Colette and Christine Angot: Two Women Writers' Relentless Pursuit of Truth
Jacques Henric's essay draws a parallel between Colette and Christine Angot, highlighting their shared obsessive search for truth, particularly regarding the 'mundus muliebris' (female world). Colette's works from 1940-1954 are collected in the fourth volume of the Pléiade edition, while Angot's reading/performance of 'L'Inceste' is released as a CD. Henric argues that Colette, like Angot, challenged the dominant romantic and moralistic discourse by focusing on pleasure and the body, reversing the biblical notion of the Word made flesh. He traces the historical suppression of 18th-century libertine thought by 19th-century Romanticism, noting that Colette was a 'resistant' in her life and work, breaking free from her husband Willy's control through scandalous associations and performances. Despite her political irresponsibility during WWII, her work remains a 'protocol of shipwrecked souls.' Henric recommends Angot's performance of 'L'Inceste' as a powerful, truthful rendering akin to Pierre Guyotat's 'Progénitures' or Philippe Sollers' 'Paradis.'
Key facts
- Colette's works from 1940-1954 are published in Volume IV of the Pléiade edition.
- Christine Angot's reading/performance of 'L'Inceste' is released as a CD by France-Culture and Stock.
- Henric compares Colette and Angot's relentless search for truth about the 'mundus muliebris'.
- Colette's early literary career was under the control of her husband Willy, who signed the Claudine series.
- Colette engaged in scandalous activities: drugs, homosexuality, performing semi-nude, and working in fashion media.
- Colette's program was to 'speak of pleasure rather than love' and contribute to the knowledge of the senses.
- Henric describes Colette's work as reversing the biblical 'Word made flesh' into 'flesh made word'.
- During WWII, Colette was politically irresponsible, collaborating with Nazi occupiers, but was later supported by Aragon.
- Colette's moral summary: 'There are two kinds of human beings: those who have killed and those who have not killed.'
- Angot's performance of 'L'Inceste' is a 3-hour-45-minute-22-second non-stop reading, akin to Guyotat and Sollers.
Entities
Artists
- Colette
- Christine Angot
- Jacques Henric
- Willy
- Maurice Goudeket
- Aragon
- Pierre Guyotat
- Philippe Sollers
- Claude Pichois
- Alain Brunet
- Sade
- Diderot
- Laclos
- Crébillon
- Casanova
- Mozart
- Watteau
- Fragonard
- Wagner
- Hugo
- Lamartine
- Manet
- Courbet
- Lautréamont
- Rimbaud
- Flaubert
- Stendhal
- Baudelaire
- Cervantès
- Joyce
- Proust
- Kafka
- Céline
Institutions
- Pléiade
- Gallimard
- France-Culture
- Stock
- artpress
Locations
- France
Sources
- artpress —