French Literature Reviews - 2026
A. Mounic, L’Inerte ou l’exquis. Pensée poétique, pensée du singulier
Poetry and Poetics
Bibliographic reference: A. Mounic, L’Inerte ou l’exquis. Pensée poétique, pensée du singulier, Honoré Champion, collection "Bibliothèque de littérature générale et comparée", 2017. EAN13: 9782745329325.
Anne Mounic, L’Inerte ou l’exquis. Pensée poétique, pensée du singulier
Paris: Honoré Champion, coll. "Bibliothèque de littérature générale et comparée", 2015.
EAN 9782745329325.
304 p.
Price: 55 EUR
Publisher's overview:
“...not all eyes are suited to appreciating the subtleties of painting. Many have a false or inert eye; they see objects literally, but not the exquisite,” Eugène Delacroix lamented at the end of his journal in 1863. The author of this book seeks to further explore this opposition outlined by the painter of Jacob Wrestling with the Angel in the Church of Saint-Sulpice in Paris. She proposes moving away from the externality and indifference of the object—the inert—to reflect on poetic and artistic creation, adopting instead the perspective of the subject—the exquisite. Beyond the mere result subject to the judgment of taste, this entails recapturing the beginning, or origin, within existential continuity. Thus, a philosophy of the singular is formed, defined not as an individuality confined to its own autobiography, but as an 'I' linked to a 'Thou' in a fruitful intersubjectivity, expressing itself in the mirror-moment that, in the present, reconnects the past to its future, the multiple to its analogy. Meditating, in the spirit of narrative, on the components of the work—alterity and becoming—the critic and poet highlights concepts and figures whose metamorphoses reveal the movement of the inner night in its “active patience,” to borrow René Char’s apt expression. The book calls for a renewal of poetic reflection in our “times of destitution,” with narrative at its singular source acting as a profound guarantor of the integrity of being—our enchantment.
Anne Mounic, who teaches at Paris 3 Sorbonne Nouvelle, is the author of Monde terrible où naître : La voix singulière face à l’Histoire and L’Esprit du récit ou La chair du devenir : Ethique et création littéraire (Champion, 2011 and 2013), as well as two books in English, one on Robert Graves and the other on Katherine Mansfield (Amsterdam, Rodopi, 2012 and 2014). She edited Le questionnement des origines : Benjamin Fondane et Claude Vigée (Champion, 2014). In October 2014, she published a collection of four novellas with Éditions Feuilles, entitled Le Dit du corbeau.
This study situates itself at the intersection of aesthetics, literary criticism, and existential philosophy. By examining Eugène Delacroix's distinction between literal sight and the appreciation of the 'exquisite,' Anne Mounic traces how artistic creation transcends mere objective reality. The work engages with the French tradition of poetic inquiry, drawing on modern poets like René Char to explore the 'active patience' of the creative mind. It redefines the singular not as isolated individualism, but as an existential opening where the self connects deeply with the other, transforming our understanding of how art and literature capture human experience.
By addressing how narrative acts as a guarantor of the integrity of being, this volume helps readers navigate the role of literature in contemporary society. It offers valuable insights into how creative writing and art function as ethical and existential acts of connection. Scholars and students of comparative literature, French poetry, and aesthetics will find this book highly useful. It is particularly relevant for those interested in the dialogue between visual arts and written texts, as well as readers seeking a deeper philosophical understanding of intersubjectivity and the transformative power of the poetic voice.
Table of contents (PDF)