Impotence and Imperative in Michaux’s La Nuit Remue

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study explores a key stage in Michaux’s poetry, in La Nuit remue. Agreeing with critical consensus, that this is his first major work, I nonetheless question the potency of certain texts in their effect upon the reader. If Michaux finds pleasure in the demiurgic power of writing — engendering the strange creatures that take form in language (highlighted through textual analysis at the phonetic level) — there is an equal tendency to sabotage the creative act. The blasé negativism infusing much of this work would not be problematic, were it not for the mission articulated by the poet himself: the creation of a therapeutic reading experience, lifting up those who are similarly overwhelmed by existence. Through a final series of readings, I propose that Michaux is most effective when significantly invested in the text—not coolly detached, but undergoing — and reacting against — the malevolent forces unleashed in the space of the poem.