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Abstract
This chapter argues that literature and contemporary art can and do play an important decentering role in accounts of our culture and of how the world works. It challenges conventional attachments to single cultures and the notion of belonging as increasingly understood as belonging globally, contrasting the notion of the “global” with that of the “planetary”. It suggests that planetarity, as outlined in works such as The Planetary Turn by Elias and Moraru, is a desired way forward in order to achieve a balanced belonging rooted in environmental, decentered ethics and in aesthetics. Citing contemporary art-work such as the installations of Rirkrit Tiravanija, the “atlas” works of Brigitte Williams and the performance art of Guillermo Gómez Peña, the paper advocates an approach that favours the periphery rather than an all-invading Western-dominated centre. Such an approach serves to emphasize the contours of the world to the point where we can think the world as a single, immense periphery, thereby enabling us to see the “Other” as someone we can genuinely get to know.
Abstract
This chapter argues that literature and contemporary art can and do play an important decentering role in accounts of our culture and of how the world works. It challenges conventional attachments to single cultures and the notion of belonging as increasingly understood as belonging globally, contrasting the notion of the “global” with that of the “planetary”. It suggests that planetarity, as outlined in works such as The Planetary Turn by Elias and Moraru, is a desired way forward in order to achieve a balanced belonging rooted in environmental, decentered ethics and in aesthetics. Citing contemporary art-work such as the installations of Rirkrit Tiravanija, the “atlas” works of Brigitte Williams and the performance art of Guillermo Gómez Peña, the paper advocates an approach that favours the periphery rather than an all-invading Western-dominated centre. Such an approach serves to emphasize the contours of the world to the point where we can think the world as a single, immense periphery, thereby enabling us to see the “Other” as someone we can genuinely get to know.
Abstract
Sorti sur les grands écrans en 1996, The Pillow Book de Peter Grenaway est un film bien connu qui associe la peau à l’écriture, voire, en l’occurrence, à la calligraphie. Tout au long de son œuvre, le réalisateur nous montre que la peau est un seuil destiné à être franchi, la promesse d’un jaillissement, un volcan qui dort et se réveille par intermittence. En termes géocritiques, on dira qu’elle relève de ces dispositifs qui, loin de constituer un limes opaque (limite), sont un limen poreux (un seuil, justement). Le vocabulaire dermatologique est lui-même extraordinairement spatialisé, avec ses ouvertures, ses stratifications, son obsession de la surface. Tout au long du film, il inspire une série d’illustrations insolites. Le film oscille entre un Kyoto traditionnel et un Hong-Kong postmoderne, entre un pagus (pays) déroutant et une pagina (page) qui se remplit au fil des péripéties et des rencontres entre les protagonistes, à fleur de peau.
Quelles que soient ses manifestations, l’infini nous engage à considérer l’extraordinaire diversité de la planète.
Face à lui, que faire, en littérature ?
Rester humble, par exemple, et formuler des hypothèses adéquates. Tenter de déjouer les asymétries qui empêchent les uns et les autres de s’exprimer partout dans de bonnes conditions. Revoir les fondements de la world literature et se mettre en résonance avec une culture authentiquement planétaire.
Cultural infinity surrounds us; but, just like the horizon, it tends to run away right in front of our eyes. It might appear on walls full of street art; in the spider webs deeply esteemed by Tomás Saraceno; in postage stamps which, as Walter Benjamin and Italo Calvino acknowledged, are open windows on the world.
Whatever its manifestations, the infinite dares us to consider the extraordinary diversity of the planet. In front of such a challenge, what can we do with literature?
Stay humble, for example, and formulate adequate hypotheses. Try to reduce the asymmetries that prevent us from expressing ourselves everywhere in good conditions. Build the foundations of world literature and resonate with an authentically global culture.
Quelles que soient ses manifestations, l’infini nous engage à considérer l’extraordinaire diversité de la planète.
Face à lui, que faire, en littérature ?
Rester humble, par exemple, et formuler des hypothèses adéquates. Tenter de déjouer les asymétries qui empêchent les uns et les autres de s’exprimer partout dans de bonnes conditions. Revoir les fondements de la world literature et se mettre en résonance avec une culture authentiquement planétaire.
Cultural infinity surrounds us; but, just like the horizon, it tends to run away right in front of our eyes. It might appear on walls full of street art; in the spider webs deeply esteemed by Tomás Saraceno; in postage stamps which, as Walter Benjamin and Italo Calvino acknowledged, are open windows on the world.
Whatever its manifestations, the infinite dares us to consider the extraordinary diversity of the planet. In front of such a challenge, what can we do with literature?
Stay humble, for example, and formulate adequate hypotheses. Try to reduce the asymmetries that prevent us from expressing ourselves everywhere in good conditions. Build the foundations of world literature and resonate with an authentically global culture.