Laure Gauthier

In her books, Laure Gauthier places a particular importance on the place of the voice that allows her to maintain a tension between a poetry without a subject and an embodied poetry. In kaspar de pierre, “any individuality effaces itself, writing I gives way to the blank page. The author decenters kaspar’s voice bringing it closer to our own and within our hearing in order to create a space where living communally, living together, are part of the very act of speaking (…)” (T. U. Comte, La Nouvelle Quinzaine littéraire).[5]

Her work on the poetic voice is accompanied by a renewal of poetic imagery whereby the poetic images can be considered a kind of emergence, a meeting point between sensation and idea, or as Johan Faerber terms it, “the image-idea”[6] in Diakritik speaking of je neige (entre les mots de villon).[1] The question of the status of poetic imagery is also anchored in a reconsideration and a renewal of poetic ekphrasis[7].

Gauthier's work is marked by a polyphonic lyricism ; her poetry is neither strictly objective nor entirely focused on the self, but is marked by a fragmented incarnation, a multi-layered chorus[8] that marks a space of vigilance. If her work is lyric, it's a transubjective lyric,[6] allowing for the creation of a considered gap between voices in je neige (entre les mots de villon) when they intertwine “three voices, maybe four, that of François Villon, his others”.[1]

In Le Monde Didier Cahen characterizes Gauthier's work as that of “materialized sound”[9][10] where “different tempos fuse together in the same beat, electrifying the senses”.[6]

In general, Laure Gauthier's texts alternate between passages in prose, prose-poetry and verse. The poems emerge as a kind of blue note at moments when the text breathes and its structure emerges, becoming fluid or on the contrary suspending its role in response to an external threat.

Gauthier's writing is marked by its  sense of movement, its materiality and its kinetic force, the language, “deaf, pulses, surges, laughs, illuminates, revolts, and finally exists on its own and for its own sake.”[11]

In Gauthier's poetic work, she constantly questions  external systematic attacks from a late capitalist society on the private life of the individual and on their personal expression, their burial under an accumulation of objects, a complacence with violence, a taste for sensationalism, what she calls the “tabloidization”[12] of language or its exoticism.[13]

Gauthier frequently draws on archives for inspiration in her work. For example, La cité dolente,[14] is based on  real events while  kaspar de pierre was adapted from the biography of the famous orphan Kaspar Hauser. Her collection je neige (entre les mots de villon)[1] establishes a dialogue between the personal biography of François Villon and his work, while maintaining critical distance with her material.

These books adopt a complex position in relation to the archive,[5] where the archives are at once “suspected of a desire for reanimation. As if they were themselves an affirmation (…) while the poem only allows for suggestion.[6]” These narratives are grounded in archival documents; however, Laure Gauthier positions the poetic narrative slightly out of bounds of historical documentation” in order to allow the document to show itself and what surges beneath it, what is alive and bridles next to the established record.[6]”

From 2018 on Laure Gauthier began to explore the links between poetry and contemporary music[15] for the online literary journal Remue.net working with Sébastien Rongier. She works to break down the barriers between sound poetry and written poetry, thereby renewing the links between contemporary music and poetry.[16]

Her poetic work on poetic voice and polyphony continues with collaborations with contemporary artists such as Fabien Lévy, Núria Giménez-Comas, and Xu Yi. Laure Gauthier is constantly seeking new poetic forms that cross media where the poet can be considered a co-author, “Nun hab’ ich nichts mehr”,[17] for example is a piece for soporano coloratura, ensemble and synthesizer with music by Fabien Lévy. “Back into Nothingness”[18] is an mainly spoken monodrama for actress-soprano, choir and electronics with music by Núria Giménez-Comas. Les métamorphoses du serpent blanc[19] is a lyric tale in six songs with music by Xu Yi. In 2018 she collaborated with Pedro Garcia Velasquez and Augustin Mueller based on fragments of her texts and her recorded voice in order to create a 3D sound installation “Etudes de théâtre acoustique”,[20] which was presented in the ZKM in Karlsruhe.

• je neige (entre les mots de villon), Paris, LansKine, 2018, 72 pg.[1]
• kaspar de pierre, Bruxelles, La Lettre Volée, 2017, 52 pg.[2]
• La cité dolente, Cirey-Sur-Blaise, Châtelet-Voltaire, 2015, 72 pg.[14]
• marie weiss rot, marie blanc rouge, Sampzon, Delatour France, 2013, 230 pg.[21]

• La città dolente, bilingual Italian French, translated by Gabriella Serrone, Macabor, 2018[22]

• Jean-François Candoni & Laure Gauthier (dir.), Les grands centres musicaux du monde germanique (XVII^e-XIX^e s.), Paris, PUPS, 2014, 495 pg.[23]
• Laure Gauthier, L’opéra à Hambourg (1648-1728), Naissance d’un genre, essor d’une ville, Paris, PUPS, 2010, 459 pg.[23]
• Laure Gauthier & Mélanie Traversier, Mélodies urbaines : la musique dans les villes d’Europe (XVIe-XIXe siècles), Paris, PUPS, 2008, 360 pg.[24]

• Les métamorphoses du serpent blanc, music by Xu Yi, first produced at the CRR de Paris, 2020[19]
• Back into nothingness, musical monodrama essentially spoken for a soprano, chorus and electronic music Núria Giménez-Comas (production Grame cncm, coprod. Ircam, Spirito, Festival Archipel-Genève and TNP), first produced at TNP March16th et 17th 2018 (Biennale Musiques en scène) and March 24, 2018 at The Festival Archipel in Geneva[18]
• Nun hab’ ich nichts mehr, piece for soprano coloratura, ensemble and electronics, music by Fabien Lévy, Berlin, éditions Ricordi,[25] first produced at The Teatro Regio di Parma October 13, 2016,[26] and then at The Festival Eclat de Stuttgart February 5, 2017[27]

• Commanderie (2019), for robotic arms, 3D sound installations and live concerts in, Pedro Garcia Velasquez[28]
• Etudes de théâtre acoustique (2018), 3-D sound installation with Pedro Garcia Velasquez et Augustin Muller, text and voice, Laure Gauthier[20]
• La forêt blanche (2019), multimedia installation, text and voice by Laure Gauthier, visual work by Sylvie Lobato, lights by Laurent Bolognini, sound installation by Martin Saëz[29]

• "kaspar de pierre" by Laure Gauthier, film adaptation by Thierry De Mey, Eroica productions 2018, 25 minutes[30]

• Katia-Sofia Hakim, Une lecture de “je neige (entre les mots de villon)”, Place de la Sorbonne, revue internationale de poésie de Sorbonne Université, Paris, Sorbonne Université Presses (SUP), 2020[31]
• Isabelle Alentour, “je neige (entre les mots de villon)”, book review, Poezibao[11]
• François Bordes, “Laure Gauthier, ‘Je neige (entre les mots de villon)'”, Revue du Mauss permanente[32]
• Dominique Boudou, “je neige (entre les mots de villon)”, book review, Jacques Louvain[33]
• Roland Cornthwaite, “Laure Gauthier”, Gare Maritime, Anthologie de la Maison de la poésie de Nantes, pg. 39-40[34]
• Georges Guillain, “je neige (entre les mots de villon)”, Les Découvreurs[35]
• Pierre Maubé, “je neige (entre les mots de villon)”, Place de la Sorbonne n°7, Presses de Sorbonne Université, pg. 129-130[36]
• Angèle Paoli, “je neige (entre les mots de villon). Partir dans la langue pour se départir”, Terres de femmes
• Christophe Stolowicki, “je neige (entre les mots de villon)”, Libr-critique[37]

• Bernard Banoun, “kaspar de pierre”, CCP, February 2018, Cahier critique de poésie[38]
• François Bordes, “kaspar de pierre”, Secousses, n°23, November, 2017
• Thibault Ulysse Comte, “Ce chemin vers rien de certain. Kaspar de pierre”, La Nouvelle Quinzaine littéraire, n°1190, from March 16 to 31, 2018[5]
• Georges Guillain, “kaspar de pierre”, Les Découvreurs, December, 2017[39]
• Katia-Sofia Hakim, “kaspar de pierre de Laure Gauthier”, Place de la Sorbonne n°8, Presses de Sorbonne Université, 2018, p. 299-301[40]
• Tristan Hordé, “kaspar de pierre”, Sitaudis, July 10, 2018[41]
• Isabelle Lévesque, “avec kaspar hauser ?”, TdF, n°162, May, 2018, Terres de femmes[42]
• Fabien Mellado, “kaspar de pierre”, Revue Phoenix, Spring 2017, n°25, pg. 148-149
• Angèle Paoli, “Laure Gauthier. Kaspar de pierre. Ceci n’est pas de la poésie” [archive], Terres de femmes, October 18, 2017,Terres de femmes[43]
• Claire Tencin, “kaspar de pierre”, Art Press, February 2018, n° 452, pg. 82[44]
• Florence Trocmé, “kaspar de pierre”, Poezibao, October 9, 2017, Poezibao[45]
• Sanda Voïca, “kaspar de pierre”, La cause littéraire, February, 26th, 2018[46]

• Dominique Boudou, “la cité dolente”, book review, Jacques Louvain, November 22, 2016[47]
• Pascal Boulanger, “la cité dolente”, Sitaudis, October 11, 2015[48]
• Laurent Cassagnau, “la cité dolente”, Revue Europe (93e année, n° 1038, October 2015), pg. 318-320
• Thibault Ulysse Comte, “La fraîcheur d’un souffle”, Revue Regain
• Elio Grasso, “la città dolente”, « La dimora del tempo sospeso », La dimora del tempo sospeso, July 16, 2018[49]
• Claudio Morandini, “la città dolente”, Diacritica, April 25, 2018[50]
• Luigia Sorrentino, “la città dolente”, Poesia di Luigia Sorrentino, 25 September 2015[51]
• Claire Tencin, “la cité dolente”, Poezibao, March 5, 2018[52]
• Bonifacio Vicenzi, “il disagio di vivere nell’opera di Laure Gauthier”, Su il Sogno di Orez, Sunday September 6, 2015[53]

• Yves Boudier, “Note de Yves Boudier sur ‘marie weiss rot / marie blanc rouge’” [archive], Cahier Critique de Poésie (CCP), 102 pg., Centre International de Poésie de Marseille, October 1st, 2014
• Laurent Cassagnau, “Ecrire, traduire (contre) l’origine. En lisant, en traduisant marie weiss rot / marie blanc rouge de Laure Gauthier” [archive], La Main de Thôt, n° 2, traduction, plurilinguisme et langues[54]
• Andreas Unterweger, “Übersetzen. Schreiben. Lesen. Zu Laure Gauthier : marie weiss rot / marie blanc rouge” [archive], Manuskripte, Heft 206, December 4, 2014[55]