Poetry Criticism | Char, René - Paulène Aspel (review date spring 1980)

Paulène Aspel (review date spring 1980)

SOURCE: Aspel, Paulène. Review of Fenêtres dormantes et porte sur le toit. World Literature Today 54, no. 2 (spring 1980): 250-51.

[In the following review, Aspel provides an overview of Fenêtres dormantes et porte sur le toit.]

“Le Temps” (“Time”) bears a capital T six times. From his early poems on, René Char (see WLT [World Literature Today] 51:3, pp. 349-403) has often capitalized the first letter of key words for the purpose of conjuring or praising. The uppercase T in “Dormant Windows and Door onto the Roof” must and will exorcise time, for the latter is “bloody”; it only holds power and secure position. The poet also calls it “recidivist.” “Do not glance at it. Ignore it,” he warns. “It must not be seen, or felt, still less measured. Time, however, can be defied by the poet's will and stubbornness: “I banged against it with...

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