SOURCE: Kargiotis, Dimitrios. “Death and the Problematics of Representation in Bonnefoy's Du mouvement et de l'immobilité de Douve.” Neophilologus 85, no. 1 (January 2001): 53-69.

In the following essay, Kargiotis analyzes the various modalities and functions of death in On the Motion and Immobility of Douve.

“L'esprit […],” says Yves Bonnefoy in “Les tombeaux de Ravenne,” “s'interroge sur l'être, mais rarement sur la pierre” (11). Neglecting the value of experience, humans struggle to master concepts, but we forget that concepts cannot embrace the totality of the real: “[y] a-t-il un concept d'un pas venant dans la nuit, d'un cri, de l'éboulement d'une pierre dans les broussailles? De l'impression que fait une maison vide?” (13). The endeavor to conceptualize stems, for Bonnefoy, from the desire for permanence and identity, a naive hope that life can overcome death. Such a desire, nevertheless, disregards that death is organically tied to life: “it provides that very...