De l’esthétisme au modernisme: Théophile Gautier, Ezra Pound par Christopher Bains (review)

Reviews 213 ainsi que toutes leurs relations croisées” (16). It is thus the grammar or the syntax of an artistic genre that the different theoretical approaches attempt to disclose in their analyses. Ultimately, the aim is to define and describe an “art syntaxique,” that is, “la capacité de certaines œuvres à réinventer l’alphabet de leur genre (ou médium) au moment même où elles y écrivent pourtant un récit” (16). The most frequently cited theoreticians guiding these investigations are Barthes, Derrida, and Ricœur for the “pratiques signifiantes,” whereas Deleuze and Rancière help understand and evaluate the “intensité expressive” (16). Needless to say, paradoxes and aporia will inevitably arise in the wake of these verbal disquisitions into art forms that can be considered as languages only metaphorically. Thus if music is to be understood as “un organisme mental sans représentation” it will become evident that “l’impuissance du langage face à la musique est dès ce seuil patente” (75). The movement of bodies is similarly resistant to verbal representation because“on peut en danse faire des phrases qui, non seulement ne racontent rien, mais n’ont pas nécessairement de sens” (86). Painting has become self-representational, thus, “la peinture, abstraite ou figurative, a peu à voir avec l’image” (37). André points out that there has always been, at the heart of narrative, a quest for intelligibility as well as a desire to unite “faits contingents et exigence d’ordre, épisode isolé et configuration signifiante, discordance de l’événement et concordance structurelle, individu et exigence d’universalité” (145). The essays assembled by Game no longer seek to validate these aims, thus further reinforcing André’s thesis of an anthropological threshold about to be crossed. Ohio State University Karlis Racevskis Bains, Christopher. De l’esthétisme au modernisme: Théophile Gautier, Ezra Pound. Paris: Champion, 2012. ISBN 978-2-7453-2328-6. Pp. 334. 80 a. The decision to grapple with the aesthetics of either Gautier or Pound, much less both, is admirable, especially when the result is enlightening and a pleasure to read. Bains is at home in the salient theoretical issues of the two poets’ erudite world, situating Gautier as a seminal figure for modernists and Pound within the larger international tradition of nineteenth-century aesthetic thought. I came away from his book with a greater appreciation for the genius of the two writers as poets and critics, and of their place in history. Both Pound and Gautier saw poetry as the external indication of the much larger reality actually created. The exterior must be ‘hard,’ enabling the writer’s articulation and polish, in much the way artists perfect formal music or image, thus giving their creations life. Bains leads logically from ‘hardness’ to stone, to sculpture, to form and materiality, and successfully opens up the poets’ aesthetics that are basic to modern poetry. Bains expands on the significant influence Gautier had on the appreciation of poetry and painting. I question Pound’s belief that Baudelaire was inferior to Gautier, without doubting Pound’s poetic genius, while Gautier’s deep and illuminating taste regarding the art of his day is trustworthy. He was very conscious of his responsibility as a poet-critic, both because he saw it as essential to contemporary appreciation and because he felt that the poet alone could adequately evaluate art. He ranged across theater, dance, opera, photography, and music, demonstrating the depth of his perception and, as well, art on the international scene. All of his criticism was filtered through his aesthetics. What was beauty? Why was it important? Art, as Gautier made abundantly clear, has no other function than to be beautiful. Bains subsequently turns to the avant-garde movements of the century, paying particular attention to dandyism and its relationship to both politics and art. In Gautier’s and Baudelaire’s hands the aestheticism centers primarily on artifice, refinement, and sophistication, especially in its relation to society. The resultant decadent movement was one more step in the dynamic, avant-garde evolution from Romanticism to imagism, vorticism, and post-modernism. The chapter on image provides a remarkably sophisticated consideration of ekphrasis as movement and metaphor. The example...