There are various basic orientations, persuasions, and biases underlying specific uses of metaphors of somatic eruption. An alternative reading of body fluids as metaphoric sites of festive critique in subversively humorous discourse and art differs from more prevalent psychoanalytic interpretations.
The most appropriate musical example in this context is Kodály’s 1926 Háry János, in particular the opening sneeze.
This according to “Explosions in visual art, literature, and music” by Suzanne De Villiers-Human, an essay included in Critical theories symposium (International review of the aesthetics and sociology of music XXXVI/1 [June 2005] pp. 179–197).
Below, the celebrated sneeze depiction, which introduces both the opera and the suite derived from it.
