Bertrand Leclair's 'La Main du scribe' Explores Paternity and Passion

Bertrand Leclair's novel 'La Main du scribe' (Mercure de France) is a fiery exploration of paternity and desire. The book follows a man overwhelmed by the diversity and intensity of his desires, trying to decipher his wanderings. Leclair's pyromaniac writing style contrasts with the false scandals of Catherine Breillat, targeting the reconstructed caves of lazy pornography and the picturesque panoramas of sexuality in the age of networks. The true sulfur, suffering, cataclysm, and obscenity lie in the territory of amorous passion. Lyricism becomes the song of reproductive organs, where vaginal humidity and cavernous body dilation dictate lieder and romances. The novel revisits the surrealist passion for love, quoting Aragon on love's irrepressible sense of delinquency, contempt for prohibition, and taste for wreckage. Jean-Yves Jouannais reviews the work in artpress.