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Jacques Réda: à pied d’œuvre par Marie Joqueviel-Bourjea

2017; American Association of Teachers of French; Volume: 90; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/tfr.2017.0342

2329-7131

Aaron Prevots,

Historical and Literary Analyses

Reviews 259 et le temps”(22) and Le Clézio’s approach to language and community based on time spent with Amerindians, while Gorée’s focus on spatial elements, movement, and displacement shows how these bind the real and imaginary to the author’s desire to travel (translated into his desire to write), his “désir d’Ailleurs” (37). Lanni similarly treats the myth/dream/reality trichotomy of Mexico, questioning the sources of this dream, the implications of multiple histories, the quest for origins, and a pre-history Mexico via the utopia of Ourania. Thibault tackles the interculturality of the Mexican dream, reinforcing the multifaceted attributes of otherness,“la nécessité de définir une nouvelle manière de vivre ensemble à l’heure de la mondialisation et des migrations massives à travers la planète”(56). Thibault cites theorists, historians, and sociologists, Todorov and Gruzinski notably, and the comparative/contrastive nature of his essay provides a multidimensional analysis of Le Clézio’s anticolonial polemic. RousselGillet , Mimoso-Ruiz, and Jauer use the fictional tale Diego et Frida to interweave artistic and lyrical themes of revolutionary Mexico that help the author give voice to the exiled and oppressed. These scholars show how Mexico incarnates a space of homeostasis for Le Clézio and offer his readers a rediscovery of ancient civilizations with insightful perspectives of otherness. Elon University (NC) Sarah Glasco Joqueviel-Bourjea, Marie. Jacques Réda: à pied d’œuvre. Paris: Champion, 2015. ISBN 978-2-7453-2784-0. Pp. 464. 80 a. This follow-up to La dépossession heureuse (2005) combines an updated overview of Réda with numerous readings of his poetry and prose. Organized into three parts, “Métamorphoses,”“Correspondances,”and“Topoïétiques,”it generously samples works while examining form, tone, intertexts, and stylistic shifts and constants since the late 1960s. Proceeding in the first person, with strong awareness of the source material and its contexts, the author fuses, updates, and extends her previously published articles, highlighting in particular how Réda involves the reader in a singularly imaginative process of poetic becoming. Her encyclopedic knowledge of Réda’s oeuvre embraces its full arc. Thematic points of entry include ties to art, music, and the city, as well as modes of perceiving the self and the real. Detailed explorations and complementary footnotes appear in good measure throughout. However, the penchant for parenthetical remarks and lengthy citations can be distracting. Other caveats are the modest attention Réda receives in certain comparative sections and the back cover’s misleading promotional summary, which implies that rhythm and dance will be consistent focal points. That said, many analyses cover important ground, and the study as a whole brings together a welcome breadth of perspectives, not least when it situates Réda among his peers. It furthers Réda scholarship when it foregrounds as specificities intertextuality and connections to fellow writers, whether by mentioning authors in passing or by considering in some depth commonalities with, for instance, Deguy, Roubaud, Esteban, Verlaine, Perros, Claudel, Valéry, Petrarch, Cingria, and Bataille. Other noteworthy commentaries are those on irony (41–64), interart discourse (283–314),“[u]n lyrisme mat”(419–36), and a poetic-epiphanic“démesure de l’instant” (129) in recent prose. For example, Rédean subjectivity is presented as enjoyably ambiguous, ambivalent, impersonal, self-critical. This stance extends to representation itself, as when Réda, somewhat like Nicolas de Staël, uses walls to evoke paradoxical pairings such as fullness and emptiness, closure and openings, solidity and “la fuite”(295),urban space and its“‘réversibilité’”(297).The book’s final section revives debate on “la question du lyrisme” (421), emphasizing how texts’“dé-subjectivation” (423), created especially via experimentation with orality, line types, and prose-related forms, sets in motion compelling poetic song. If treating relationships between an array of texts and viewpoints takes precedence over explicating any single work, the reader nevertheless appreciates the inventivity, erudition, and dedication to his craft that inform Réda’s “poétique de l’expérience sensible” (383), as much in his poetry as in his novels, essays, and multifaceted theories of swing. In sum, this meticulously researched compendium addresses the innovations...