L’absence comme condition de la présence : Albert Samain et le dessaisissement

Abstract

Our society’s utilitarian premises imply that only that which can be possessed, mastered and quantified can be said to lead to pleasure and contentment. This article contends that an alternative to this stance, which according to a number of philosophers can lead to ennui and despair, can be found in Albert Samain’s poetical and prose works. Samain’s writings suggest that things acquire more depth and aura once they are lost and poeticised through nostalgia and longing, and thus that absence can make a moment or an experience more present than it was when it was actually happening. And so, in spite of the melancholy which is almost inevitably attached to poetical reveries, the latter are more likely to lead to a certain form of quietude than the mere possession of the thing itself.