Deguy en direct: Chroniques et Comme si, comme ça

Abstract

Michel Deguy uses the “Chroniques de la Rédaction” posted on the website of his journal Po&sie to express his thoughts on the pertinent events of our era, including the recent coronavirus pandemic. In these brief meditations, he seeks to reach those who prefer the immediacy of the internet to the exigencies of his discourse on poetry and poetics expressed in his erudite essays and poems. Marie-Claire Treilhou’s 2019 film Comme si, comme ça also represents an encapsulated version of the poet’s ideas on poetry and poetics developed in Deguy’s recent essay L’Envergure des comparses (2017) and his collection of poetry, Poèmes et tombeau pour Yves Bonnefoy (2018). Treilhou’s film is a study of the way in which Michel Deguy thinks and expresses his thought, searching for the appropriate formulation. The film, a study of Deguy’s face, contains a musical accompaniment composed by Jean-Christophe Feldhandler, an example of the sharable nature of the work of art which should inspire others to be creative, to do something with the work. The same can be said for Treilhou’s film. Both forms are examples of the way in which Michel Deguy in his ninth decade maintains his participation in “l’extrême contemporain.”