Ouvroir de zoonymie potentielle. Nommer les espèces animales imaginaires en littérature

Within the very rich literary tradition of imaginary bestiaries, this study focuses on contemporary forgeries of invented animal names. The working hypothesis is that textual production is based on a verbal matrix rather than a zoological imaginary. The paper shows how the morphological form of zoological taxonomies stimulates the creative imagination and leads, through imitation and pastiche, to the playful invention of imaginary species names worthy of patazoology. The species names thus created do indeed give rise to fictional creatures that become narrative and descriptive ferment within what are then philological fables. In the most recent creations, however, we can see that the theory of evolution inspires authors to create speculative zoology, inventing potential animals that could or might have existed in other possible worlds.