Guy Walter's 'Outre mesure' and the Quadrature of Art

In his new book 'Outre mesure', Guy Walter explores the concept of 'quadrature'—the impossible geometric problem of squaring the circle—as a metaphor for the limits of painting and poetry. The work, published by Verdier, continues Walter's earlier projects 'Le Caravage, peintre' (2001) and 'Grandir' (2004), blending the Künstlerroman and Bildungsroman forms. Rather than a fictionalized biography of Arthur Rimbaud, the book recounts an inner experience triggered by childhood reading of Rimbaud's verses. Walter argues that art, like quadrature, attempts to contain the boundless within a frame. The narrative culminates with the life of Italian painter Antonio Mancini, who recorded his visions in a 'color notebook'. Critic Philippe Forest notes that Walter's prose achieves a poetic intensity rare in contemporary writing.