Henri Michaux: Poetry, Painting, and the Universal Sign (Oxford Modern Languages and Literature Monographs)

"Henri Michaux is widely recognized as a major twentieth-century French poet and painter. Although his fascination with universal languages has attracted the attention of several of his critics, it has up until now been treated as a marginal concern. Henri Michaux: Poetry, Painting, and the Universal Sign argues that his ideas on what might constitute a universal language are central to an understanding of his works. It suggests that both his ambivalent articulation of his relationship to the languages and literary traditions of his native Belgium and adoptive France, and his efforts simultaneously to exacerbate and subvert the differences between words and images, are rooted in Enlightenment theories of the relationship of the self to nature and its language." "Rigaud-Drayton's study makes a substantial and original contribution to the study of this complex artist, exploring the intricate relationships between word and image in his poetry and paintings, and his quest for a single, unifying language or sign."--BOOK JACKET. Annotation. Henri Michaux is widely recognized as a major twentieth-century French poet and painter. Although his fascination with universal languages has attracted the attention of several of his critics, it has up until now been treated as a marginal concern. Henri Michaux: Poetry, Painting, and theUniversal Sign argues that his ideas on what might constitute a universal language are central to an understanding of his works. It suggests that both his ambivalent articulation of his relationship to the languages and literary traditions of his native Belgium and adoptive France, and his effortssimultaneously to exacerbate and subvert the differences between words and images, are rooted in Enlightenment theories of the relationship of the self to nature and its languageRigaud-Drayton's study makes a substantial and original contribution to the study of this complex artist, exploring the intricate relationships between word and image in his poetry and paintings, and his quest for a single, unifying language or sign Henri Michaux is widely recognized as a major twentieth-century French poet and painter. Although his fascination with universal languages has attracted critical attention, it has up until now been treated as a marginal concern. This study argues that Michaux's ideas on universal languages are central to an understanding of his works. - ;Henri Michaux is widely recognized as a major twentieth-century French poet and painter. Although his fascination with universal languages has attracted the attention of several of his critics, it has up until now been treated as a marginal concern. Henri Mich Contents......Page 8 List of Illustrations......Page 9 Abbreviation......Page 10 Introduction......Page 12 1. Michaux between France and Belgium......Page 21 2. Self and Other......Page 45 3. Dreaming of a Universal Language......Page 70 4. Writing in Another (French) Language......Page 95 5. Writing and Painting Vision......Page 122 6. Natural Signs between Writing and Drawing......Page 148 Conclusion......Page 173 Bibliography......Page 176 D......Page 188 J......Page 189 M......Page 190 Z......Page 194