Thomas Owen, le fantastique et le corps de la femme
Thomas Owen, the Fantastic and the Body of the Woman

Summary/Abstract: Undisputed master of the fantastic Belgian literature of the 20thcentury, Thomas Owen is fascinated by the women and their bodies. Present in many of his tales, these bodies take different appearances, from the greatest beauty to morbid horror. Owen is an inheritor of a tradition dating back to the 19th century, which he approaches in apersonal manner, both classical and modern, conforming to some of its codes while distorting others, in line with his own originality and fantasy. Like in the works of authors and painters such as Von Stuck from the late 19th century, where the figures of Eve, Salomé or Lilith were constantly present, Owen also leans on the myth of the mortiferous woman. Moreover, he takes up some medieval figures, like Melusine, who allow him to have different takes on the ambiguity surrounding this fairy. However, while most of the Owenian women are dangerous, as required by the aesthetic of the genre, some of them are treated with compassion, as victims of the society and of men. The aim of his paper is to study the different processes used by Owen to render the woman’s body.

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