The question was important enough for the organizers of the Cerisy-la-Salle colloquia, with Edith Heurgon at the helm, to deem it useful for us to organize this one together, from July 12 to 19, 2010. The proceedings were published the following year in the Cerisy collection, with the support of a grant from my research unit at the University of Paris III. Since the Cerisy Center has a very active and well-documented website, I refer you there for all necessary information.

ARGUMENT:

This colloquium is based on the desire to shed new light on the relationships between French-language poetry of the 20th century and the major historical and political events that have traversed and, in many ways, defined this often tragic and troubled century, from communism to fascism, including colonialism. It will particularly attempt to offer more current perspectives, detached from the simple circumstances of the time, on these relationships in order to better grasp the eternal and universal character of the ethical and philosophical questions they raise. It will be a matter of questioning a traditional and too common conception of poetry as a simple aesthetic and formal expression of man and his language. Through the study of essential modernist movements, from Dada to Surrealism, including Lettrism, it will thus be important to emphasize the determining importance of the poet's engagement in the community, and not of poetry. Has the latter been compromised forever? The close and complex relationships of personalities such as Tristan Tzara, André Breton, Paul Eluard, Benjamin Péret, Robert Desnos, Louis Aragon for Dadaism and Surrealism, or Christian Dotremont for Cobra, to the idea of revolution envisaged in its poetic determination will be considered as fundamental examples allowing us to nourish and develop our problematic. Nor will we forget the original journey of singular figures, from René Char to Francis Ponge, including Aimé Césaire, who have accompanied in a radical and existential manner the actions of resistance to Nazi occupation or the struggle of Third World peoples for their independence, nor the political use of modern poetry by the May 68 movement, nor the possibilities of subversive expression offered by the avant-garde of the Lettrist International. The poet, in this sense, must be grasped as a citizen and a man of the world, fully involved in reality and in its struggles. The dominant conception of "engaged literature," indeed, was built in the 20th century from Sartrean existentialism, and therefore from literary genres such as the novel, theater, or essay. We would like to emphasize here the fact that modern poetry, in its own development, was also the living symbol of an engaged literature in its entirety. In this sense, it managed to free itself both from the shadow of Baudelaire, that is, from a mainly aesthetic and sensitive conception of poetry, and from that of Mallarmé, that is, from an abstract conception of poetic language born from conceptual speculation and the world of ideas. In conclusion, this decade should offer original modes of interpretation of the political, insofar as it has been approached primarily in the 20th century under its ideological and doctrinal aspects, or then in contemporary society, under its practical and utilitarian aspects. In other words, the study of the poet's relationship to the City (to the Polis) necessarily implies a sustained process of poetization of the political.

COMMUNICATIONS:

• Surrealism/Post-surrealism: A.-M. Amiot: Breton's Arcane XVII: sublimation in the myth of the permanent refusal of engaged poetry, D. Christoffel: Anti-demagogic poetics (the Proverbe journal), J. Getz: Michaux: poetry of the other man, B. Gómez-Angel: Éluard's voice in solidarity with Spain, M. Harada: The manifestations of the political in Breton outside the writings that refer to it, L. Michel: Politics of the poem in Char, J. Novaković: Poetic creation and political engagement in surrealism: Aragon and Oskar Davičo, V. Pouzet-Duzer: Péret's anthropophagic poetics, C. Reig: Oulipolitics, E. Rentzou: Beyond the (inter)national: surrealism and the "world" in metonymy, C. Reynaud Paligot: Surrealist poetry between revolt and revolution
• Resistances/Revolutions/Subversions: Y.-M. Bouillon: Poets in total war, J. Duwa: What good are poets in times of revolutionary joy? The 68 event, F. Flahutez: Lettrism and political economy, B. Gorrillot: Christian Prigent: for a political writing?, J.-C. Marceau: Repoetizing life: Raoul Vaneigem or the refined subversion of the Free Spirit, D. Rumeau: Gaston Miron, "love and militancy", P. Sigoda: Ponge or writings as the spiritual space of the nation, T. Wuilleme: The communist hypothesis: from praise to political farewell (Depestre, Roy, Guillevic)
• Peripheral spaces: C. Chomarat-Ruiz: Rhetoric of a landscaper for political use, A. Marangoni: Unanimism of Jules Romains and the first Jouve
• Cultural alterities/Francophonies: S. Bastien: Quebec poetry, from automatism to feminism: 25 years of demands, F. Khodr: From political circumstance to poetic(h)ic circumference, J.-C. Lambert: Interview with P. Taminiaux about C. Dotremont, M.-E. Lenoble: Frankétienne, the politics of the Spiral, G. Saad: The poetization of the political in Eluard and Cesar Vallejo: a dialectic?

EVENINGS:

• Screening of The Invention of the World
• C. Prigent: "Legends of the political" (reading and interview with B. Gorrillot) *J.-C. Lambert: Screening of X-Alta

With the support of the Surrealism Research Center of the University of the Sorbonne Nouvelle – Paris 3 Cerisy Colloquium, 2010: Consult the program + table of contents: Poetry and Politics in the 20th Century | International Cultural Center of Cerisy (cerisy- colloques.fr)

Table of contents:

Henri BÉHAR - Pierre TAMINIAUX : Introduction 5 Pierre TAMINIAUX : The Dada Manifestos as Poetic Gestures 19 SURREALISM POST-SURREALISM Carole REYNAUD-PALIGOT : Surrealist poetry between revolt and revolution 37 Laure MICHEL : Politics of the poem in René Char 51 Christophe REIG : "Oulipo-politics" 69 David CHRISTOFFEL : Anti-demagogic poetics: a bridge from the Proverbe journal to today 85 Virginie POUZET-DUZER : From surrealist cannibalism to Benjamin Péret's anthropophagic poetics 103 Misao HARADA : "Compassionate love" in André Breton or expressing the political differently 119 Effie RENTZOU : From the great actuality of the human 135 Brisa GÓMEZ-ÁNGEL : Paul Éluard's voice in solidarity with Spain 151 RESISTANCES REVOLUTIONS SUBVERSIONS Christian PRIGENT : From one century to another 171 Bénédicte GORRILLOT : Christian Prigent, a political writing? 181 Jérôme DUWA : What good are poets in times of revolutionary joy? from Cuba to the 68 event 199 Delphine RUMEAU : Gaston Miron, the poem, "obscure bit of our struggles" 213 Jean-Pierre ZUBIATE : Engagement and poetry, toward the invention of the relative subject 231 Pascal SIGODA : Francis Ponge or writings as the spiritual space of the nation 249 Jean-Claude MARCEAU : Repoetizing life, Raoul Vaneigem or the refined subversion of the Free Spirit 265 N'guettia Martin KOUADIO : Césaire and the dialectic of liberation: Notebook of a Return to the Native Land and The Tragedy of King Christophe 283 Catherine CHOMARAT-RUIZ : Under the influence of poets: rhetoric of a landscaper for political use 301 Alessandra MARANGONI : Politics and mysticism, the Unanimism of Jules Romains and the first Jouve 319 Marie-Edith LENOBLE : Frankétienne, the politics of the spiral 339 Sophie BASTIEN : Quebec poetry, from homeland to country 355 Fadi KHODR : From political circumstance to poetic(h)ic circumference 371 Jean-Clarence LAMBERT : Stalinade 385