Bonnard and Josipovici: ‘Il ne s'agit pas de peindre la vie, il s'agit de rendre vivante la peinture’

Abstract

Abstract In an autobiographical piece, entitled Egypt and After,2 published in the London Magazine in 1990, Gabriel Josipovici described the inception of his novel Contre-Jour.3 The initial stimulus was a radio programme in which ‘I heard someone talking about a Bonnard exhibition at the Pompidou Centre in Paris’ (p. 63). Josipovici's account of what followed stresses the catalytic nature of this chance hearing and the speed with which the novel took form: Within two or three hours of that talk an entire novel had taken shape, where before there had been absolutely nothing. I dropped everything else I was working on. I knew I simply had to keep my days clear and give myself entirely up to it, and the novel would write itself. (p. 63) The book came in a single clear jet because I found myself able to talk about many things that were close to my heart. (pp. 64-65)