The Community of Those Who Do Not Exist: Communication among Monsters in the Films and Novels of Jean Rollin

The films of Jean Rollin (1938–2010) are little known today, and his novels are all but completely ignored. With an erudite, aggressively scandalous style, both mediums present monstrosity as an ethical praxis, one deeply concerned with communication and community. This article explores these themes in Rollin's oeuvre, both cinematic and literary, by investigating the structure of Rollinien monstrosity as a brand of eroticism that engages the work of Georges Bataille. Rollin knew Bataille personally, read him deeply, and refers to him throughout his books and films. The communicative and communal practices of Rollin's monsters offer an application and a critique of Bataillian eroticism, with the aim of inculcating a taste for tumultuous and even violent moral revolt.