Luciana. Assassinar o pai para assinar o nome próprio: Antonin Artaud e a escrita no tempo de Rodez. Lacuna: uma revista de psicanálise, São Paulo, n. 6, p. 8, 2018. Disponível em: <https://revistalacuna.com/2018/12/02/n06-08/>. Acesso: 24 jul. 2026.
DELEUZE, Gilles; GUATTARI, Félix. Mil platôs: capitalismo e esquizofrenia. v. 3. Tradução de Aurélio Guerra Neto et al. Rio de Janeiro: Editora 34, 1996.
DERRIDA, Jacques. A escritura e a diferença. Tradução de Maria Beatriz Marques Nizza da Silva. 5. ed. São Paulo: Perspectiva, 2014.
DERRIDA, Jacques. Gramatologia. São Paulo: Perspectiva, 2014.
FOUCAULT, Michel. Fonds Foucault. Boîte 50, dossier 12-13. Paris: Bibliothèque Nationale de France, [19--].
GALANTIN, Daniel Verginelli. A presença de Georges Bataille no pensamento de Michel Foucault: entre o ser da linguagem, insurreição e atitude crítica. DoisPontos, Curitiba; São Carlos, v. 14, n. 1, p. 213-228, abr. 2017. Disponível em: https://doi.org/10.5380/dp.v14i1.49427. Acesso em: 24 jul. 2026.
GOODMAN, Felicitas D. Speaking in Tongues: a Cross-Cultural Study of Glossolalia. 1. ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1972.
LANE, David Christopher. Speaking in Tongues: Toward a Critical Theory of Glossolalia. MSAC Philosophy Group, 2011.
SONTAG, Susan. Sob o signo de Saturno. Tradução de Ana Maria Capovilla e Albino Poli Jr. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 1986.
SHILINA, Sasha. Glossolalia Against the Model: Artaud, AI, and the Limits of Language. Preprint, Lomonosov Moscow State University, 2025.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Bárbara de Barros , Antonio Candido Silva da Mata (Autor)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
How to Cite
