Through the representation of animals as selves, as individuals, as
theriomorphic pseudogoddess, as angels and as curious creatures, Montale casts a Posthuman sensitivity, which according to Pell, still needs to be explored further.
Unable to save her from her own hands ("unas"), Grimalte describes it as a
theriomorphic (beastlike) occurrence that neither he nor anyone else could have prevented:
They are
theriomorphic, anthropomorphic, theomorphic vessels, some with very explicit sexual forms, some depicting extremely violent scenes of killing (for instance, a man falling prey to a huge animal).
Still, the terministic screen of the theologist implies also a kind of continuity between man and God, a fact that cannot be attributed also to the relation between animals and God (except, maybe, if we move for instance into the religious universe of the Egyptians, in which animals represent iconic images for various
theriomorphic divinities).
I feel that his oeuvre taken altogether is a great achievement, and that it shows the development of a very unique technique and his virtuosity in handling his material: from the
theriomorphic and insect-like images of the '50s and '60s to the more figurative walking and sitting couples, and later the angular steel constructions.
Such
theriomorphic metaphors proliferated in the nineteenth century, with Lilith as a projection of men's psychic fears and sexual desires, seen in writers and artists like Dante Gabriel Rossetti and George MacDonald.
encompassing the categories of anthropomorphic and
theriomorphic figurines, models of wagons/chariots, daily objects and architecture, musical instruments like pipes, incense burners, utensils like baking plates, and, interestingly, several model livers that apparently report the results of actual hepatoscopies.
Bhattacharya's seminal article--a must-read for all students in the field--showing how the anthropomorphic attendant Nandin/Nandisvara and the unnamed
theriomorphic conveyance of Siva came to be confused in very late sources.
(20) In this regard, the figure of the serpent is the perfect avatar of
theriomorphic agency, recalling the function of the snake in ancient Gnostic texts as a female mediator of cosmic wisdom.
Theriomorphic and exaggerated human shapes function in the domain of symbol and magic.
Throughout the novel, Mirbeau's use of
theriomorphic imagery, his description of the peacocks, swans, dogs, and spiders that fill his characters' world, suggests his characters' sense of inferiority or their dreams of elevation, their retreat to a plane of animal servility or their wish to take wing and fly over the world.