Jacques Barbaut's 'L'ouverture de la pêche' Blends Wordplay and Literary Critique

Jacques Barbaut's book 'L'ouverture de la pêche', published by Éditions les petits matins, is a dense work that mixes puns with reflections on language and writing. Barbaut works as a proofreader for the press and publishing, a mediating profession where reading validates written texts. The book draws on influences from Flaubert, Jarry, Lacan, Baudelaire, Rabelais, as well as Tintin, King Kong, almanacs, and memories of illustrated Larousse dictionaries and 1970s comics. Barbaut's approach is playful yet serious, treating words not as things but as graphic clutter on the printed page. The review by Jérôme Lebrun describes the book as 'serious like a fishing trip.'