Cartographie écopoétique des visages du Cantique des cantiques comme agencements plus qu’humains

Abstract

Contrary to anthropocentric interpretations of the Song of Songs that read its non-human references as descriptive metaphors of a human couple, this article proposes to read this poetic arrangement from the “rhizome” and faciality concepts theorized by philosophers Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari. This reading paradigm enables us to better appreciate the interspecies hybridity of the lovers' faces. This rhizomic reading of Ct allows us to decompartmentalize the boundaries between human, animal, plant, mineral and architectural identities. The fruitfulness of this hermeneutical approach is illustrated by the particular motif of the “apple tree” (Ct 2:3-6; 7:7-9; 8:5). Ultimately, this reading experience shows the limits of the anthropocentric compartmentalization of “nature” and argues for a better consideration of the multiplicity and interconnectedness of life in biblical poetry.