French Recursivism: A Brief Overview

John’s excellent Pierre Coulet bibliography thread below made me realize that we here at CLP have, heretofore, presented precious too few posts which investigate the fascinating annals of 20th century French labyrinthological thought. The French occupy an important and unique place in the canon of modern labyrinthology. Undoubtedly the most intriguing, not to mention controversial, of French labyrinthological factions were the Recursivists, a group born out of a manifesto written by Matthieu Gramont in 1939.

Gramont was an erstwhile exteriorist who had grown dissatisfied with labyrinthology at large as a result of the widespread influence of New Constructivism in 20th century European intellectual circles. He reacted with ire to the dominance of Aaldian thinking in modern labyrinthology, putting forth theories that rejected both constructivist and exteriorist ideas alike. For Gramont, the walker should fully embrace le chaos de la navigation (“the chaos of navigation”), employing counter-intuitive, willfully anti-logical navigational tendencies in an effort to, at all costs, avoid both the center and the perimeter alike. Gramont’s labyrinthology was, of course, reviled by Aaldians and Gollestenians, though certain of the more idiosyncratic acolytes of the latter contingent did find his ideas invigorating (c.f. Belanger’s Gramont at the Perimeter of Gollesten). For Gramont, what mattered most was existing as “walker qua walker,” and nothing more.

Gramont met with an almost poetic demise at the young age of 27 in the Shiriri Mountain Labyrinth in 1942, apparently resigning himself to wander the awe-inspiring labyrinth for several days until he perished of hunger. The mantle of Recursivism was taken up by Arnaud Duverger, Inès Bédard, and Rémy Desmarais, the former of whom used a highly selective interpretation of Coulet’s First Juncture to provide theoretical underpinnings to Recursivism.

I’ll try to get excerpts from Gramont’s manifesto and Desmarais’ seminal essay Il y a Seulement le Couloir (“There is Only the Corridor”) posted in the next couple days.

Pierre Coulet: Selected Bibliography and Criticism

In response to Alex's introduction of Klemens Logewnik, I referred to the equally obscure and unconscionably neglected French labyrinthologist Pierre Coulet.

While Coulet lived a notoriously hermetic existence, he wrote prodigiously on a wide spectrum of labyrinthological topics. Renewed interest in his far-reaching body of thought has furnished several recent translations that successfully manage to tackle Coulet's infamously yet rewardingly dense language. These texts are veritable sine qua nons to any complete education in 20th century labyrinthology. I am supplying a selected bibliography (chronologically) that I exhort every labyrinth enthusiast to peruse. Brave and noble scholars, let me know if you fancy the titles in French if you wish to wrestle with the original texts.

• Coulet, P. (1927). In the Vestibule: A New Metaphysics of Entry. Paris: Verre de Hibou.

• ---. (1929). The Metamorphosis from Man to Navigator. Paris: Verre de Hibou.

• ---. (1932). Exile in the Labyrinth: Recursive Navigation. Paris: Plein Air.

• ---. (1935). Some Values of Circumambulation. London: Ashgrove.

• ---. (1941). The First Juncture. New York: Black Thicket.

• ---. (1945). The Castaway, Theseus Unbound, and Other Short Stories. Paris: Plein Air.

Criticism on Coulet still remains sparse, although I suspect we will soon witness a cornucopia of new works. (The University of Manitoba's emerging advanced labyrinthology program is reputed to be crafting a Coulet concentration. I, for one, am eager to learn who the resident Coulet scholar will be.)

Below, find a few of the more significant titles (also chronologically) in the nascent field of Coulet criticism.

• Oligreff, J. (1972). A Coulet Primer. Paris: Ardoise.

• Christophe, Z. (1980). Coulet's Stages of Transformation. Paris: Ardoise.

• Vrzala, A. (2003). Navigating Late Coulet's Allegory of the Drifter. New York: Black Thicket.