Jude Stéfan, le festoyant français éd. par Béatrice Bonhomme, Tristan Hordé

Abstract

Reviews 213 Bonhomme, Béatrice, et Tristan Hordé, éd. Jude Stéfan, le festoyant français: actes du colloque de Cerisy 5–12 septembre 2012. Paris: Champion, 2014. ISBN 978-27453 -2787-1. Pp. 304. 55 a. This volume offers incisive commentary on the subtlety with which Stéfan treats “Amour, Temps, Mort” (86) as universal themes and judicious citation that underscores his powerfully distinctive voice. It complements a set of critical pieces from l’Université de Pau in 2000, as well as other publications that have variously combined tributes, photographs, interviews, and excerpts of original works. Bookended by a preface, poems, journal entries, a bibliography, and notes on contributors, it adds to existing knowledge by favoring thoughtful, detailed studies from distinguished specialists regarding how creativity, lived reality, literary history, and the play of signs intersect. It assiduously contextualizes Stéfan’s poetry, letters, dialogues, fiction, and inventive experimentation, for example as a “parcours à contre-courant du monde et de soi-même” (159) that evolves toward an “acquiescement à la destinée cloîtrée des êtres” (160). One signal strength is the celebration of language suggested by the title phrase “le festoyant français,” which refers not only to the author’s wide-ranging imagination and creative energy, but also to a remark he made previously about the French language as an historically-rich entity needing to be re-liberated after excessive standardization and codification. Related issues that authors address include Stéfan’s intermingling of poetry and prose, penchant for intertextuality, admiration for writers such as Catullus and John Donne, and technical mastery that establishes singular rhythms and ensures semantic open-endedness. Among the noteworthy analyses are Michel Sicard’s consideration of the “parcelles arrachées au vécu, aux sensations dicibles” (33) embedded in Stéfan’s “libertinage littéraire qui mélange jeux du corps et jeux de langage”(24); Christian Prigent’s close reading of a poem from Élégiades as a maintaining of tension“entre le désastre du sens et la constitution des représentations sensées”(136);Aurélie Loiseleur’s exploration of the stylistic traits that convey“l’épaisseur et la pénombre”(258) of everyday life and of textual materiality; Jean-Claude Pinson’s remarks on “une poésie où le refus du lyrisme va de pair avec sa réinvention” (263); Béatrice Bonhomme’s focus on muse-like yet ambivalent sisters who embody “une ambiguïté permanente entre la dureté et la douceur, la cruauté et la bienveillance, la fécondité et la stérilité” (51); and Samuel Macaigne’s examination of how pictorial elements and a disjunctive approach to form make the reader“un spectateur en errance” (238). The brio and erudition of most studies reveal much about literary style and encourage revisiting Stéfan’s numerous books, as well as his source materials and the contemporary peers he continues to influence. Given his drolly lucid innovations as a“lascar [...] / mort autant que vif”(16) and this volume’s insightful contributions that elucidate his place in contemporary letters, this must-have for libraries would also enliven researchers’ personal collections. Southwestern University (TX) Aaron Prevots ...