| The
garden and the metaphor
review
of sonia berjman
In
the Poetics, Aristóteles established the theory of literary
genres in the context of a discussion of the “creation of things,”
starting from two questions about mimesis: how to imitate and
what to imitate. He observes that there are three modes of mimesis:
the media of imitation, the objects of imitation, and the ways
of imitating. These observations by Aristoteles lay at the root
of western culture and gave rise to what came to be known as “fiction.”
And from fiction (our dramatical theater) it became metaphor.
Such
were the first ideas that came to mind when reading the text by
Conan. Why does a poetic genre engage almost instantly with another
one? These essays about the poetics of gardens bring together
17 articles (some already in print, others not) written during
the last 30 years by this cultural researcher. Truly, what is
the history of gardens but the history of a fundamental aspect
of culture?
These
chapters are organized around four themes: the poetic texture
of gardens, the creation of gardens, life in gardens, and gardens
as melting pots of culture. It offers 426 pages that lead from
the metaphysics of water to the labyrinth of Versailles; from
the gardens in the French manner of the 17th c. to the contemporary
landscapes created in working class suburbs; from the “classic”
gardeners such as Le Nôtre and André Mollet to the utopian Gabriel
Thouin, and the renovator Bernard Lassus; from individual to collective
creation; from gallantry to landscape metaphor; from the literary
approach of La Fontaine to relationships between nature and politics.
This is to say the large fan of examples that is presented in
order to explain, or better, to expose “the confession of a personal
choice of a few questions to which my writings always made me
return,” as Conan says in his introduction.
It
is good to be offered the freedom to either read each chapter
in any order, or as a link in a chain of essays while trying to
discover proximities or distances with our own cultural predilections.
So, it will be easy to agree or disagree with my initial Aristotelian
perspective.
Conan’s
reflexions take on the discovery – beyond forms and materials
– of the meanings, the metaphors, and the fictions in gardens
of all times and latitudes. Without any leanings towards determinism,
he proposes to use an anthropological concept of human conduct
in gardens, whether by the creators or visitors, as a departure
point for a confrontation with our times and our everyday life.
“Gardens
always are fragile ecosystems that survive when monitored by humans
trying to mold nature to some cultural end. Human culture does
not oppose nature as much as it transforms it by appropriating
and adapting it to its ends. The garden offers an infinite source
of metaphors to evoke the greatest refinements of culture, the
poetics of life.”
All
these thoughts are expressed in a chosen French language, supported
by a large number of black and white and a few color illustrations
that enliven the presentations, bringing visual dimensions to
the pursuit of knowledge.
In
a word, this is compulsory reading for academics interested in
urban history, social history, art history, cultural history...
and why not in garden history! |
