Béatrice Machet — Apophatic Art Practice and Research

Paul Auster-apophatically-

Before becoming the acclaimed novelist he was, Paul Auster wrote poetry, influenced by authors of Jewish origin such as Paul Celan and Edmond Jabès. His time in France, his knowledge of the French language, and his work as a translator familiarized him with negative thought. Intellectually close to Maurice Blanchot, Paul Auster seemed closer to the theoretical Europe of postmodernity, while in the United States, the new political landscape was shifting poets’ consciousness in more practical, experimental, and political directions. In the same way as French poet Emmanuel Hocquard, speaking of “negative modernity,” an era that proceeds less through new affirmations than through refusals, we find ourselves in the age of suspicion. French poet Claude Royet-Journoud defines poetry as a “profession of ignorance.” Poetry, for both the poet and the reader, is above all an experience. It is about revisiting the human condition (and therefore ignorance. Visiting Auster’s Unearth and White Spaces, this essay attempts to elucidate the apophatic dimension of Paul Auster’s poetic work, he who declared: “In the impossibility of words, / in the unspoken word/ that asphyxiates/ I find myself” (in Dissapearances).

Béatrice Machet is a French born poet whose dance lessons as a child influenced and still influence her writing. She learned a lot from the Native American point of view about Native American history and Native cultures, until she felt impregnated with them. After having been involved in the French science-fiction milieu, she met Gallimard editor J.H.Malineau who encouraged her to begin a career as a poet. From this initial meeting, each published poetry book of hers will testify to an evolution in her writing practice. She is an active member of the sound poetry group Ecrits Studio. At her credit some 10 books and 6 chapbooks of poetry (four of them in English) plus 7 Native American poets’ collections she translated into French, and four anthologies gathering 40 Native American contemporary poets whose works she translated into French.

She is used to collaborating with artists from all kinds of disciplines. She is on editorial boards of French poetry magazines. She is regularly granted writer residences, invited in international poetry festivals. She gives conferences about contemporary Native American literature. She is responsible for and produces a monthly radio program (Radio Agora, Grasse) dedicated to contemporary poetry.

La vague – La langue, sound composition.