Natural Catastrophe in Buffon’s Histoire Naturelle
35
ment monstre” is too complex to allow itself to be comprehended in
all its disquieting entirety by a single gaze; a gaze that would itself
have to be at once that of the victim, the scientist and the spectator.
But perhaps it is not necessary to desire at all costs that a coherence be
found between these scientific, aesthetic and anthropological approaches. Imposing one on them would surely amount to a betrayal of
the complexity of Buffon’s thought. So perhaps we should content
ourselves with remarking that the author of the Histoire naturelle
quite simply accepts to pursue his research along divergent lines of
enquiry, at the risk of losing the coherence of his vision of the world.
Perhaps this is a trait of Buffon’s modernity, a modernity that we
share still.
Translated by David McCallam
35
ment monstre” is too complex to allow itself to be comprehended in
all its disquieting entirety by a single gaze; a gaze that would itself
have to be at once that of the victim, the scientist and the spectator.
But perhaps it is not necessary to desire at all costs that a coherence be
found between these scientific, aesthetic and anthropological approaches. Imposing one on them would surely amount to a betrayal of
the complexity of Buffon’s thought. So perhaps we should content
ourselves with remarking that the author of the Histoire naturelle
quite simply accepts to pursue his research along divergent lines of
enquiry, at the risk of losing the coherence of his vision of the world.
Perhaps this is a trait of Buffon’s modernity, a modernity that we
share still.
Translated by David McCallam