Abstract
“Traces: a trench below the horizon, expanding [s’élargissant] over the circle of beaten snow.” The verb s’élargir, extracted here from the opening of Darrieussecq’s White (2003 [2005]), in fact spreads out throughout a story of anticipation set in a near future: 2020. This novel concerns a mission to construct a permanent European Base at the deserted heart of Antarctica. After its appearance in the first line, “s’élargir/élargir” recurs as Darrieussecq narrates atmosphere and bodily perceptions. Through language, Darrieussecq expands—and at time contracts—visions and mirages, sounds and acoustic hallucinations, expanding or suspending time, making a real and possible scientific mission into something strange. At several moments, the shades of colors and the tension between blurred and precise visions seem to acquire, through language, the mental texture of video art. The novel, which has already acquired a place in Antarctic Studies, reinvents the fictional realm, entangling in its unfolding not a generic intermediality but, more precisely, expanded artistic and cinematic practices. This article places the singularity of White in a wider artistic context that spans not only 1960s and 1970s Land Art but also expanded cinema to very contemporary artistic mixed-medium practices.
Published Version
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
