Abstract
In Terrasse à Rome (2000), the main character, Meaume, is a 17th-century Mezzotint artiste. In this unique novel, the French writer gives a privileged place to the original image. As the texts goes back and forth between narration and the descriptions of the images (images created by the artist, images in dreams, allusions to myths, etc.), the boundaries between the literary text and the images become very blurry. Through a thematic and stylistic study, I focus on both the content and the form of the novel to find out how the original image shows itself coming out of darkness just like the images which appear in mezzotint and emerge from the night in dreams. I contend that we need to think in image with Quignard to read between the lines of this novel and comprehend the captivating concept of image. Considering the fact that Pascal Quignard is a prolific author who has always shown a great interest in all representations of image (painting, engraving, parietal art, mosaics, etc.), I demonstrate the significance of image in this novel and how it reflects the philosophy of Quignard. I argue the reason why language being considered as a faculty which is neither sufficient to express itself nor to understand the depth of a lack in human beings, is replaced by image in the novel via the art of mezzotint.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
IMAGE, ORIGIN, MEZZOTINT, BLACK/DARKNESS, DREAM, LANGUAGE, BLACK AND WHITE, COLOR
