'Un Coup de Foudre Photographique': Autobiography and Photography in Hervé Guibert

Abstract

This article explores the ways in which the photographic act is an autobiographical one. It shows how photography and writing, historically considered to be rivals, co-operate to portray the self in the works of Hervé Guibert. It examines most closely the instances in which this is achieved through depicting the other, and demonstrates how the photographic act establishes different kinds of relationship between the photographing self and the photographed other, ranging from pure exploitation to unselfish love, from Oedipal attachments to mature friendships. Starting with an analysis of Proust and Barthes's ideas on photography, with specific reference to the role of the mother in their accounts, the article examines one of Guibert's photographs in Le seul visage as well as his writings on photography in L'Image fantôme; it shows how such works, through their depiction of a much-loved other, can be said to constitute acts of autobiography. It concludes by discussing how Guibert uses photography to chart the map of love between possession and freedom.