The Frog de John Hawkes, ou la grenouille cannibale : de la mare à la toile

Abstract

This study investigates the way John Hawkes cannibalizes his own textual progeny and thus leaves no room for critical assessments other than tautological statements. In fact, the self-referential comments The Frog is fraught with revert the act of writing into a tearing apart of the textual fabric. The reader is lured into a series of traps which turn his critical approach into a mere surface reading. One may therefore wonder what remains for the critic’s own consumption once the text has been eviscerated.