Michèle Métail
(France, 1950)
Michèle Métail studied German and Chinese. Since 1973, the year of her first public performance, Métail has been broadcasting her work in so-called publications orales, in particular ‘Poème Infini – Compléments de Noms’, which is a single long modulation through a variety of languages and dialects. In the author’s view, the projection of words into space is “the ultimate stage of writing”, the affirmation of presence within language.
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Characterized by a rhythmical and musical approach of the text, and sometimes accompanied by slideshows, musicians or taped sound, oral publications can take anything from ten minutes up to several hours. A public-address system is always used, in which the microphone serves as a musical instrument which enables bodily sounds to be associated with the actual vocal emissions: the sounds made by the mouth, breath, tongue clicking. It also enables subtle use to be made of pianissimo nuances. The voice’s parameters – nuances, intensity, speed and character – are organised according to predetermined configurations, which may be related to the physical location of the reading.
The musical, rhythm-based approach to the text renders a mode of perception which is often completed by images, in the form of collages or photographs. In ‘64 Poèmes du Ciel et de la Terre’ and ‘Toponyme : Berlin’, images have even preceded the act of writing and, far from being mere illustrations, form an integral part of a construction in the architectural sense of the word. In the Berlin register, photographs give their format to the poems: 10 lines of 15 letters each (10 x 15 format) in a series of 24 photographs and 36 poems (negative format 24 x 36). The idea was to render the fragmented vision of the city in the poems as it appears in photographs of reflections.
The same applies to her work on the letter X, a vast construction combining photographs with a rhetorical structure – the chiasmus – and with gestures, so that at each public presentation the combination is renewed.
The exploration of the limits of meaning, the creation of semantic halos, the frequently jagged syntax attempt to render the slight fuzziness of perception as it captures reality. Although Métail’s writing is nourished by contact with the world and by travel, encounters and meetings between various modes of expression are just as indispensable to her. Together with composer Louis Roquin, she is the co-founder of Les Arts Contigus, an association which likes to explore genre transgression.
The work of Métail pulished here, ‘Maze – you are here’, is a poem in 180 verses, divided into 10 sequences (train arrival – town’s name – horizontal town on the map – the vertical town – looking for the center – the town under construction – historical town – underground – living place – unknown place). It traces the arrival and the discovering of the town of Berlin, the passing from the unknown place to the familiar, the one we think we know. ‘Maze – you are here’ helps the observer situate himself. The red circle which figures on all the maps in Berlin also evokes in this poem the empty circle of Zen, a town in perpetual mutation, impossible to capture.
Poems
MAZE - YOU ARE HERE (1)
MAZE - YOU ARE HERE (2)
MAZE - YOU ARE HERE (3)
MAZE - YOU ARE HERE (4)
MAZE - YOU ARE HERE (5)
MAZE - YOU ARE HERE (6)
MAZE - YOU ARE HERE (7)
MAZE - YOU ARE HERE (8)
MAZE - YOU ARE HERE (9)
MAZE - YOU ARE HERE (10)
Bibliography
Cent pour cent. In collaboration with Louis Roquin. F. Despalles, 1998
La carte de la sphère armillaire de Su Hui. Un poème chinois à lecture retournée. IV° s. Théâtre Typographique, 1998
Les horizons du sol. Panorama. Spectre Familier, CIPM, 1999
Mandibule, mâchoire. Poèmes désarticulés. La Chambre, 2000
64 poèmes du ciel et de la terre. Tarabuste, 2000
Dialogues – trois pièces microphoniques. VOIXéditions, Richard Meier, 2002
Toponyme : Berlin. Dédale – cadastre – jumelage – panorama. Tarabuste, 2002
Voyage au Pays de Shu ( Journal 1170 - 1998 / Anthologie). Tarabuste, 2003
In German:
Gehen und Schreiben – Gedächtnis-Inventar. DAAD, 2002
The musical, rhythm-based approach to the text renders a mode of perception which is often completed by images, in the form of collages or photographs. In ‘64 Poèmes du Ciel et de la Terre’ and ‘Toponyme : Berlin’, images have even preceded the act of writing and, far from being mere illustrations, form an integral part of a construction in the architectural sense of the word. In the Berlin register, photographs give their format to the poems: 10 lines of 15 letters each (10 x 15 format) in a series of 24 photographs and 36 poems (negative format 24 x 36). The idea was to render the fragmented vision of the city in the poems as it appears in photographs of reflections.
The same applies to her work on the letter X, a vast construction combining photographs with a rhetorical structure – the chiasmus – and with gestures, so that at each public presentation the combination is renewed.
The exploration of the limits of meaning, the creation of semantic halos, the frequently jagged syntax attempt to render the slight fuzziness of perception as it captures reality. Although Métail’s writing is nourished by contact with the world and by travel, encounters and meetings between various modes of expression are just as indispensable to her. Together with composer Louis Roquin, she is the co-founder of Les Arts Contigus, an association which likes to explore genre transgression.
The work of Métail pulished here, ‘Maze – you are here’, is a poem in 180 verses, divided into 10 sequences (train arrival – town’s name – horizontal town on the map – the vertical town – looking for the center – the town under construction – historical town – underground – living place – unknown place). It traces the arrival and the discovering of the town of Berlin, the passing from the unknown place to the familiar, the one we think we know. ‘Maze – you are here’ helps the observer situate himself. The red circle which figures on all the maps in Berlin also evokes in this poem the empty circle of Zen, a town in perpetual mutation, impossible to capture.
Poems
MAZE - YOU ARE HERE (1)
MAZE - YOU ARE HERE (2)
MAZE - YOU ARE HERE (3)
MAZE - YOU ARE HERE (4)
MAZE - YOU ARE HERE (5)
MAZE - YOU ARE HERE (6)
MAZE - YOU ARE HERE (7)
MAZE - YOU ARE HERE (8)
MAZE - YOU ARE HERE (9)
MAZE - YOU ARE HERE (10)
Bibliography
Cent pour cent. In collaboration with Louis Roquin. F. Despalles, 1998
La carte de la sphère armillaire de Su Hui. Un poème chinois à lecture retournée. IV° s. Théâtre Typographique, 1998
Les horizons du sol. Panorama. Spectre Familier, CIPM, 1999
Mandibule, mâchoire. Poèmes désarticulés. La Chambre, 2000
64 poèmes du ciel et de la terre. Tarabuste, 2000
Dialogues – trois pièces microphoniques. VOIXéditions, Richard Meier, 2002
Toponyme : Berlin. Dédale – cadastre – jumelage – panorama. Tarabuste, 2002
Voyage au Pays de Shu ( Journal 1170 - 1998 / Anthologie). Tarabuste, 2003
In German:
Gehen und Schreiben – Gedächtnis-Inventar. DAAD, 2002
Last updated: Feb 3, 2009
Links
Michèle Métail on Lyrikline
Michèle Métail on Lyrikline