Chantiers du poème: prémisses et pratiques de la création poétique moderne et contemporaine ed. by Hugues Azérad, et al. (review)

This substantial volume is the output of a dynamic team whose members, through conferences (including the 2010 London–Cambridge conference that is at the origin of this project) and publications, are doing much to revitalize modern and contemporary poetry studies in French. Here, the four editors have created a lively collection of essays on post-1945 poetry, with an emphasis on contemporary work. Their incisive introductory essay promises both an empathic response and a critical accompaniment to multiform poetic creativity. Poetry is envisioned as a set of labile practices and performances, and the concept of chantier is intentional and significant throughout. While there is a desire to track key directions (for example, ‘poéthique’ and ‘anti-poétique’), diachronic values are de-emphasized. Instead, the multiplicity of poetic voices, their relations, and their dissonances are embraced, and the exploratory relations between poetry and other media (digital, sound, film, photography, video) provide an important focus. Four axes of discussion give direction to the volume while creating connections between and across the eighteen essays. The first addresses humanistic, presence-informed values, alert to questions of history and habitat, through the writing of Follain, Frénaud, and Cadou (Marianne Froye), Garelli (Marianna Marino), and Meschonnic (Sandrine Larraburu-Bédouret). Camille Muris-Prime offers an intriguing appraisal of Bonnefoy’s contribution to the philosophy of poetry translation, and of his writing on translation as a form of poetry. The second axis probes the engagement with origins, in both its retrospective and prospective values, through the work of Cocteau (Benjamin Andréo), Ponge (Irène Salas), Michel Bulteau’s nomadic poetry (Angelos Triantafyllou), and the explosive ‘anti-poetry’ of Eduardo Kac and of Louis Bec (Claude-Pierre Pérez). The third axis follows experimental moves in language–image relations, from transcultural values in Christian Dotremont’s post-COBRA logogrammes (Georges A. Bertrand), through poetry in Cocteau’s films (Sarah Bewick), to the ‘botanical’ collaboration between Butor and Catherine Ernst (Nicole Biagioli), the implications of digital poetry (Nina Parish), and Jérôme Game’s video-poems (Laurent Zimmermann). The final axis tackles the polyvocality of contemporary poetry, engaging with James Sacré (Béatrice Bonhomme), francophone women’s poetry (Thanh-Vân Ton-That), Vénus Khoury-Ghata (Margaret Braswell), Jean-Pierre Verheggen (Anne-Christine Royère), and Jacques Dupin through perspectives gleaned from Gadamer (Michael G. Kelly). This is a hard-working, highquality volume that provides significant bibliographical resources (poetry reviews and journal special numbers, as well as internet sites of real interest). The Index allows readers to track key ideas — from animalia to corporeality and philosophy — across the essays and between poets. The volume’s crisp covers, graced by the abstract Uzbek tile image created by the photographer (and contributor) Georges Bertrand, anticipate the vivid and vital work contained within. Mary Ann Caws and the poet-critic Béatrice Bonhomme create, respectively, an elegant overture and an inventive point d’orgue. In a luminous and deeply felt essay Caws explores geographical, mental, and pictorial landscapes through poetry. She celebrates Bonnefoy’s L’Arrière-Pays, alongside René Char and Anne Portugal, and delights in the empathy of poets for painters, from Piero della Francesca and Tintoretto to Degas, De Chirico, Picasso, and Nicolas de Staël. Bonhomme’s poetry texts affirm the precariousness and persistence of beauty and longing, and exemplify the value of creative interférences of poetry practice and poetry reading that define Chantiers du poème. A major contribution to modern and, especially, contemporary poetry studies, this exciting volume will have enduring value.