Bernard Vargaftig : gestures toward the sacred / Aaron Prevots.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Prevots, Aaron, author.

Series:

Modern French identities ; v. 134.

Modern French identities ; volume 134

Language:

English

French

Subjects (All):

Vargaftig, Bernard--Criticism and interpretation.

Vargaftig, Bernard.

Criticism and interpretation.

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Physical Description:

vi, 124 pages ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Oxford ; New York : Peter Lang, [2019]

Language Note:

Text in English and French.

Summary:

"The French poet Bernard Vargaftig (1934-2012), first known in 1960s literary circles as a writer mentored by Aragon, published regularly and served on the editorial boards of Action poétique and Europe. His poetry foregrounds identity and alterity, eros and notions of self, an immediate present and an onrushing past. This book examines Vargaftig's evolution and aims. It explores his postwar search for self-acceptance, ontological rootedness and shared forward paths. Using close readings of his poetry and prose, complemented by his comments in interviews, the book particularly considers his emphasis on the sacredness of words. His spiritual yearnings, as well as a need to heal due to lingering trauma from wartime hiding, are shown to underlie his focus on allusive imagery, recurring motifs and compact structures, where silence and sound interweave. Comparative analyses are used to show how his elan toward the female Other attunes us to interpersonal bonds and to the outer world's creative surge. The study of Vargaftig through the lens of gestures toward the sacred thus highlights poetry as a healing ritual, one that facilitates not only immersion in emotion and sensation, but also a continual process of renewal and self-discovery"-- Provided by publisher.

"The French poet Bernard Vargaftig (1934-2012), first known in 1960s literary circles as a writer mentored by Aragon, published regularly and served on the editorial boards of Action po�etique and Europe. His poetry foregrounds identity and alterity, eros and notions of self, an immediate present and an onrushing past. This book examines Vargaftig's evolution and aims. It explores his postwar search for self-acceptance, ontological rootedness and shared forward paths. Using close readings of his poetry and prose, complemented by his comments in interviews, the book particularly considers his emphasis on the sacredness of words. His spiritual yearnings, as well as a need to heal due to lingering trauma from wartime hiding, are shown to underlie his focus on allusive imagery, recurring motifs and compact structures, where silence and sound interweave. Comparative analyses are used to show how his elan toward the female Other attunes us to interpersonal bonds and to the outer world's creative surge. The study of Vargaftig through the lens of gestures toward the sacred thus highlights poetry as a healing ritual, one that facilitates not only immersion in emotion and sensation, but also a continual process of renewal and self-discovery"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Introduction: identity, alterity, childhood

Early poems: finding a voice

The influence of Jouve: poetry as a spiritual vocation and the trembling of words

Self-awareness and feminine presence: aveu, distance, ouverture, nudité

Sacred gestures and Talmudic traditions: the eros of unknowing in Comme respirer

"Les mêmes mots débordent": the sacred in Guillevic's Le chant and Vargaftig's Un récit

Memory work and sacred bonds in Un même silence and Aucun signe particulier

Conclusion: authenticity, historicity, judaicity.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references ([105]-112) and index.

ISBN:

9781789973570

1789973570

OCLC:

1098217732

Publisher Number:

99982474654