Spectres de l’exil, incarnation du pouvoir. Victor Hugo à Jersey : les photographies de la proscription

Abstract

During his exile in Jersey (1852-1855), Hugo, with the help of his son Charles and Auguste Vacquerie, took a series of photographs (mainly portraits, but also landscapes) in order to illustrate his works (Les Contemplations, Les Châtiments) and to produce, in addition, a book depicting the lives of the exiles. Even if these projects could not come to fruition, the 400 photographs produced still remain. They are sent by the poet to his close friends in France or kept in albums, providing us with a precious testimony of Hugo’s exile and, upon analysis, appear to be a stand alone piece, which must be reviewed in the light of the texts on exile. This article demonstrates that these images contribute to the creation of a “poetics of exile” that legitimizes the idea of the priestly power of the writer by making proscription a pharmacon. At a time when the majority still agrees to deny the new medium any artistic value, the choice of photographic technique is not insignificant. Hugo himself underlines this, by associating photography with revolution. What is revolutionary is the effect of presence created: by choosing photography as a representation method, the writer intends to make present what is absent, on the model of the Eucharistic statement “this is my body”. Thus the portraits of Hugo in Jersey participate in a definition of exile as a pharmacon: the images are both a symbol of sacrifice and embodiment of the only legitimate power.