De l’orgue au septième ciel. Pour une spéléologie du souffle-désir

Abstract

This research offers an experimental excursion through the vibrant erotic tonalities of the subterranean landscape, those of the limestone cave in particular, using literary sources and the author’s own speleological adventures. The paper explores the diapason of a fecund and sexualised mineral kingdom by means of an ecosexual sensibility. Additionally, we aspire to perform a speleological investigation of reverberant subterranean caves and will, inter alia, study the Luray Caverns in Virginia, USA, in an effort to examine the Great Stalacpipe Organ – a titanic lithophone with stalactites as organ pipes – endeavouring to portray the acoustic intimacy and sensuality of the speleothems as naturally occurring lithophones (singing stones). The study also proposes to reveal an etymological pleasure in the word “organ”: organon in Ancient Greek and organum in Latin signify “instrument”; in English, however, the meaning of organ oscillates between “organ” the musical instrument, and the body part. Thus, our main objective is to transcribe the aesthetic – and fervently poetic – experience of a “speleologist”, devoted to the listening of an “instrumental prosthesis” installed under the ceilings of a resonant cave, in the midst of which the organ sounds merge with the air, the speleothems’ liquid pulsations and their breathing. Orchestrated by the imaginary, the research further aims to unearth the speleologist’s “secret joys” and to spotlight an exaltation of the cosmic breath, changing from a carnal experience towards one melodiously spiritual.

Keywords

• Ecosexuality
• Geological Imagination
• Mineralogical Imagination
• Speleological Imagination
• Soundscapes
• Organs