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encounter, mak[ing] collage an essential agent in the grand epic of the rout
of rationalism following the 1914 18 war. New concepts of space were elab-
orated in non-Euclidean geometry, while quantum physics explored the non-
sequitur, and the irrational and the fractured subject were charted in
Freudian psychoanalysis. (Adamowicz 1998: 14)
A tenet of Spiralism discussed above is the implication of the reader in the
work s creation process also privileging process over product, chaos over
order. As in Ultravocal, the reader will be visually and contextually impli-
cated in such a process in H �ros-Chim�res. Similar to the lexical fragments
in Ultravocal, the unrelated pictorial images that follow on each page,
when analyzed using tenets of chaos theory, remain incomplete and noisy,
offering a vast amount of  information for reader consumption and inter-
pretation. The images are in black and white (although originally some
Frank�tienne s spirals: chaos theory, minor literature and generic limits 125
IJFS_13-1_08-cobb wittrock_1000046 6/8/10 5:04 PM Page 126
Figure 10: Frank�tienne, H �ros-Chim�res Port-au-Prince: Spirale, 2002, p. 253.
Courtesy of Frank�tienne
were in colour; Frank�tienne s 2006 spiral work Galaxie Chaos-Babel pre-
sents his paintings in colour) and do recall the importance of the mer-
veilleux from surrealist collage. However, unlike a surrealist work, H �ros
does not seek to flee the real world. As a minor literature, it seeks to give
an accurate representation of reality: chaotic, fragmented and noisy.
Prigoginian chaos also allows this text to be interpreted not as a
pseudo-surrealist collage-roman, as first created by Max Ernst, but as a new
exploration in representing the  tremors of the modern world which priv-
ileges productive noise, chance and the aleatory. A surrealist collage-novel
which predated Graphic novels is composed of images taken from nine-
teenth and early twentieth century literary, scientific and historical texts.
The images are then collaged together around a melodramatic theme or
plot that is not necessarily linear. Occasionally, the written word would
accompany these images. H �ros-Chim�res blends the structure of the
collage-novel juxtaposing images (written-painting) on facing pages with
what could be considered a collection of individual surrealist works.
Except for a few examples of quasi-linear plot, H �ros-Chim�res differs
from surrealist collage-novels in that there is no traditional narrative; the
unifying theme is chaos which permeates life as depicted in the photos.
Furthermore, notions from chaos theory would suggest that this work
126 Mary Cobb Wittrock
IJFS_13-1_08-cobb wittrock_1000046 6/8/10 5:04 PM Page 127
does not regress into meaningless disorder refusing literature s purpose of
telling a story. This nonlinearity is inherent in any story and merits evalu-
ation as such. According to chaos theory nonlinearity is the standard, but
is a standard that does have meaning, accurately represents the world and
needs to be investigated as such. Indeed Frank�tienne astutely notices that
 le chaos est tout sauf  chaotique. Le chaos est ordonn�, c est la matrice
de la lumi�re, la matrice du monde futur ! (Bona 2004).
Frank�tienne manipulates and subverts the power of ready-made
phrases in H �ros-Chim�res by cutting and pasting them in various ways.
He does attempt to personalize some of the language as is suggested by the
handwritten script. Short of creating his own language, Frank�tienne, in a
state of schizophony, must use the same chaotic, empty language as the
dictators and oppressors in Haiti as a creative tool to convey chaos. Instead
of using ready-made images from public texts however, Frank�tienne s
pictures are his own personal paintings. He embraces the power of
his images, his creativity and his voice to create his own language beyond
the control of his repressors. The  difference , what is important about
Frank�tienne s work in light of previous surrealist work which already
incorporated collage and pre-formed phrases, is the incorporation of a per-
sonal element in his quest to privilege language, noise and chaos over [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]