The past two weeks of screenings of Marguerite Duras’ work have been fantastic, thanks to everyone who came out and shared their interest in both Nathalie Granger and India Song. This coming week, we will be screening a film from one of her contemporaries, L’Homme Qui Ment by Alain Robbe-Grillet.
Much more well known for his novels, Alain Robbe-Grillet was the driving force behind the development of the New Novel (or Le Nouveau Roman). His writing deals largely with the absence of meaning or a recognized truth, wherein there are multiple alternations of each story. The alibi, the excuse, the substantiation are the functions of his work. None of the proposed events within the story are guaranteed, and all are present. Maurice Blanchot described the sensation of reading his work “as if we were seeing everything, without anything being visible. The result is strange.”
His obsession with violent crime and the erotic are paranoid and anxiety- and guilt-ridden, and his work is often highly problematic because of this. He was a self-professed sexual deviant, who claims to write in order to gain control over his desires. His writing, as well as his films, are comprehensive examinations of the male gaze, which are taken on with the emergent dedication of a last resort.
Come out to 236 East Pender Street on Wednesday August 20th at 9pm for a short reading of his writing, and a screening of L’Homme Qui Ment.
