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the complete review - non-fiction
Stroke by Stroke
by
Henri Michaux
general information | review summaries | our review | links | about the author
| Title: | Stroke by Stroke |
| Author: | Henri Michaux |
| Genre: | Non-fiction |
| Written: | 1979/1984 (Eng. 2006) |
| Length: | 160 pages |
| Original in: | French |
| Availability: | Stroke by Stroke - US |
| Stroke by Stroke - UK | |
| Stroke by Stroke - Canada | |
| Saisir - France | |
| Par des traits - France |
- Translated by Richard Sieburth
- Translation of Saisir (1979) and Par des traits (1984)
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Our Assessment:
(-) : attractive, mystifying
See our review for fuller assessment.
| Source | Rating | Date | Reviewer |
|---|---|---|---|
| The LA Times | . | 7/5/2006 | Susan Salter Reynolds |
From the Reviews:
- "These are accompanied by Michaux's strangely moving little line drawings, part insect and part kanji" - Susan Salter Reynolds, The Los Angeles Times
Please note that these ratings solely represent the complete review's biased interpretation and subjective opinion of the actual reviews and do not claim to accurately reflect or represent the views of the reviewers. Similarly the illustrative quotes chosen here are merely those the complete review subjectively believes represent the tenor and judgment of the review as a whole. We acknowledge (and remind and warn you) that they may, in fact, be entirely unrepresentative of the actual reviews by any other measure.
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The complete review's Review:
Stroke by Stroke consists of two volumes of Henri Michaux's drawing-dominated books.
There is some text -- explanation, poetic variations on the themes -- but it is the striking black-ink drawings that dominate.
In the first volume he describes coming to his bestiary:
Insects, especially insects, were happening to me. Intrigued, I became more and more of a bug. Even though I thought they had completely slipped my mind.Many of the pictures are of animals and insects, mostly roughly drawn, rarely just a single creature on a page, as Michaux prefers to show transitions and groups.
There's a sense of scrawl to the drawings, the black ink too thick for precise detail, and yet their very roughness makes them more evocative. Influenced by Chinese ideograms, there's a sense of double-meaning -- as well as that of the personal hand-writing behind the images, a distinctive style connecting creator and content.
Michaux has little interest in precise realism:
What is a resemblance without dissemblance ?Among his ambitions is specifically: "To disobey form." Tension is almost always present in the pictures -- the sense of motion he tries to capture, for example.
A drawing with no fight in it is a bore.
It is incomplete.
The first volume is called Grasp -- an attempt, among other things: "To grasp the underlying." From there he moves to Stroke by Stroke, more focussed on action ("Gestures rather than signs"), looking to transform, release, approach, explore -- all "stroke by stroke".
It's an appealing and attractive volume, if occasionally frustrating (though that frustration of communication is an essential part of what he is trying to convey). The imagery is striking, the text limited but intriguing. Worthwhile.
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Stroke by Stroke:
- Archipelago Books publicity page
- Henri Michaux site (French)
- Henri Michaux at books and writers
- Overview
- See index of French literature at the complete review
- Other books from Archipelago Books under review
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French poet and painter Henri Michaux lived from 1899 to 1984.
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© 2006-2010 the complete review
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