Spaced, Displaced: Déplacements Dégagements

by Henri Michaux, David Constantine, Helen Constantine

Henri Michaux (1899-1984) is one of the notable travellers of modern French not only to the Amazon and the Far East, but into the strange hinterland of his own inner space, the surprises and shocks of which he has never ceased to explore as a foreign country in their own right, and a language to be learned. Fired by the same explorer’s appetite, he has delved into the realm of mescaline and other drugs, and his wartime poetry, part of a private “resistance” movement of extraordinary density and energy, has advertised his view of the poetic act as a form of exorcism. His insatiable thirst for new artistic expressions of himself made him one of the most aggressive and disquieting of contemporary French painters. If he is close to anyone, it is to Klee and Pollock, but he was as much inspired by Oriental graphic arts. Déplacements Dégagements (1985), though the experience of an octogenarian, has all the hallmarks of Michaux’s most dynamic poetry testing itself dangerously at the frontiers, acutely analytical, linguistically versatile and full of surprising insights into previously undiscovered movements of the mind.

Paperback

First published January 23, 1985

About the author

Henri Michaux was a highly idiosyncratic Belgian poet, writer and painter who wrote in the French language. Michaux is best known for his esoteric books written in a highly accessible style, and his body of work includes poetry, travelogues, and art criticism. Michaux travelled widely, tried his hand at several careers, and experimented with drugs, the latter resulting in two of his most intriguing works, Miserable Miracle and The Major Ordeals of the Mind and the Countless Minor Ones.

Reviews

[Cobertizo · Rating 4 out of 5]

"¿Por qué toco mi tambor?

Para abrir una brecha en tus diques,
para cortar por la cola de nuevos estorbadores,
para auscultarlme a mí mismo,
para tomarme el pulso

Quiero que mis trazos sean el fraseo mismo de la vida, pero elástico, deformable, sinuoso"

[Gabriel · Rating 4 out of 5]

On retrouve là le style démantelé, éclaté mais doux et poétique de Michaux.
Personnellement mes parties préférées de ce livre sont celle sur l'enfance, prodigieuse. Et celle sur la drogue, complètement folle.