French Literature Reviews - 2026
B. Peeters, Ecrire l'image. Un itinéraire
Literary Theory, Linguistics and Stylistics
Ecrire l'image - Un itinéraire
Benoît Peeters
Published on: 06/01/2009
Publisher: Impressions nouvelles (Les)
Collection: Réflexions faites
ISBN: 978-2-87449-059-0
EAN: 9782874490590
No. of pages: 158 pages
Publisher price: 16.00€
Part essay and part intellectual autobiography, this short book aims to offer both a state-of-the-art overview and a broader perspective: after more than thirty years of highly diverse, not to say eclectic publications, Benoît Peeters seeks here to retrace, or perhaps discover, the coherence of his journey.
In this essay, supported by numerous illustrations, he reflects on his experience as a comic strip writer (with François Schuiten and Frédéric Boilet), creator of photographic narratives (with Marie-Françoise Plissart), and filmmaker (with Raoul Ruiz). Above all, as a historian and theorist, he delivers an original reflection on the narrative image and its metamorphoses.
Benoît Peeters was born in Paris in 1956.
After obtaining a degree in philosophy from the Sorbonne, he prepared his diploma at the École pratique des Hautes Études under the supervision of Roland Barthes. He holds an Habilitation à diriger les recherches (HDR). He published his first novel, Omnibus, in 1976 with Éditions de Minuit, and has devoted himself entirely to writing since 1982, undertaking diverse projects in scriptwriting, criticism, publishing, and exhibition design.
A recognized specialist on Hergé, he has published three works that have become classics: Le Monde d'Hergé, Hergé fils de Tintin, and Lire Tintin - les bijoux ravis. He is also the author of numerous essays on comics, scriptwriting, and collaborative writing, as well as on Hitchcock, Paul Valéry, and Nadar. Since 1983, he has been developing the series *The Obscure Cities* (*Les Cités obscures*) with François Schuiten, with sixteen albums published by Casterman.
They have won numerous awards and have been translated into about ten languages. He has directed three short films, several documentaries, and a feature film, *The Last Shot* (*Le dernier plan*).
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In Libération on 07/05/2009: The photonovel of the 1970s
Image. The modernity of the era analyzed by Belgian writer Benoît Peeters.
by ÉRIC AESCHIMANN
What remains of the 1970s? What remains of the intellectual effervescence that blended theoretical discussions and experimental practices, the reinterpretation of classics and the exploration of popular arts? From the very first page, Benoît Peeters sets his equation: "Back then, in the mid-1970s, modernity reigned." This modernity, "as we understood it at the time, corresponded to a somewhat fuzzy ensemble ranging from the Nouveau Roman to Tel Quel, and from Althusser to Lacan, via Foucault, Derrida, and a few others. I immersed myself in their works with constant enthusiasm. They seemed to belong to the same landscape [...] that shaped me forever." In short, what remains of modernity?
What remains, for instance, is a body of work like that of Benoît Peeters—writer, scriptwriter of the series *The Obscure Cities* (with artist François Schuiten), and comic book theorist. With *Ecrire l'image*, Peeters retraces his trajectory as a creator who, in the wake of his formative years, has continually invented new forms, combining critical reflection with creative practice. A sign of the freedom one granted oneself back then: after working on Tintin alongside Barthes, Peeters returned to Brussels, where he found a comic book scene likewise in a state of ferment. "The prevailing feeling was that all graphical audacities were possible and desirable." Changes in length, format, and content, the use of photography, the intrusion of readers: with every album of *The Obscure Cities*, Peeters and Schuiten turned "every new challenge into a narrative or figurative one."
Peeters's forays into the photonovel provide another example of this desire for modernity. Here, he recounts how he repeatedly attempted to take hold of the genre to turn it into a fully artistic form. In vain. Why was what proved possible for comics not possible for the photonovel? Peeters perhaps offers an answer by dwelling on two decisive figures: Rodolphe Töpffer, a nineteenth-century pioneer of the comic strip, and Hergé. In both cases, the desire to be understood by children gave birth to an aesthetics aimed at reducing each character to a few essential, almost abstract traits. "Töpffer regularly insisted on the primacy of the idea over execution; Hergé emphasized that his drawing was 'cerebral'." This same Hergé of whom he notes later that he "wanted to bring everything into his albums: his curiosities and anxieties, his passions and dreams, his sensitivity to the century."
Striving for abstraction to attain the universal—such was the masterstroke of modernity, which the 1970s pushed to its extreme. And even if, in the 1980s, "all of this unraveled at a rapid pace, as though what we had taken for genuine breakthroughs rested, to a large extent, on a mere optical illusion, the spirit of the era has continued to bear fruit."
This short book is part essay and part intellectual autobiography, reflecting on decades of diverse creative output. The text addresses the author's trajectory across comic strips, photographic narratives, and filmmaking, while delivering a reflection on the narrative image and its metamorphoses. Supported by numerous illustrations, the work combines personal recollection with critical analysis, engaging with figures such as Rodolphe Töpffer and Hergé. Readers interested in contemporary French-language essays and the theory of visual storytelling may find it relevant.
The publication revisits the intellectual climate of the mid-1970s, touching upon the currents of modernity associated with the Nouveau Roman and Tel Quel. Drawing on the author's background in philosophy and his studies under Roland Barthes, the book connects these formative theoretical influences with practical experiments in scriptwriting and collaborative creation. It highlights a period of intense artistic ferment, tracing how experimental practices shaped a lasting commitment to exploring the boundaries between text and image across various media formats.