Revealing Intrusions/Intruding Revelations

Abstract

In The Intruder, Jean-Luc Nancy describes his experiences as an organ recipient as a “metaphysical adventure”. It was the faltering organ itself which created the awkward sense of emptiness in the intimacy of his body, the void or vacuole within his chest. The dysfunctional organ itself is described as the first intruder, the first uncanny object, while the foreign heart implanted into the body unleashes a whole series of subsequent intrusions. They quickly begin to multiply. A similar account was published by Francisco Varela, who underwent a liver transplant and whose memoirs (Intimate distances) thematise intrusion as a core experience. Increasingly, individuals will be faced with circulating body parts, passing from one body to the next, redesigning the landscape of corporeal boundaries.