- Jean-Pierre Richard, critique et écrivain. Suivi d’un texte inédit de Jean-Pierre Richard: ‘Les Sols du sens’ ed. by Dominique Combe, Christian Doumet
This volume is a homage to the celebrated critic of its title, now ninety-three years of age. It consists of fourteen essays by eminent French academics as well as one by Jean-Pierre Richard himself. Unlike many collections published ‘in honour of’ a critic, the essays deal with Richard’s own writings, rather than with the literature he has written about during the course of a career spanning seven decades. This is possible not only because he has been a prolific critic — twenty-one titles are mentioned here — but because his writing, according to his admirers, is worthy of analysis in its own right: hence the double epithet, ‘critique et écrivain’. Indeed, the essay by Anne Herschberg Pierrot examines Richard’s uniquely personal style, or, as Barthes described it, ‘cette critique que l’on pourrait appeler tactile, [qui] implique la chaleur d’une adhésion et d’une affection’ (quoted on p. 50). The ‘tactile’ quality and warmth characterizing Richard’s criticism is evoked in a number of the essays: his view of ‘l’écriture comme toucher’ (Jean-Claude Mathieu, p. 20), of the importance of taste and ‘l’objet alimentaire’ (Jacques Dupont, p. 118), and the way in which his critical writing attaches itself, seemingly organically, to ‘la dynamique de l’œuvre choisie’ (Christian Doumet, p. 9) in a movement analogous to that — or those — of seduction (Mireille Sacotte). Antonio Rodriguez describes Richard’s criticism as ‘la critique empathique’ (p. 152), but specifies that the object of this empathy is not the author, nor a character in the work, but ‘l’œuvre-vie’ (p. 155). Richard’s empathy with the living text has always manifested itself through the method of close reading; this has not, however, precluded an interest in psychoanalytical criticism, or even psycho-geographical criticism (Michel Collot), and has given rise to his intriguing analyses of major French writers. One area that never attracted Richard was that of la théorie, as Dominique Combe explains, although Richard and Barthes had a longstanding and mutually admiring friendship, described here in detail by Claude Coste. Richard has always had more in common with critics of a philological bent, such as Leo Spitzer or Erich Auerbach, at least in his ‘confiance dans les vertus du détail’ (Christophe Pradeau, p. 75). Marc Porée applies a similarly detailed method of analysis to Richard’s own work, focusing on the adverb in his writings. Michel Pierssens gives an account of Richard’s major works through the dual lens of ‘savoirs et sensation’ (p. 105), whilst Bertrand Marchal concentrates on his study of Mallarmé. The volume closes with Dominique Viart on Richard’s particularly fruitful relationship with contemporary literature, and on the way Richard sought, in his own words, to ‘se situer dans la logique d’une œuvre en devenir’ (p. 187). An essay by Richard himself is the proof of this: a short but fascinating study of Les Pays by Marie-Hélène Lafon demonstrates all the characteristics studied in the preceding pages. This final essay is a perfect example of Richard’s lively and humane style of reading, which, in this particular instance, makes visible Lafon’s writing strategies in a way that truly justifies the work of the critic — both as critic and as writer.
