Thinking at the Limit of Poetry: Anne-James Chaton, Social Media, and the Post-Public

This article considers ways in which the public can relate to contemporary French poetry outside the book, when all usual markers that help define an artifact as art are absent. Taking the case of Anne-James Chaton, who publishes some of his works on social media, the question is whether poetry is still poetry if not identified as such by the public. While Chaton continues to publish books, he is also part of a double movement in French poetic practice, the movement away from the customary setting of literature – the book page – and the deconstruction of the essentialist view of poetry.