20 research outputs found
Bernard, Bouvard et PĂ©cuchet
During the 19th century, which History remembers as the âCentury of Scholars,â medical-scientific triumph flourishes. Following the words of famous French physiologist Claude Bernard, who wrote in his Introduction to experimental medicine that âmedicine is heading towards its definite scientific pathâ (BENARD, 1865, p. 6, my translation), physicians and their apprentices abandon the bookish authority of medical treatises and the hazards of their subjective intuition, to invest â for good? â the rigor of scientific objectivity. Yet, the trials of reality bring with them their lot of ambivalence and contradiction, hinting that the âanatomical-clinical conversionâ Bernard promotes may not be as âdefiniteâ as he hoped. This article will shed light on the paradoxical medical and literary (re)conversions that took place in the 19th century, through the medical chapter of Gustave Flaubertâs Bouvard et PĂ©cuchet, published posthumously in 1881. It will also contrast the history of medicine as described by French surgeon Jean-Charles Sournia, and the medical-experimental perspective of Claude Bernard, a contemporary of Flaubert and his passionate copyists.Au cours du XIXe siĂšcle, communĂ©ment reconnu par lâHistoire comme le «SiĂšcle des Savants», les triomphes mĂ©dico-scientifiques se multiplient. Suivant la parole du cĂ©lĂšbre physiologiste français, Claude Bernard, affirmant dans son Introduction Ă la mĂ©decine expĂ©rimentale «que la mĂ©decine se dirige vers sa voie scientifique dĂ©finitive» (BERNARD, 1865, p. 6), les mĂ©decins et leurs apprentis dĂ©laissent graduellement lâautoritĂ© livresque des traitĂ©s de mĂ©decine et les alĂ©as de leur intuition subjective, dans lâeffort dâinvestir â pour de bon ? â la rigueur de lâobjectivitĂ© scientifique. Or lâĂ©preuve de la rĂ©alitĂ© apporte avec elle son lot dâambivalences et de contradictions, donnant Ă penser que la «conversion anatomoclinique » promue par Bernard ne soit pas aussi «dĂ©finitive» que prĂ©vue. Le prĂ©sent article mettra en lumiĂšre ces paradoxales (re)conversions mĂ©dico-littĂ©raires au XIXe siĂšcle, dans le chapitre mĂ©dical de Bouvard et PĂ©cuchet, de Gustave Flaubert, publiĂ© Ă titre posthume en 1881, en mettant en tension lâhistoire de la mĂ©decine, telle que pensĂ©e par le chirurgien français Jean-Charles Sournia, et la perspective mĂ©dico-expĂ©rimentale de Claude Bernard, contemporain de Flaubert et de ses copistes passionnĂ©s
Du protocole compassionnel Ă lâanarchie passionnelle : le vacillement interdiscursif des orientations sexuelles. Vers lâespoir dâune mĂ©decine au fĂ©minin
Le protocole compassionnel dâHervĂ© Guibert, deuxiĂšme volet de sa âtrilogie du sidaâ, oĂč un narrateur sidĂ©en raconte lâavancĂ©e de sa maladie parallĂšlement Ă ses relations thĂ©rapeutiques et personnelles, marque lâentrĂ©e en scĂšne du docteur Claudette Dumouchel. Cette nouvelle relation, fondĂ©e sur lâĂ©thique dâune figure fĂ©minine dâautoritĂ©, se met rapidement Ă vaciller : lâidentitĂ© homosexuelle du patient Guibert se dissĂ©mine parallĂšlement Ă lâandrogynie du docteur Dumouchel, Ă mesure que les examens diagnostics sâĂ©rotisent. Cette dĂ©sorientation sexuelle â interidentitaire et interdiscursive â de la relation de soin, apprĂ©hendĂ©e Ă lâaune de Derrida, Bakhtine et Butler, propulse dans un contexte social Ă©rigeant le sida en âmaladie gayâ, et la âmatrice hĂ©tĂ©rosexuelleâ en fantasme de guĂ©rison. Puis au final une question surgit, en Ă©chos des thĂ©ories du care : se pourrait-il que la mĂ©decine fĂ©ministe et queer soit la clĂ© de voĂ»te dâune (rĂ©)humanisation de la pratique mĂ©dicaleÂ
Les amants funambules, suivi de Sur le fil des langages : la désorientation sexuelle du patient Guibert
MĂ©moire en recherche-crĂ©ation rĂ©alisĂ© avec le soutien du CRSH et du FRQSCPolyphonique, lâĂ©criture dâHervĂ© Guibert, dans sa cĂ©lĂšbre « Ćuvre du sida » â notamment ses deux premiers volets Ă lâami qui ne mâa pas sauvĂ© la vie et Le protocole compassionnel â explore les effets de la maladie sur plusieurs relations du sujet souffrant. En ce sens, elle entremĂȘle les discours, module son travail stylistique pour mieux performer les ambivalences â parfois Ă©tranges, paradoxales et dĂ©stabilisantes â des rapports entre les sujets, combattant ensemble les ravages de la pandĂ©mie : pensons notamment aux rapports Ă Soi (Ă son corps â et son esprit â en dĂ©composition) ; les rapports souvent ambigus aux Autres (quâils soient soignant, amant, maĂźtresse, ami-e ou parent) ; et le rapport aux enjeux socio-politiques, scientifiques et culturels auxquels font face ces sujets dans leurs luttes intimes et collectives Ă la souffrance, lâexclusion et la mort (pensons ici Ă lâĂ©thique des corps mĂ©dicaux, des AutoritĂ©s, et des groupes de dĂ©fense du droit des malades).
Est-il possible dâĂ©crire Ă rebours, dâaujourdâhui, ces rapports interdiscursifs et interidentitaires qui Ă©taient au cĆur de lâĂ©criture guibertienne ? Qui donnaient corps et voix aux contaminations Ă lâĆuvre durant les « annĂ©es sida » ? Comment Ă©crire lâactualitĂ© de ces rapports Ă un Soi souffrant, ambigu et polymorphe ? Ces performances intersubjectives au cĆur des relations Ă lâAutre : du soin au fantasme, en pensant par les pulsions sexuelles et-ou de mort ? Est-il possible dâinvestir de nouveau ces luttes intimes et collectives Ă la maladie â Ă la mort en soi, en lâautre, la mort de lâautre en soi â Ă travers lâentremĂȘlement des langages et des discours ? Quâils soient scientifiques, amoureux, Ă©thiques ou littĂ©raires ?
Les amants funambules sâavanceront sur le fil entremĂȘlĂ© des langages, pour proposer une rĂ©ponse Ă ces questions ; une performance interdiscursive et interidentitiare : un recueil de nouvelles tendu Ă la fois vers les annĂ©es « guibertiennes » du sida, et vers une recherche styilistique rythmĂ©e et « contemporaine » dans son rapport au passĂ©.
Sur le fil des langages continuera Ă avancer sur ce fil interdiscursif, pour offrir une performance essayistique de La dĂ©sorientation sexuelle du patient Guibert : un jeune homme sidĂ©en, homosexuel de 35 ans, qui voit ses identitĂ©s sexuelles, personnelles et sociales se dissĂ©miner â aux contacts de son propre corps, de celui de ses soignants, de ses amants, de ses maĂźtresses et de sa parentĂ© â Ă mesure que le sida le dĂ©compose, que lâavancĂ©e de la maladie lâĂ©tourdit, le dĂ©soriente, au risque de le faire tomber du fil de fer de ses langages. Dans ce contexte, oĂč les corps-langages risquent de tomber dans le silence de la mort, est-ce quâune voie de salut arrive Ă Ă©merger de la littĂ©rature ?
Mots-clĂ©s : HervĂ© Guibert, sida, maladies, relation de soin, interdiscursivitĂ©, identitĂ©s sexuellesPolyphonic in nature, HervĂ© Guibertâs âAIDS writingsâ â especially his two first volumes To the friend who did not save my life and the The compassion protocol â explore the effects of the disease on the suffering subjectâs relations. In that sense, they weave together discourses, and modulate the authorâs stylistic work to perform the ambivalence of relations between subjects â at times strange, paradoxical, and unsettling â as they jointly fight against the epidemyâs devastation. This is the case of relations to self (to oneâs own body â and soul â as it decays), the often-ambiguous rapport to Others (whether caregivers, lovers, friends or parents), and relations to sociopolitical, scientific, and cultural challenges subjects face in their intimate combat against suffering, exclusion, and death (think of the ethics of medical body, the Authorities, and groups defending sick peopleâs rights).
Is it possible to write retrospectively, today, the interdiscursive and inter-identity relations that were at the heart of Guibertâs writing? That gave a body and a voice to the contaminations at work during the âAIDS yearsâ? How to write the contemporaneity of those relations to a suffering self, ambiguous and polymorphous? These intersubjective performances, at the heart to oneâs relation to the Other: from care to fantasy, through pulsion of sexuality and death? Is it possible to invest, again, these struggles, both intimate and collective, against illness â against death within oneself, within the other, the otherâs death within oneself â through the enmeshing of languages and discourses? Whether they are scientific, romantic, ethical, or literary?
This creative portion of this thesis, Les amants funambules (The tightrope walking lovers), walks the thin line that connects together languages, to offer an answer to these question in the form of a interdiscursive and inter-identity performance: it is a collection of short stories that stretches, on the one side, towards Guibertâs âAIDS yearsâ, and on the other towards a rhythmical stylistic research, âcontemporaneousâ in its relation to the past.
The essay, Sur le fil des langages (On the thread of languages), will continue walking forward on the interdiscursive rope, to contribute an essayistic performance regarding the sexual disorientation of patient Guibert: a young HIV-positive gay man of 35 years of age sees his sexual, personal, and social identities disseminate â as he relates with his own body, with that of his caregivers, his lovers, and his family â while his bodies continues its process of decay, as sickness confuses him, at the risk of making him fall from the tightrope of languages. In such a context, where bodies-languages threaten to tumble into the silence of death, may salute emerge from literature?
Keywords : Hervé Guibert, AIDS, illness, care relationship, interdiscursivity, sexual identitie
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