Introduction

Abstract

This chapter introduces the volume by discussing how dangerous substances, for which poison can be considered as paradigmatic, can be characterized as precarious from many perspectives. This begins with unstable definitions of the substances and extends to a variety of possible, sometimes unpredictable, effects, to delusive contexts and protagonists of doubtful identities. Central for this discursive context are matter and processes. Both perspectives will be addressed by the contributors to this book. The aim is to explore the multifarious facets that the topics of poison and related substances open up in the history of science, in literature and film. Seen as “precarious substances,” they oscillate between materiality and the idea of evil. The key concepts which will be used in the contributions of this book are gender theories, Kristeva’s notion of the abject and critical history.