French Literature Reviews - 2026

É. Marty, L'engagement estatico. Su René Char (Italian translation)
Poetry and Poetics

Éric Marty, L'Engagement extatique. Sur René Char,

(L'Engagement extatique. Sur René Char, Paris, Manucius, coll. "Le marteau sans maître", 2008)

translated into Italian by Paolo Tamassia, published by Quodlibet.

Quodlibet, collection "Quodlibet Studio Lettere", 2020.

EAN13 : 9788822905444.

Among the greatest poets of the 20th century, René Char was briefly associated with Surrealism before embarking on a thoroughly distinct path, though he maintained intellectual and friendly relations with major figures of 20th-century French culture and beyond, including Camus, Bataille, Blanchot, and Celan. During the Second World War, he took a direct part in the Resistance, fighting under the legendary nom de guerre of Capitaine Alexandre. Through a subtle poetic and philosophical reading of his work (particularly Feuillets d’Hypnos), Éric Marty addresses the delicate question of the poet's engagement during the dark years of Nazi occupation, an engagement that took shape in ways quite distinct from the political commitment advocated by the Surrealists or Sartre. What emerges is a highly original stance developed by Char during this period of armed struggle, when he chose to publish nothing while continuing to write and reflect on poetry. He faced a situation so thoroughly shaped by "terror" that it seemed both "inconceivable" and "unnamable": the world had derailed from the ordinary course of history, rendering conventional discourse inadequate. For the same reasons, familiar mechanisms of opposition or resistance proved entirely ineffective. The only viable path lay in a "reversal" of the situation brought about by a poetry that articulates the two movements of what Marty terms ecstatic engagement: anguish and ecstasy.

CONTENTS

Ecstatic Engagement

Commentary on Fragment 178 of Feuillets d’Hypnos

Poetry and Action: The Char Case, by Paolo Tamassia

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Éric Marty, writer and essayist, teaches at Université de Paris Diderot. He has published numerous books, including Roland Barthes: la littérature et le droit à la mort (2010) and Pourquoi le XXe siècle a-t-il pris Sade au sérieux? (2011), as well as several novels, such as La Fille (2015). He edited the Œuvres complètes of Roland Barthes for Éditions du Seuil (2002) and is a leading specialist in the work of René Char.

The study of French poetry during the Second World War often centers on the tension between artistic creation and political responsibility. René Char, a pivotal figure in 20th-century literature, moved away from the Surrealist movement to develop a singular voice. His wartime experiences, notably his role as Capitaine Alexandre, influenced his writing, particularly in Feuillets d’Hypnos. This work reflects the challenges of maintaining poetic integrity when faced with the extreme historical conditions of Nazi occupation, a period that altered the relationship between the poet and public discourse.

Éric Marty examines how Char navigated the impossibility of traditional political commitment through what he terms ecstatic engagement, defined by anguish and ecstasy. The text addresses the inadequacy of conventional language in the face of terror and the derailment of history. Readers interested in the intersection of 20th-century French literature and the philosophical implications of the Resistance may find this examination of Char's creative trajectory during the war years relevant.