The exquisite corpse: disarticulations of the artificial female

Abstract

This dissertation examines artificial women in literature, art, and cinema from the myth of Pygmalion to the present, as well as the dialogue between such fictional beings and their real-life counterparts, from historical automata to the current development of life-sized silicone lovedolls and gendered robots. Whether real or imaginary, the artificial female tends to get theorized in relation to the Pygmalionesque desire for either perfection or perfect versimilitude