Abstract
This chapter explores the complex and fluid relationship between form and formlessness through a range of literary and visual works. Georges Bataille's definition of the formless (informe) in the dissident Surrealist journal Documents (1929) provides the starting point for a trajectory that encompasses the dissolution of language in Lettrism, the dystopian art of Tetsumi Kudo and the powerful intermedia work of contemporary poet Caroline Bergvall.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | What Forms Can Do |
Subtitle of host publication | The Work of Form in 20th- and 21st- Century French Literature and Thought |
Editors | Patrick Crowley, Shirley Jordan |
Place of Publication | Liverpool |
Publisher | Liverpool University Press |
Chapter | 17 |
Pages | 271-286 |
Number of pages | 16 |
ISBN (Print) | 978-1-789-62065-8 |
Publication status | Published - 26 Feb 2020 |
Keywords
- French literature
- French visual arts
- French poetry
- Georges Bataille
- Roland Barthes
- Bernard Réquichot
- Tetsumi Kudo
- Caroline Bergvall
- Documents 1929-30