Obscure Objects of Desire: Surrealism, Fetishism, and Politics by Johanna Malt (review)

Abstract

MLRy 100.3, 2005 829 and rigorous, and also honest in its appraisal. While it acknowledges that the early verse has little to retain the interest of the general reader, it makes an eloquent case for the later work, and Le Sang d'Atys (1940) in particular, which Mauriac himself considered his best work in any genre. Cooke demonstrates how this poem condenses the atmosphere familiar from the novels into something even more moody, not to say disturbing, as it mingles pagan and Christian myth and symbolism, and draws in many ofthe themes which give Mauriac's work its distinctive edge: sexual ambiguity, tense familial relationships, the conflict of body and soul. In his concluding chapter, Cooke explores the overlap between Mauriac's poetry and his novels, tracing the echoes and similarities between the two at the level of both form and content. His ef? fective discussion ofhow the poetic informs and inflectsMauriac's prose writing gives necessary substance to the frustratinglyimpressionistic, yet oft-repeated, description of Mauriac as 'poetic novelist'. If Cooke is breaking new ground in his study of the poetry, the collection of essays edited by Philippe Baudorre on Mauriac's journalism contributes to what has been the main growth area of Mauriac studies in recent years. Spurred on by the republi? cation of Mauriac's famous Bloc-notes column in 1993, researchers are rediscovering a significant figure of the journalistic landscape of both pre- and post-war France. These essays explore different stages of his career, often with a breadth of scope which makes them relevant to those interested in the history ofthe French press more generally. Marie-Chantal Praicheux focuses on Mauriac's inter-war career, and uses his movements from one newspaper to another as a way of sketching out the politics of the field of the French press in the 1930s, and the right-wing press in particular. She goes on to explore the relationship between the issues with which Mauriac en? gages in his articles, and the newspapers in which he chooses to publish them. Claire Blandin's useful essay offersan account of Mauriac's role in the development of the Figaro litteraire in the post-war years, setting it in the context of his often stormy relationship with Pierre Brisson, the editor of Le Figaro, and his involvement with L'Express. Merryl Moneghetti examines Mauriac's overlooked but nevertheless in? triguing spell as one of France's firsttelevision critics in the later 1950s and early 1960s. Although quite narrow in its focus, investigating as it does his reactions to the current-affairs programme Cinq colonnes a la Une, her article demonstrates the insights to be gleaned from the apparently peripheral dimensions of his work. In pointing to the collision between Mauriac and television, she reminds us of how he became unavoidably caught up, often reluctantly, in the rapid socio-cultural change affectingpost-war France, and acted as a perceptive and suspicious commentator on that change. The final essay by Malcolm Scott offers an excellent overview of the critical challenges posed by Mauriac's journalism (not the least of which is the sheer size of the corpus), as well as a brilliantly concise account of the key themes, styles, and devices he exploits in his journalistic output. Overall, the collection succeeds in giving a good sense of why we should continue to take an interest in Mauriac, and Mauriac the journalist and intellectual especially. University of Durham Edward Welch Obscure Objects of Desire: Surrealism, Fetishism, and Politics. By Johanna Malt. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2004. x + 234pp. ?45. ISBN 0-19-925342o . As Johanna Malt notes in her introduction (pp. 2-3), in studies of surrealist art the traditional emphasis on the surrealists' own manifestos and understanding of their movement has steadily been making way for more theoretical and text-based 830 Reviews criticism. In her impressively researched and analytically engaged study of surrealist theory and practice Malt offers a significant contribution to this welcome trend. Her basic starting point is the tension between surrealism's political pretensions as a revolutionary, collective movement and the highly subjective and erotic nature of much of its art. Malt, however, chooses to consider surrealist art...