Essay as Enabler in Yves Bonnefoy

<p>The essays of Yves Bonnefoy (1923-2016) form a far larger body of work than his poetry but his undoubted stature as a poet has led scholars to see the essays almost entirely as secondary works: as offshoots of the poems or hints for understanding them or even just as an <em>ars poetica</em>. All of this is to overlook that Bonnefoy showed great dedication to the essay as a form of communication valuing its vibrant potential to connect people and ideas in the contemporary world. As Roesler shows in this ground-breaking study the essay for Bonnefoy may indeed be a bridge between philosophy and poetry but it is also itself. Its stylistic malleability integrates an eminently modern position and provides Bonnefoy with a platform from which beneath his characteristic humility he constantly guides and directs the reader.</p><p>Layla Roesler teaches at the Ecole Normale Supérieure of Lyon. Her fields include French and English literature as well as translation studies and theory.</p><p></p>