French Literature Reviews - 2026
The Aesthetics of Testimony
Literary Theory, Linguistics and Stylistics
The Aesthetics of Testimony (Esthétique du témoignage), Éditions de la Maison des Sciences de l'Homme, edited by Renaud Dulong and Carole Dornier, 2005, XIX-416 pages,
Notes, bibliographies, ISBN 2-7351-1052-4, Price: 29 euros.
Fidelity to an event often appears to demand a rejection of aesthetics and style in favor of a strict restitution of facts: the form taken by testimony should remain transparent to what was actually experienced. Yet, does this very ambition for fidelity not lead certain witnesses, or those seeking to disseminate testimony, to pursue the most apt expression for conveying experience? This may involve elaborate formatting, whether through literary writing, an editorial framework, a theatrical performance, or cinematic fiction. Confrontation with a past event thus sometimes sets one on the path of aesthetic research—acting as a kind of antidote to realist illusion, and at times revealing lived reality more authentically than a distanced approach relying on artifactual procedures or self-conscious modalization. This volume emphasizes that art
can serve as a pledge of fidelity to experience and as a means of elevating testimony into a work of art, or even a monument, thereby securing the audience and enduring presence it needs to fulfill its function of revelation or warning.
Authors:
Vincent AMIEIL, Ruth AMOSSY, Bruno BLANCKEMAN, Michelle BOKOBZA KAHAN, Carole DORNIER, Renaud DULONG, Anthony FIANT, Emmanuel FINKIEL, François-Charles GAUDARD, Anne GOURIO, Guillaume GRANOAZZI, Laure HIMY-PLÉRY, Jennifer KILGORE, Dominique LEGALLOLS, Frederick LEMARCHAND, Philippe MESNARD, Dominique MONCOND'HUY, Marie-Louise OLLÉ, François RASTIER, Michaël RINN, Frédéric ROUSSEAU, Henri SCEPI, Denise SCHRÖPFER, Léonard SMITH,
Carine TREVISAN, Luc VIGIER, Régine WAINTRATER.
Table of Contents
Introduction,
CAROLE DORNIER and RENAUD DULONG
I. POETICS/RHETORIC OF TESTIMONY
FRÉDÉRIC ROUSSEAU
How to Write About War? The Norton Cru Affair
RUTH AMOSSY
Literary Writing in Wartime Testimony: Accounts of Nurses from 1914–1918
RÉGINE WAINTRATER
Can We Speak of a Rhetoric of Trauma?
MICHAËL RINN
Imre Kertész: Writing the Extreme Contemporary
JENNIFER KILGORE
The Poetry of History's Forgotten: "September Song" and the Poetry of Geoffrey Hill
II. FICTIONS OF MEMORY
CAROLE DORNIER
Are All Stories Fictions?
MARIE-LOUISE OLLÉ
Re-presenting Horror: Testimonies on the 36-Year War in Guatemala
DOMINIQUE MONCOND'HUY and HENRI SCEPI
The Witness Passes: On Photographs by Claude Pauquet
FRANÇOIS-CHARLES GAUDARD
The Literarization of the Event
FRANÇOIS RASTIER
The Art of Testimony
III. WRITING AND THE EXPERIENCE OF THE SELF
PHILIPPE MESNARD
At the Intersection of Perspectives
LAURE HIMY-PLÉRI
"Perhaps the children will ask questions..." Reflections on Art and Fiction in Perec and Bober
BRUNO BLANCKEMAN
Dying Live: The Case of Hervé Guibert
ANNE GOURIO AND DOMINIQUE LEGALLOIS
Michaux, the Hallucinated Witness
LEONARD V. SMITH
Jean Norton Cru and the Aesthetics of Objectivity
RENAUD DULONG
Transmitting Body to Body
IV. CONVEYORS OF TESTIMONY
CARINE TREVISAN
Henri Galet, *The Walls of Fresnes*, 1945: An Art of Listening
LUC VIGIER
Cast Shadows: The Scribe, the Witness, and the Conveyor in Louis Aragon’s *The Communist Man* (1946)
MICHELE BOKOBZA KAHAN
Collection of Miracles: The Convulsionaries of Saint-Médard (1727–1732)
ANTONY FIANT
Poetics of the Gaze upon the World in Recent Documentaries
GUILLAUME GRANDAZZI AND FREDERICK LEMARCHAND
Witnesses of the Future: Living with Catastrophe
DENISE SCHRÖPFER
"Appearance" in Contemporary Theatre: Between Singularity and Orality
V. "VOYAGES"
FILM BY EMMANUEL FINKIEL
EMMANUEL FINKIEL, Screenplay of the Film *Voyages*
A conversation with Emmanuel Finkiel, moderated by VINCENT AMIEL.
Dissemination-Distribution
131, Boulevard Saint-Michel 75005 Paris
(33) 01435447-15
(33) 01 40 51 02 80
cid(a)msh-paris.fr
The tension between the desire for objective accuracy and the use of stylistic devices is a central concern in the study of historical and personal accounts. While testimony is often expected to remain transparent to the events it describes, this volume explores how literary, theatrical, and cinematic forms can act as vehicles for conveying lived experience. By examining the intersection of rhetoric, memory, and narrative, the collection investigates how aesthetic choices may serve as a means of preserving the integrity of a witness's account, potentially transforming a report into a lasting monument.
The essays gathered here address a wide range of media, including documentary film, photography, and various forms of written narrative, to analyze how the past is mediated for contemporary audiences. By considering the roles of the witness, the scribe, and the conveyor, the volume highlights how artistic framing can function as an antidote to realist illusion. Readers interested in the intersection of trauma studies, historiography, and the philosophy of language may find this interdisciplinary examination of the poetics of memory and the representation of extreme events relevant to their research.