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82 IMAGE [&] NARRATIVE Vol. 21, No.2 (2020)

Beyond the hegemony of thought and the

hedonism of perception

The study of discourse and affect in Gabriel

Josipovici s Contre-Jour: A Triptych after

Pierre Bonnard

Magdalena Sawa

Abstract

The e en a icle ha been in i ed b he ei ing f Gab iel J i ici n el Contre-Jour: A Triptych

after Pierre Bonnard (1986, 2018) cca i ned b he Pie e B nna d e hibi i n The C l f Mem a

the Tate Modern in London in the first half of 2019 (Jan-May). It aims to critically revisit this meticulously c af ed b k in he c n e f ecen de el men i hin a i in ellec al field a ell a J i ici critical and fictional oeuvre. In particular, the correspondence between the novel and affect studies is addressed in terms of the body/mind or, more specifically, affect/discourse dichotomy. As well as the a h in e medial in e e , Contre-Jour e ended ek h a ic jec ( he elemen f hich a e distinctly marked in the ti le f he n el) e eal J i ici e cc a i n i h h man in in ic embodiment as consistent with such contemporary voices as Scherer, Damasio and Wetherell, who argue against prioritising either of the essential elements of human nature. Subordinate to the overarching aim of J i ici ch la l ac i i , namel he d f m de ni m, he di c i n f Contre-Jour comments also on the close affinity between medieval artistic standards and the modernist phenomenological concentration on the structures of experience and consciousness.

Keywords

Affect; discourse; perception; Gabriel Josipovici; Contre-Jour: A Triptych after Pierre Bonnard; contre-jour.

Résumé

Le présent article a été inspiré par la réédition du roman de Gabriel Josipovici Contre-Jour: A Triptych

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la Tate Modern de Londres dans la première moitié de 2019 (janvier-mai). L a icle i e me e ce livre méticuleusement composé à une analyse critique dans le contexte des développements récents de di e e di ci line cien ifi e ain i e cel i de l e c i i e e li ai e de J i ici. Une attention particulière est accordée à la correspondance entre le roman et les recherches affectives par rapport à la relation dichotomique entre le c e l e i , l ci men , en e l affec e le di c . Le je ekphrastique complexe du roman (dont les éléments sont clairement marqués dans le titre) indique non e lemen le eff in e m dia de l a e , mai le galemen n in le bl me de l e i ence h maine inca n e. L a i de de J i ici emble c ncide a ec les opinions de Scherer, Dama i e We he ell i en fa i e n de l men f ndamen a de la na e h maine a d en de a e . S b d nn e a c an d minan de l ac i i cien ifi e de J i ici, a i la recherche sur le mode ni me, l anal e d man Contre-Jour: A Triptych after Pierre Bonnard souligne galemen la ela i n i e en e le anda d de l a m di al e la h n m n l gie m de ni e i e c ncen e la c e de l e ience e de la c n cience.

Mots-clés

Affect; discours; perception; Gabriel Josipovici; Contre-Jour: A Triptych after Pierre Bonnard; contre-jour.

Introduction

As Gabriel Josipovici emini ce in Eg and Af e , he idea f i ing Contre-Jour: A Triptych after Pierre Bonnard began to form in his mind while listening to a radio programme in which he heard someone talking about a Bonnard exhibition at the Pompidou Centre in Paris (63). By an interesting twist of fate, on he cca i n f he Pie e B nna d e hibi i n The C l f Mem a he Ta e M de n in L nd n in the first half of 2019 (Jan-May), Carcanet, a Manchester publishing house, decided to reprint this extraordinary novel which, though enthusiastically reviewed, has not produced an exhaustive scholarly analysis to this day. The reissuing of Contre-Jour with a new cover is a good pretext to critically revisit the text from the perspective of the past years which witnessed significant changes in various intellectual fields and elc med J i ici ne c i ical and fic i nal blica i n . The f ll ing d aim h reinscribe Contre-Jour into this new context with a view to exposing the immediate poignancy and the broad cultural relevance of this meticulously crafted book.

An intermedial writer whose fiction frequently references other arts Ma cel D cham Le Grand Verre in The Big Glass (1991), Bach l h nic ma e iece in Goldberg: Variations (2002), M a e a Così Fan Tutte in Making Mistakes (2010), J e h C nell bi a e c llage-boxes in Hotel Andromeda (2014) Josipovici makes Contre-Jour an extended ekphrastic project1 the most pronounced element of which is an intriguing series of bathing nudes painted by the eponymous French modernist painter, Pierre

1 In my understanding of ekphrasis I follow Valerie Robillard s inclusive representation of the variety of ekphrastic

relations by means of the Scalar Model and the Differential Model. Both schemes clearly indicate that apart from

de ailed de c i i n f indi id al a k ek h a i c m i e al e i h m e neb l ela i n hi i h

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Bonnard. Since, however, the functional potential of ekphrasis far exceeds the aesthetic merits of ekphrastic de c i i n , he in ima e ambiance f B nna d oeuvre, ingeniously retained in the verbal medium, as well as the idea of the medieval triptych and the contre-jour technique, all distinctly marked in the title, e e a a ba i di c i e hich clea l c incide i h ha ince he 1990 ha become the main f c f in e e i hin b adl nde d affec die . J i ici e cc a i n i h h man in in ic embodiment predates the late twentieth century turn to affect while being subordinate to the overarching aim f he a h ch la l activity the study of modernism. Therefore, this belated analysis of

Contre-Jour is intended al e eal J i ici c i ical hinking ab m de n a a e alen and c n i en

throughout his writing career, leaving its mark also on his fiction.

Contre-Jour and the turn to affect

Originally published in 1986, Contre-Jour ea ned Gab iel J i ici acclama i n a ne f he e be i e n a k in he Engli h lang age (N e 15). Af e ea f being denig a ed a an a ed experimentalist in whose fiction the question of form precludes any definite message, Josipovici produced a book which, though not without ambiguities, differs considerably from his previous texts. Perceived as dry and technical (Fludernik, Echoes and Mirrorings 7), Josi ici e e a finall an f med in a medi m f c n lled a i n (N e 15) hile he e ailing ed c i ni m ( e en minimali m) f hi le ielded he all e f a m e adi i nal, de ailed e en a i n. A he a h him elf admi , When it [Contre-Jour] was done, the book felt like a Paradise to the Hell of Migrations and the Purgatory of The

Air We Breathe. A mb e a adi e, b a an a e he nea e I ld e e be able ge ( d. in

Fludernik, Echoes and Mirrorings 18). Josi ici dee c nce n i h he fail e f lang age en e effective interpersonal communication, clearly expressed in his dramatic and fictional compositions whose contingency on a desperate and usually futile linguistic exchange is their distinguishing feature, seems to have reached the moment of exhaustion in Contre-Jour. The question that awaited an urgent reply was profound and rather elusive: what, if not language, might help to sustain human bonds and transcend the alienation inherent in human life?

The proclivity to move beyond language, towards the bodily, intuitive and affective had already manifested i elf in J i ici c i ical h gh in a e ie f lec e he deli e ed in 1981 a Uni e i C llege in London, and which were later published in an almost unchanged form as Writing and the Body (1982). He opens his project by pointing to the elusiveness of bodily experience and thus to the presumed inc ncl i ene f emb died c gni i n: O b die a e, in a en e, m e familia han ur closest friends; and yet they are and will remain mysterious and unfamiliar until we part from them. They are all we have e can e eall be aid ha e hem? (Writing and the Body 1). Further on, he discusses the problem of desire and gratification in the process of reading as well as the mode of self-reflexivity as a way to study time in the embodied presence of the reader and writer. The tension between orality and li e ac in Shake ea e e e and he la da f Kafka ainf l e i ence, he la e fa cina i n i h ge e and an ae he ic f making a he han ne f e e i n (J i ici, Writing and the Body 79) in the art of Picasso and Stravinsky are also brought into focus in the series of perspicacious talks. J i ici concern with the body in life and art ripened into a coherent stance in the essay Touch (1996) he e he a e : F e a e emb died, and i i b die hich gi e c mm n acce he h ical world; in other words we are participators, not spectator , and i i h gh emb dimen ha e a ici a e (6). Itself touching and perceptive, the text enquires into the elemental relation between self and place in

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he c n e f C le idge e , Cha lie Cha lin film, P fic i n, medie al ilg images and sport. Coming between those two salient studies, Contre-Jour eflec in i fic i nal ld J i ici c gi a i n on the tenuous body/mind correspondence, discussed in the novel in terms of the opposition between affect and discourse, a pre-conscious bodily intensity and the realm of abstract and reflective thought to which language is inextricably linked.

H e e , i i n nl a an in ima e an i i n f J i ici e l ing h gh n fic i n ha

Contre-Jour deserves a closer critical a en i n. Al ng ide he a h c i ical eflec i n , hi

inconspicuous book barely 133 pages long appears as a harbinger of a broader cultural shift which has hegem ni ed he ld f cience, hil h and a ince he 1990 . D bi ab he Cartesian dichotomous understanding of the human as unseemly corporeity subjugated to reason and overwhelmed b m de n in i ence n e ali ( he e al n ), c n em a c l e elin i hed he hi he prevalent intellectualism, allowing multidisciplinary studies of affect, the unconscious and the

non-e non-e non-en a i nal non-e . The affec i e n, a hi c l al ef c ing n he ma e ha been d bbed, has its own prominent theoreticians, such as Brian Massumi, Sara Ahmed, Teresa Brennan, Patricia Ticine Cl gh and Meli a G egg, h eak f affec a a e e nal in en i c e nding he a age f m ne e e ien ial a e f he b d an he (Ma mi ii), a b a e f en ial b dil responses, often autonomic res n e , in e ce f c n ci ne (Cl gh, In d c i n 2) and he name e gi e i ce al f ce benea h, al ng ide, gene all other than conscious knowing, vital f ce in i ing be nd em i n (Seig h and G egg 1). The field f affec dies has grown multifarious over the years and become increasingly expansive. The notion of affect has been approached f m he bi ch l gical e ec i e e aining S l an T mkin he f affec , f m he psychoanalytical angle following the postulates of Freud, Lacan and Klein, and from the philosophical standpoint based on the thought of Spinoza, Bergson and Deleuze or that of James, Dewey and Merleau-Ponty. There is hardly a discipline nowadays untouched by the ongoing inquiry into human embodied experience. Social, feminist and political studies are among those most profoundly influenced by the affective research but literature studies and literary criticism have recently also engaged in the debate.2 However compelling, stimulating and refreshing this new approach is, it must be noted that inasmuch as the current conceptual changes are generated by the anti-Cartesian criticism of the simplifying body/mind binarism and the ensuing neglect of the corporeal component, their most radical variants seem to be informed by the same directive, though re-oriented towards the other extreme. For instance, with reference to mid- en ie h cen in ellec al end , Zd a k Radman dec ie he hegem n f h gh , conceptual chauvinism, repressions of representationalism, the dictate of volition, and the dogma of delibe a i n (Radman, P eface ), hile Richa d Sh e man m e hi idea f mae he ic a a di ci line ha he b d e e ience and a f l efa hi ning back in he hea f hil sophy as an art f being (Sh e man 15). In ended a a f m f libe a i n f m he enaci a i nali m f he m de n e i d, hi a f hinking i e im e ce ibl make a ake f De ca e animal machine ( b

e-2 It is impossible in this short introduction to do justice to the proliferation of publications about the aforementioned

aspects of affect studies. The following list may serve as a very preliminary guide for those interested in the topic: Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick and Adam Frank Shame and Its Sisters: A Silvan Tomkins Reader (1995), Jonathan Flatley

Affective Mapping: Melancholia and the Politics of Modernism (2008), Brian Massumi Parables for the Virtual: Movement, Affect, Sensation (2002), Alfonsina Scarinzi (ed.) Aesthetics and the Embodied Mind: Beyond Art Theory and the Cartesian Mind-Body Dichotomy (2015), Ritu Bhatt (ed.) Rethinking Aesthetics: The Role of Body in Design

(2013), Marianne Liljeström and Susanna Paasonen (eds.) Working with Affect in Feminist Readings (2010), Donald R. Wehrs and Thomas Blake (eds.) The Palgrave Handbook of Affect Studies and Textual Criticism (2017), Stephen Ahern Affect Theory and the Literary Critical Practice (2019).

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machine ) h e beha i i b mable nde h i l gical la (C ingham 552) , in contemporary rhetoric, subordinate to the control of the idiosyncratic intelligence and subjectivity of the b d . A Cl gh a g e , ma e ca aci f elf-organization in being in-formational [...] may be the m ca i e and end ing c n ib i n f he affec i e n ( The Affec i e T n 1). Thi enthusiastic approach to our bodily capacities has not won everyone over. Critical commentaries which have accompanied the development of affect studies virtually from its inception are numerous and trenchant.3

J i ici ance n he b d /mind affec /di c e ela i n eem be m e em e a e a he c ncei e f b h a a ma ied. The in e ed c mma bec me g a i if he interrelation is looked at through the prism of Contre-Jour. As this study will attempt to demonstrate, in this little novel the ongoing body/mind debate is allegorically enacted on the microcosmic level of a twisted family life in which a painter, unconditionally enmeshed in the pre-ling i ic, ima and ilen ealm, and hi wife/model, craving discursive communication, seek love and security. This tense marital situation parallels the contemporary positioning of affect which as a lively sensual experience lies beyond the conventional, the cognitive and the discursive. Affect scholars repeatedly stress the limits of reason, and the immediately kn able and c mm nicable (We he ell, Affec and di c e 351). C nnec ed i h he en al, ha ic, corporeal kinae he ic (Blackman and C mb 7), affec e a e be nd he c e f lang age, di c e and meaning. A en i n i gi en in ead he ma icall en ed b die , e ce i n , memories, feelings, forms of muscular movement and propriocep i e e n e ib a i n and h hm (Whe he ell, Affec and di c e 352). S die f affec eme ge h a he cience f n hinking hich e ede emi ic chain f ignifica i n and ling i ic-ba ed c e f meaning making (Clough, Af e d 223).

Since, however, the symbolic relation of the mind and the body or, more specifically, discourse and affect in Contre-Jour is described as strained yet inseverable ab ence f m each he a nl he e l of a deeper sense of one an he e ence (Contre-Jour 23) Josipovici seems to side with the growing number of scholars who acknowledge the import of the elusive bodily experience without losing sight of the indispensability of language-based mental processing and linguistic communication, however flawed and deficient it may be. Following, or rather anticipating, the emergence of a balanced approach, J i ici li e a ice in Contre-Jour can be ie ed a ha m ni ing i h Kla R. Sche e scientific la e ha an e e ien ial i a i n i an e i de f ma i e, nch n ec i men f ma ic and men al e ce (314) An ni Dama i de ic i n f e e da em i nal e e ience a a f nc i nal c n in m (44), a nning l h n (43) f ac i n-reaction circuits which entail both the mind and the body. Margaret Wetherell is a scholar who most vigorously protests against prioritising either of the necessary components of human nature. Convinced that stressing the relational and dialogic aspects of meaning-making can be more fruitful than trying to dismantle affective activity into its bodily and discursive constituents, she prefers to approach affect in terms of affective practices within which bodies and sense-making are treated as equally significant (Affect and Emotion 53). Engaging with philosophical reflection and scientific research which still elaborates on accurate theoretical schemata and scientific elucidation of the nature of the body-mind interconnectedness, the allegorical reading of Contre-Jour aims to show that both bodily and discursive entanglement with the world are indispensable for human existence.

3 For a critical perspective on affect studies see R h Le The n affec : A c i i e (2011); Ma ga e We he ell

Affect and Emotion (2012) and Affec and di c e Wha he blem? F m affec a e ce

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Contre-Jour s elusive stor

The line of interpretation suggested above is a result of careful manoeuvring among the intricacies of J i ici e . N i h anding i a a en acce ibili (Fl de nik, In d c i n ), Contre-Jour retains the high level of structural complexity ty ical f J i ici he k . It consists of three parts and is based on the life and art of Pierre Bonnard. The book seems to be structured such that each section is i en b a diffe en membe f he famil : he da gh e and he m he b antial accounts are followed by a brief letter by the painter. As we read, however, it transpires that the ontological status of the two major sections is hard to determine. The opening dramatic monologues, in which first the daughter and then the mother address each other with a series of recriminations, thematise the problem of a failed mother-daughter relationship presented from opposite perspectives. Seeking to clarify the accrued misunderstandings, both texts consistently undermine the truth-value of the other account as well as its own, with no possibility of ever resolving the tension. Thus we see the daughter unable to recognise her f be ea emen a imagina i n mem : Pe ha i a n eall like ha h gh [ ]. Pe ha none of it happened a I i idl emembe (Contre-Jour 42-43). In a similar way, frequent mentions of he man e c i n n i h a ie a ing a i i he da gh e and h e c ming he alienation are juxtaposed with self-acc a a emen : If I had n been ba en (Contre-Jour 100), or ca eg ical a e i n : We d n ha e a child (Contre-Jour 118).

De i e a n mbe f inc n i encie , he blema ic ec i n f J i ici n el a e c nj ined b the fact that they issue from perplexed minds struggling to come to terms with their own disarrayed and hermetic realities. Thus another interpretative alternative arises according to which both parts

elf-efle i e and mme ical (Fl de nik, Sec nd-Pe n Na a i e 39) are construed as originating from a ingle a h , a ick mind jec ing i n a h l g n he in en ed fig e f he he , ica i l e king he g il and blima ing he agg e i n (Fl de nik, Sec nd-Pe n Na a i e 39). Whe he i is the daughter incorpora ing he m he e ec i e he m he eaking n behalf f he elf a ell as her imaginary daughter remains undecided despite the presence of the closing part 3. In this succinct conclusion, which is an almost verbatim repetition of the letter Bonnard wrote to his friend Henry Matisse, he ain e , he e named Cha le , inf m ne R be ab he dea h f hi ife Anna. The fac ha he B nna d ne e had ff ing and n child i e e men i ned in he ain e b ief n e eemingl ed ce the namele da gh e a me e figmen f he m he imagina i n. Since, h e e , a 3 nei he explicitly evokes nor attempts to elucidate the obscure connection between parts 1 and 2, other lines of interpretation do not appear completely irrelevant. Firstly, it must be noted that the original document incorporated into the novel and tailored to its needs generates a tension between fact and fiction in Contre-Jour intertextual framework so that the biographical background can no longer be relied upon as the

ce f he n el final ignifica i n. M e e , he e angemen f he da gh e f m he famil i e en ed in a 1 a d ama ic ha he ain e fail e men i n hi child h ld n c me a a i e. And finall , ince he da gh e s memories encompass distant images from her early childhood as ell a m e ecen ne f ll ing he m he dea h, a 1 and 2 al ng i h he final le e can be construed as an elegiac commemoration of Anna, relegating her to a merely ghostly presence behind the n el ca ce ac i n.

A hallma k f J i ici fic i n, e al inde e minac make he e i ence f a c he en underlying the narrative of Contre-Jour merely a tentative probability. Although easily misread as such, this tactic is not meant to frustrate or tantalise the reader. It is employed rather to show, on the one hand, J i ici di inclina i n a d he adi i nal eali n el and, n he he , hi affini i h medie al art, understanding of which, Josipovici claims, can help us fathom the nature of the modernist revolution.

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The d f m de ni m ha been J i ici c i ical mi i n and life ime de i n. Al ead in The World and the Book (1971) he formulated an extensive idea of modernism which remained apposite in his subsequent critical works, including the seminal What Ever Happened to Modernism? (2010). He defined he maj m de ni g al a a calling in e i n f he n m and al e n j f he nine een h century, but of Western art and culture since the Renai ance (The World and the Book xvi) and diagnosed m de n a i h he c ming in a a ene [...] f i eca i a and e n ibili (What Ever Happened to Modernism? 11). Wha f he cha ac e i e all he m de n i an in i ence n the fact that what previous generations had taken for the world was only the world seen through the spectacles of habit (Josipovici, The World and the Book xvi). Taking interest in distant pre-modern cultures, as many modernists actually did, can help us cea e e cei e he eme gence f he eali adi i n in e m f i nece a and inel c able g h h gh me f m f Da inian e l i n (J i ici, The World and the Book xviii) and discover what other possibilities were open before the rigid Renaissance norms of verisimilitude settled in. The idea that Contre-Jour lends itself to allegorical reading is a consequence of a m e a en ign f he n el affini i h medie al a i ic anda d . The c nnec i n i immedia el signalled in the metareferential title through the evocation of the triptych format. Bearing in mind the nature of this medieval form while discussing Contre-Jour can help, if not overcome the indeterminacy of the novel, at least find a way through this elusive composition.

The triptych, especially in the form of Christian altar pieces, became widespread in the late Middle Ages. As Shirley Neilsen Blum (5) points out, this tripartite image never constituted a consistent illusionistic unit with a single spatial and temporal realm. The correspondence between individual panels defied naturalistic logic and linearity of the focal-point perspective, with each panel exhibiting its own distinct focal point. Since the medieval rules of representation remained primarily in the service of the spiritual world and the symbolic subject matter, phenomena could be combined and visually re-created regardless of their natural environment. Rather than visual congruency, what mattered was homogeneity of theological ideas. All these qualities, Blum (5) contends, rendered the triptych form cumbersome and anachronistic in the face of the theoretically devised rationalisation of space becoming popular in different parts of fifteenth-century Europe. It is to this medieval anti-realism that Josipovici Contre-Jour seems to claim its full belonging by being concerned primarily with an affectively charged psychic experience, individuated and intimate, denying the rules of rational representation.

The correspondence can be further analysed with reference to the structure of the novel. The general rule concerning the composition of the triptych is that the central panel is much bigger than the side ones whose role is perceived as additive. Although the triptych is always a unique combination of its multiple units, the l ima e meaning e f m he cen e: he cen al anel [ ] i la ge and ca ie he m im an cene in he hie a ical en e (Bl m 4). A lied he n el, hi inf ma i n dain a eading a e n which deviates from the traditional linear and teleological progress of the story. Instead, full attention is claimed for the mother whose testimony begins to constitute the heart of the novel. In the manner of the ancient rhetorical technique of prosopopeia,4 she acquires a voice, speaking from and against apparently inn cen d me ic in e i f he h band ain ing . De i e he e iden di i n in i e be een he ide ec i n f J i ici n el, b h he m he -daughter and the husband-wife relation should be carefully studied, especially since the disparity between those two parts betokens the main problem of the novel. On the one hand, the verbose exchange between the mother and the daughter represents craving for the fulfilment of the communicative potential of lang age: I d n kn ha d e me a [ ].

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B I ha e eak. I ha e ell (Contre-Jour 55). On he he , he ain e e e le e in hi distrust of language and his enmeshment instead in the realm of perception, defined by Maurice Merleau-Ponty as primary, pre-reflexive bodily participation in the world.

Affective perception

Merleau-P n hen men l g laid he f nda i n f he c n em a in en ified d f he embodied mind. Equally importantly, it served as a direct inspiration for Gabriel Josipovici. As he rightly put it in Touch, Merleau-P n ha d ne m e han an ne el e d a hi fac [ f h man emb died e e ience] a en i n and d a he c n e ence f m i (6). Refe ing kinae he ic, li ed-body experience of the world, the notion of perception played a crucial role in Merleau-P n hinking a a way to counter the prevailing belief in the sciences and the mid-century analytic philosophy that the abstract, objective view of the world constituted a complete and exhaustive representation of reality. Merleau-P n aim a enc age he c gni ance f he fac ha hi cien ific ie in , disconnected from any individual experience, is neither autonomous nor complete as it is always contingent on prior human engagement (Quinn 10). Therefore, he speaks of the body-subject and argues forcefully that consciousness is incarnate in the world. The separation between subject (the knowing mind) and object (the known body), and thus between the mental and the physical, does not have a place in Merleau-P n philosophy which categorically rejects this sort of dualism.

Although Merleau-Ponty devoted all of his nearly 600-page study Phenomenology of Perception to the elucidation of the fundamen al e e ience filled i h a la f c l , n i e and flee ing ac ile en a i n (Phenomenology of Perception xi), he maintained that philosophical language could never grasp the dynamics of our primordial, pre-reflexive and pre-scientific entanglement with reality. The best way to approach the essence of perception, according to Merleau-Ponty, was through art. He valued above all modernist visions of the late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century artists, frequently citing the examples of paintings by Cézanne, Griss, Braque and Picasso. While in Phenomenology of Perception he bem an he im ibili f e e achie ing a c m le e hen men l gical epoché or bracketing of the na al a i de (Q inn 13), in he 1945 a icle C anne D b he e l gi e he ain e e a dina ability to express in the medium of paint what phenomenology could only hint at in philosophical language. There are indeed numerous correlatives between Merleau-P n idea f e ce i n and a i ali ie f C anne a a c n ed b he hil he : C anne did n hink he had ch e be een feeling and thought, as if he were deciding between chaos and order. He did not want to separate the stable things which we see and the shifting way in which they appear; he wanted to depict matter as it takes on form, the bi h f de h gh n ane gani a i n ( C anne D b 63). In e e ingl , he e a e al many parallels between the artistic aims of Cézanne and Bonnard (the real as well as the fictional one), showing both as striving to reach beyond the conscious, the rational and the discursive.

Withdrawn from the world, eccentric and solitary, Cézanne expressed through his art the chronic lemen a he being-in-the-world with others and with other hing (B d k 128), hich e lained hi f e en endenc aband n him elf a cha f en e-da a (Me lea -Ponty, Phenomenology 23). An ine Te a e n ice imila ali ie in B nna d and de c ibe he a i e n e life a ne f silence and i e, c n em la i n and ince an b e a i n (13). F al a he a b e ing and noting down what he saw and felt, drawing and painting everything that lived and moved around him that indeed a he nl hing he an ed d , hi life ca i n (Te a e 13). Like C anne, he a e icen

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and h , a iding e e ible chance f le ing hi feeling c me in he en hen eaking (Brodskaya 52). Inasmuch as Josipovici plays in Contre-Jour with information concerning the Bonnards daughter, he constructs the character of the painter by remaining faithful to his biographical portrayals. Hence, he a i eme ge f m hi ife and da gh e acc n a in e ed and elf-effacing: He a not much present to anyone else. Not remote exactly, but reserved, ironical, as if he knew the limitations of c mm nica i n, f e e i n and a he enj ed hem (Contre-Jour 23). Constantly preoccupied with his own work, he spent days sketching, drawing and finally painting whatever surrounded him. His relentless fa cina i n i h he in de ail f dail e i ence made him belie e ha he e a m e han en gh in j ne m kee cc ied f a life ime (Contre-Jour 48). At one point in the novel he explains his own aesthetics in he f ll ing d : E e hing i a bjec f ain ing [...]. The e i n hing ha i n a m e . L k a he ela i n f hi la e ha . Of hand he edge f he able. L k a he way the light falls on this finger and across. Then look at what happens to the light when the curtain blows. The diffic l [...] i n be ed ced b all ha ake lace in f n f (Contre-Jour 92). Since, h e e , [n] m men a e he ame (Contre-Jour 56), he cannot help but be seduced, genuinely unable to resist the existential attraction of the surrounding world, whereby he mimics Cé anne ne e ending in e ga i n (B d k 128) f eali . Like hi g ea edece , B nna d eca e and converts into visible objects what would, without him, remain walled-up in the separate life of each c n ci ne : he ib a i n f a ea ance hich i he c adle f hing (Q inn 15).

The e ence f he g ea m de ni a i in man a n n m i h he na e f affec hich, at once in ima e and im e nal, i e lained a force or forces f enc n e (Seig h and G egg 2), he this-ness f a ld and a b d (Seig h and G egg 3), he fel ali ene (Cl gh, In d c i n 2). Sla i hl a ac ed he e ane cen all e f life, B nna d and Cézanne manage to achie e he i all im ible b being able ca e affec i e in en i , la ba e he f ll d namic enc n e i h he ld (B d k 128).

Language as relief

The ignanc f J i ici n el lie in he a i de ic he a i compelling need to be overpowered by the sheer (co)existence of things and persons. Itself painful because insatiable, this edilec i n inflic ffe ing n he . In he fic i nal e i n f B nna d ma i al i a i n, hi ife quickly becomes aware f he n ma ginal i i n in he h band dail ine, he ha e i ence a the edge of his consciousness. The most distressing realization comes, however, when she begins to nde and ha he c n an e ence in B nna d ain ing , hich he ok as a sign of interest and deep affection, is utterly inconsequential. What seems to arrest his attention is the rhythmic attunement of her figure to the surrounding shapes and shades; her bodily, object-like e ence, hich c nfe n B nna d paintings a peculiar sort of balance and poses a challenge for the viewer for whom it is difficult to decide he he he/ he i l king a a de ic i n f a m enli ened b he e ence f a h man fig e, a gen e scene where the interior serves as a background (B d ka a 144). The ef e, he c m lain : I i intolerable to be looked at like this, dispassionately, relentlessly, day after day. It may be that which brought on the rash. The intensity of his gaze. Its impersonality. It was not me he was looking at. I might as ell ha e been dead, a c e (Contre-Jour 85). Imm ed in he h band affec i e i i n , he eem have lost the ability to speak. Constantly exposed to his acquisitive sight, she is devoid also of intimacy and spontaneity of movement. The e en f he mi e i e e ed a f ll : N he e i nl ilence. The em ine . And he nd f hi encil. [ ] I cann ell him h I d ead he nd f hi encil (Contre-Jour 91).

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A graceful muse whose distinct bird-like quality was stre ed b B nna d bi g a he (Te a e 38) and echoed by Josipovici (Contre-Jour 47, 57), Anna (the fictional Marthe Bonnard) tries initially not to impose herself on the artist, allowing him to pursue his secular devotion. With time, however, their relati n hi g ained and ilen , filled i h immen e affec i e en i n: A if, e en af e all h e ea , he e a a h ne be een . Thing ha c ld n be ken. B e e fel (Contre-Jour 56-57). The oppressive wordless existence she is forced to lead, the artistic objectification she is subject to as well as the relentlessness of artistic inspiration which she cannot rival make her react somatically to the surrounding pressure. Gnawing from the inside, her despair takes the form of a skin condition which manifests itself in persistent itching and turns Anna into a compulsive bather. Taking into consideration J i ici in e e in ch anal ic he ie , hich he ackn ledge in Writing and the Body (130), the whole situation might be vie ed in e m f he hen men n f h e ical c n e i n (B e e and F e d 214). This popular concept of the symbolic transposition of psychic conflicts into somatic symptoms by the unconscious mind was propounded by Freud and Breuer in Studies on Hysteria. That Josipovici is well familiar and still enthralled with this observation shows in one of his recent novels, Hotel Andromeda (2014), he e he main he ine e f m he af emen i ned k: He ainf l leg began j in he c n e a i n (Hotel Andromeda 57, Studies on Hysteria 148). The idea of what was later termed ma i a i n i ef m la ed he e a he f ll ing a emen : If cann eak hen i eem be a la f na e ha b d ill eak f (Hotel Andromeda 56-57). Accordingly, the vehemence of b e ed m m ma indica e Anna enf ced adj men he nl c mm nica i e channel a ailable the bodily one. Her deteriorating physical condition indicative of growing mental distress is tantamount to screaming, albei ne e iced: He i ilen n , b ill mile him elf. Tha sometimes makes me want to scream. I look at him and open mouth to scream. He puts up a hand and says: Plea e. N (Contre-Jour 92). What ensues is a vicious circle in which her melancholy and neurotic c m l i n, eci i a ed b he ain e c n an e cc a i n i h a , bec me f him e en m e compelling sources of inspiration and, as it seems, a way to evade the increasingly problematic domestic condition. Enrapt and unre n i e, he f ll he e e he e in an alm i ali ic hi : When turned your face to the wall and cried he sat in a corner sketching. When you sat at the table, your face in your hands, he watched and sketched. When you went into the bathroom and turned on the water he f ll ed and e led d n i h encil and a e in ne f he chai in he c ne (Contre-Jour 56). Prior to articulating her anguish in the substantial middle section of Contre-Jour, the woman endeavours to elicit a reaction from her husband by dropping brief verbal messages often cryptic and vexing in different places of the house. In order to make it explicit that her actions are meant to tease the painter out of the realm of perception, she produces her desperate notes using his artistic items, stopping short of writing directly on his freshly completed paintings. The word-image opposition is construed by Anna as f ndamen al. The a e me age , he a , The a e n W k f A (Contre-Jour 97), and explains f he : The a e n bjec f al e. [ ] The a e he e f a e (Contre-Jour 98). Contrary to the concerns of many modernist (and post-modernist) writers, language is not presented here as impaired. In his later publications Josipovici still doubts the communicative efficacy of language and asks a series of c i ical and ca i e e i n : Wh h ld e ha e de el ed in he animal hich d e n kn what it wants? And is that development in some way bound up with the use of language? Is it not possible

hen ee he de el men f h man lang age a a ickne a he han a a ce f ide? (Moo Pak 142). However, in Contre-Jour language is craved for as it provides solace and understanding. Convinced f he he a e ic ca ha ic e f e bal e ance, F e d belie ed ha if he iginal e e ience, along with its affect, can be brought into consciousness, the affect is by that very fact discharged or ab eac ed , he f ce ha ha main ained he m m cea e e a e and the symptom itself

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di a ea (Studies on Hysteria i ). If ha can a age Anna chic ain i ling i ic e e i n, i i possible to surmise that in the manner of typically modernist depersonalisation, which, quite ironically, allowed the author to speak his mind, she invents her imaginary daughter as a vehicle for voicing her struggle. Therefore, in the ever-present tension between the linear and centrifugal reading of the novel, the e g e e f m he ng man na a i n, f ll f age, f a ed l e, h ili and de ai (Best 476), to a dismal and melancholic version of the mother, which, however, ends with a feeling of c ncilia i n and a ea emen : I ha e ne e an ed an ne el e. J be i h him. T kn ha he i there. [ ] One g in he habi f he e hing (Contre-Jour 132-133). Whether merely a product of he man hall cina i n a fic i nal cha ac e e (a c m le i im ible f ll e c me in the case of Contre-Jour), the daughter and her compulsion to speak provide a counterbalance for the extra-discursive, bodily involvement of the painter, whereby also the triptych structure acquires an allegorical e ilib i m, c ea ing a mb lic image f a h man a a i e in hich m l i le ce f ac i a ion and information about body states, situations, past experiences, linguistic forms, flowering thoughts, etc. bec me en ge he (We he ell, Affect and Emotion 22).

The metaphor of contre-jour

Fea ing in he i le f J i ici n el, he name f the painterly and photographic technique of contre-j ( again da ligh ) a ea al in ain ing b B nna d (Fl de nik, Sec nd-Pe n Na a i e 39-40). Interestingly, one of them is a depiction of an elderly woman while the other represents a young nude, a variation on which much of Contre-Jour seems to be based. It is not, however, as Fludernik notes ( Sec nd-Pe n Na a i e 40), he all i e e ca i n f h e ic e a m ch a he c n e-jour technique employed in both of them that l ma e in he c n e f J i ici e . Thi me h d f creating images consists in capturing the source of light in the reproduced scene. Rather than helping to accentuate details, light tends to predominate the entire image obliterating its minutiae; the contrast between light and dark sharpens while the colours grow dim or display unusual shades. Given the effect of obscurity, ambiguity and imprecision that contre-jour produces, it can be viewed as an apt metaphorical representation of the ambi alen ela i n be een he c n e a f he m he and he da gh e acc n hich, in a i e a ad ical fa hi n, balance and cancel ne an he (R en 230).

The seventeenth-century painters who popularised this way of rendering a scene valued the contre-jour technique for still different merits:

This method could be construed as a pointedly anti-theatrical and anti-classical device since such effects occur frequently in actual experience but were impossible on the traditional stage. The coulisses with the side lightning of stage convention appeared in the landscape painting that were committed to classical ideals the beauty of proportionate arrangement within fixed boundaries. Ligh ing a cene f m he ea , a if da le he ie e e e , and unman him shows an opposing interest in recording natural phenomena for their direct emotional claims, expressly to show how different those are from idealizing formulas. (Hollander 159-60)

To the somehow taut harmony of light and shade, characteristic of contre-jour, yet another opposition is added between the natural and the conventional or constructed. Coupled with the idea of background illumination functioning in phenomenology, the contre-jour technique signifies metaphorically to illustrate al he b d /mind affec /di c e in e ela i n. E lained a a h li ic a m he e, an ambien ligh

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or a world that we are always already in (D e f 5), backg nd i c n ed b Me lea -Ponty as an am n e ce i n: Pe ce i n i n a cience of the world, it is not even an act, a deliberate taking f a i i n; i i he backg nd f m hich all ac and , and i e ed b hem (Phenomenology of Perception xi). The philosopher clearly advocates a balance between background emb died e ce i n and f eg nd c n ci ea ning ha nei he bli e a e he he : Ligh ing and reflection [...] play their part only if they remain in the background as discreet intermediaries, and lead

ga e in ead f a e ing i (Phenomenology of Perception 361).

J a he man ( a he han G d he Fa he ) d in J i ici verbal triptych never seems to become the body, so too is it impossible to relieve the tension between the mind and the body or between affect and discourse in our earthly existence. It is therefore only natural that the embodied perception became a constant source of inspiration for many modernist artists for whom medieval artistic standards, governed by spiritual involvement and theological truth, were replaced with phenomenological worship of the structures of experience and consciousness. As Ariane Mildenberg observes,

For many modernist writers and artists, religious faith gives way to a self-recollection of sorts through epiphanies of the everyday the expression of an almost sacred radiance of the sights, sounds and senses of daily life; the extraordinary in the ordinary; the creative in normality. Fiction bec me eme fic i n in he d f Wallace S e en , ca ing he li ing m emen be een mute perception and words, an ongoing movement toward, unfinished and infinite. (24)

This explains also why contemporary affect scholars frequently resort to modernist texts in the search for their basic research material.5

Conclusions

When describing a significant theatrical experience from 1967, Josipovici writes:

The nl e en a he ha e ing f he gla in a m men f a a ic la e ci emen . Ye ha la and performance rivetted [sic] me in a way I had never been rivetted [sic] in the theatre. There was no plot, no dénouement, but by the time the hour was up we had all been through a very great deal me hing had been ha ening he e bef e in ha mall m [ ] I had nde d ha he theatre could be about. (qtd. in Fludernik, Echoes and Mirrorings 214)

Al h gh in i ed b a hea ical d c i n, hi m men affec ed n nl J i ici d ama ic e e a it can be seen reflected in Contre-Jour where discourse consistently refuses to yield a harmonious and meaningful story, transmitting instead a great dose of affective agitation. Through this a-signifying, affective narrative Josipovici calls into question not only the plot-centred nature of traditional narrative, but also the notion of the event6 as well as the modern tradition of meaning-making. More importantly,

5 Some interesting studies of affect in the context of modernism include: Jonathan Flatley Affective Mapping: Melancholia and the Politics of Modernism (2008), Rochelle Rives Modernist Impersonalities: Affect, Authority and the Subject (2012), Julie Taylor Djuna Barnes and Affective Modernism (2012), Marta Figlerowicz Spaces of Feeling: Affect and Awareness in Modernist Literature (2017).

6 Cf. Magdalena Rembowska-P ciennik, Enac ing Emb died E en in Na a i e P ce ing. Textualia, vol.1, no.

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however, through this peculiar narratological construct, informed by a variety of ekphrastic references, he points to the inevitable entanglement of affect and discourse which can effectively coexist in literature. To m , in kee ing i h he e all medie al ben f J i ici n el, i can be aid ha J i ici achieves in Contre-Jour what Dante achieved in his Divine Comedy ha he la d f J i ici e a Ea ing Y W d : Dan e a M de ni can a l c ncl de hi n la eff in Contre-Jour: Dan e gge , I hink, ha nl b acce ing h cl e e a e bab h d, be iali , can e find he springs of generosity that, with the right discipline, can lead to the founding of the City of God and the writing not just of the Inferno, but of the Purgatorio and the Paradiso a ell (Text and Voice 47).

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Magdalena Sawa, Ph.D. Assistant Professor at The Department of English Literature and Culture, The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin. She is the author of a monograph entitled Ekphrasis in Modern British Fiction a Pro-narrative Approach (2015). She is keen to explore the problems of modern British fiction, the theory of narrative and interart relations (literature and the visual arts). Her recent scholarly in e e in l e affec he and Gab iel J i ici i ing.

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