Patrick Beurard-Valdoye, (born 1955) is a French poet from
Paris.[1] He is also an art critic.
Biography
A childhood spent in the Belfort region, gave Beurard-Valdoye exposure to German language and culture, including local dialects often associated with geography and local water courses and their various names. The proximity of the
Swiss border enabled repeated visits to the
Basel Kunstmuseum which made a lasting impact as did a visit early in his life to
Le Corbusier's
Chapelle Notre Dame du Haut.
During his studies at the
University of Strasbourg in the early 1970s he discovered
Dada art, especially work by
Hans Arp and
Sophie Taeuber-Arp. In 1980, he moved to
Lyon where was co-founder of an arts magazine, Cahiers de leçons de choses. Simultaneously he was a contributor to the journal Opus international, and became involved in curating exhibitions and writing catalogues of post-war German artists. He founded and directed a readings serie from 1983 to 2000 (about 400 poets invited).
He attributes his career inspiration to a stay in
Cork,
Ireland in 1974.
noting that writing puts me together again, I believe naively perhaps, and with a touch of arrogance, that it could help others as well. My chosen road is that. One day I shall be a poet. I would add two things: I mean poet, as opposed to a writer, and from the off. It probably comes from the German conception where people such as
Goethe,
Robert Musil,
Thomas Mann and
Günter Grass are considered Dichter; but also from the Irish concept where
Joyce is so feted as a bard that his likeness appeared on banknotes. A poet is not confined to verse. He is an artist whose medium is writing, availing himself of all forms except dead ones. Anyway, one day I shall be a poet. Future tense. It will be work as much as a struggle.[3]
He translated the poet Hilda Morley into French (magazine Action poétique, n ° 204).
Poetic style
His major project is primarily focused on a series entitled, "cycle des exils", an epic, composed so far of seven published volumes.[4] His style is to emphasise the similarity between significant historical events that are chronologically separated, as it were a recurrent polyphony that challenges traditional linear ways of presenting history. The poem, "the saga" progresses by gathering together references to oral history, anecdotes and authorised versions.[5][6] His influences have included
Kurt Schwitters,
Ghérasim Luca,
Oskar PastiorBernard Heidsieck and the all but forgotten
Jean-Paul de Dadelsen.[7]
^Sidonia Bauer; Pascale Auraix-Jonchière, eds. (2018). Bohémiens und Marginalität / Bohémiens et marginalité: Künstlerische und literarische Darstellungen vom 19. bis 21. Jahrhundert / Représentations littéraires et artistiques du XIXème au XXIème siècles (in German and French). Frank & Timme GmbH.
ISBN978-3732904990.
^Isabelle Ewig, "L'histoire de l'art à l'épreuve des arts poétiques", in Il Particolare, n° 17/18, 2007, p. 138-139.