Unconscious Desires in “The Collector Cleans His Picture”
This paper examines both Hardy’s writing process and his vision of how man’s desires might engender mistaken impressions. I will mainly focus on the poem “The Collector Cleans His Picture”, whose central issue is the “gaze”; the gaze being a reflection of man’s desires.Here, the narrator, a rural pa...
Enregistré dans:
| Dans: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/fathom, |
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| Format: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Langue: | Anglais |
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FATHOM
2018
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| Accès en ligne: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
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openedition-oai:revues.org:fathom_782 |
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openedition |
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openedition-oai:revues.org:fathom_782 https://doi.org/10.4000/fathom.782 urn:doi:10.4000/fathom.782 en https://journals.openedition.org/fathom/782 2018-04-23T02:00:00Z info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess article info:eu-repo/semantics/article urn:handle:20.500.13089/gaiw All rights reserved Unconscious Desires in “The Collector Cleans His Picture” FATHOM Association française sur les études sur Thomas Hardy info:eu-repo/semantics/reference/issn/2270-6798 URI:https://journals.openedition.org/fathom Loriaux, Emilie langage poésie désir réécriture esthétique art et vérité illusion ekphrasis coincidentia oppositorum language poetry desire rewriting aesthetics art and truth illusion ekphrasis coincidentia oppositorum This paper examines both Hardy’s writing process and his vision of how man’s desires might engender mistaken impressions. I will mainly focus on the poem “The Collector Cleans His Picture”, whose central issue is the “gaze”; the gaze being a reflection of man’s desires.Here, the narrator, a rural parson (and antiquarian) collects works of art. However, the main focus in the poem is the painting itself – the very point of attention which mesmerizes the collector.Gradually, the “cleaning” and “rubbing” of the picture will reveal illusive desire(s) in the parson. Indeed, there are inner contradictions within the poem between the biblical quotation, after the poem’s title, referring to Ezechiel’s “desiderabile oculorum” and, in the painting evoked in the poem, the goddess Venus, who turns out to be only an old hag. The painting is blasphemous with regard to the biblical quote, for the picture belongs to a different sort of context than the Judaeo-Christian world. The man’s gaze on his picture reflects his unconscious, his desires, which seem to be mere illusions, a “lure”. Cet article vise à comprendre les procédés d’écriture de Hardy et sa perception des désirs humains pouvant susciter une vision altérée de la réalité. Le poème « The Collector Cleans His Picture », dont le sujet central est le « regard », miroir des désirs humains, retiendra notre attention.Le narrateur, un pasteur de village, collectionne des œuvres d’art. Toutefois, le personnage principal n’est pas le pasteur mais le tableau, lui-même, objet de toutes les attentions qui fascine le collectionneur.Le tableau progressivement « nettoyé », puis « frotté », révélera un (des) désir(s) illusoire(s) dans les yeux du pasteur. Des contradictions inhérentes au poème sont en effet visibles entre la citation biblique, sous le titre du poème, se référant à Ezechiel dans la vulgate : « desiderabile oculorum » et, dans la peinture du poème, la déesse Vénus qui se révélera être une vieille sorcière. Du point de vue de la citation biblique, la peinture est blasphématoire, car cette dernière ne s’inscrit pas du tout dans un contexte judéo-chrétien. Le regard qu’a l’homme sur ce tableau est une réflexion sur son être propre, issue de ses propres désirs, qui semblent être de simples illusions, un « leurre ». |
| collection |
OpenEdition Journal |
| language |
Anglais |
| format |
Article ou chapitre numérique |
| building |
0/Bibliothèque numérique/ 1/Bibliothèque numérique/OpenEdition Journals/ |
| topic |
langage poésie désir réécriture esthétique art et vérité illusion ekphrasis coincidentia oppositorum language poetry desire rewriting aesthetics art and truth illusion ekphrasis coincidentia oppositorum |
| spellingShingle |
langage poésie désir réécriture esthétique art et vérité illusion ekphrasis coincidentia oppositorum language poetry desire rewriting aesthetics art and truth illusion ekphrasis coincidentia oppositorum Loriaux, Emilie Unconscious Desires in “The Collector Cleans His Picture” |
| description |
This paper examines both Hardy’s writing process and his vision of how man’s desires might engender mistaken impressions. I will mainly focus on the poem “The Collector Cleans His Picture”, whose central issue is the “gaze”; the gaze being a reflection of man’s desires.Here, the narrator, a rural parson (and antiquarian) collects works of art. However, the main focus in the poem is the painting itself – the very point of attention which mesmerizes the collector.Gradually, the “cleaning” and “rubbing” of the picture will reveal illusive desire(s) in the parson. Indeed, there are inner contradictions within the poem between the biblical quotation, after the poem’s title, referring to Ezechiel’s “desiderabile oculorum” and, in the painting evoked in the poem, the goddess Venus, who turns out to be only an old hag. The painting is blasphemous with regard to the biblical quote, for the picture belongs to a different sort of context than the Judaeo-Christian world. The man’s gaze on his picture reflects his unconscious, his desires, which seem to be mere illusions, a “lure”. |
| author |
Loriaux, Emilie |
| author_facet |
Loriaux, Emilie |
| author_sort |
Loriaux, Emilie |
| title |
Unconscious Desires in “The Collector Cleans His Picture” |
| title_short |
Unconscious Desires in “The Collector Cleans His Picture” |
| title_full |
Unconscious Desires in “The Collector Cleans His Picture” |
| title_fullStr |
Unconscious Desires in “The Collector Cleans His Picture” |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Unconscious Desires in “The Collector Cleans His Picture” |
| title_sort |
unconscious desires in “the collector cleans his picture” |
| publisher |
FATHOM |
| publishDate |
2018 |
| container_title |
URI:https://journals.openedition.org/fathom |
| url |
https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://doi.org/10.4000/fathom.782 https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://journals.openedition.org/fathom/782 |
| _version_ |
1877242045665378304 |