Literality and Discursive Reframing in the Works of Nathalie Quintane

Abstract

The oft-mentioned turn in French poetry in the 1990s coincided with the rediscovery of the practical use of discourse and its transferability across media, a trait that Jean-Marie Gleize described as littéralité. Gleize cites Nathalie Quintane as one of the emerging poets of the 1990s who epitomizes this trend insofar as she effects a severe reduction of the figural and develops a form of writing that is so direct, so devoid of depth, that the reader finds it disconcerting in its simplicity. Quintane dwells on details whose presence is so remarkably unremarkable that it overturns, by its opacity, the process of image production and myth building that has become one of the constants of postindustrial society. Quintane’s prose, which she subjects to a process of “dumbing down” (nunuchérie), is analyzed from the standpoint of what we call discursive reframing, that is, the alteration of the relation between a statement and its framing discourses.

Keywords:

• Contemporary poetry
• unreadability
• insurrectional writing
• flat prose
• visual
• literal
• connotation
• irony

Notes

1 Jean-Michel Espitallier recalls the work of the Java group, a group of poets associated with the literary journal Java (1989–2006). He names Jacques Sivan, Vannina Maestri, Christophe Marchand-Kiss, Katalin Molnár, Philippe Beck, and Christophe Tarkos among this group. He also points to the importance, for poets of the 1990s, of honing the practical use of language: “comment poursuivre les aventures expérimentales de la langue en ne conservant, des grands chantiers élaborés durant tout le XXe siècle, que la truelle et le compas” (40).

2 Volume edited by Benoît Auclerc, titled Nathalie Quintane. The volume includes an interview with Quintane.

3 In answer to a question about the division between literalists and lyricists, Gleize confirms that the distinction is purely “fantômatique,” and that “parmi ceux d’entre nous qui sont à la recherche d’une écriture objective, il y a un certain nombre de lyriques avérés, chacun à sa manière.” He cites here Ponge, along with Denis Roche and Anne-Marie Albiach, as “trois grands lyriques” (“Entretien”).

4 Quintane’s self-questioning in relation to her position in the literary scene must be seen in light of the relationship of mutual trust she enjoyed with her publisher, P.O.L. In a special radio broadcast aired on France Culture the day following the death of P.O.L’s founder Paul Otchakovsky-Laurens, Quintane underlined the influence he had on her work, particularly in encouraging her to work freely across all genres. She ends by making the following heartfelt plea: “À qui je vais m’adresser maintenant? À qui je vais adresser les textes qui cherchent encore? À qui nous allons (pas simplement moi évidemment) adresser nos textes? On est un peu rendus au désert” (“Émission spéciale”).

5 “La poésie que nous faisons n’est plus dans la Littérature, elle est dans l’art . . . On est allés où l’on nous désirait: dans les écoles d’art, sur certaines scènes (musiques improvisées, festivals ouverts, comme ActOral, etc.). Sans regret” (Nathalie Quintane 215).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Peter Poiana

Peter Poiana is senior lecturer in the Department of French Studies at the University of Adelaide (Australia). Recent publications include the articles “Christian Prigent’s Mimological Machine: Le Monde est marrant and La Vie moderne” (The Irish Journal of French Studies) and “Rethinking Beginnings as Subjective Loss in Narrative and the Theatre: Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe’s L’ ‘Allégorie’ and Scène” (Angelaki: A Journal of the Theoretical Humanities). His current research interests include the study of modern and contemporary poetry in relation to philosophical thought and interactions between different media.