Serge Venturini (October 12, 1955,

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

) is a French

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...

. Poet of ''devenir'' ("destiny"), several metamorphoses run through his poetry. From his poetics of human destiny, through post-human and

transhuman Transhuman, or trans-human, is the concept of an intermediary form between human and posthuman. In other words, a transhuman is a being that resembles a human in most respects but who has powers and abilities beyond those of standard humans. Th ...

poetics, he came to the transvisible thematic.

Biography

Serge Venturini is a poet and a French teacher in

Val-d'Oise Val-d'Oise (, "Vale of the Oise") is a department in the Île-de-France region, Northern France. It was created in 1968 following the split of the Seine-et-Oise department. In 2019, Val-d'Oise had a population of 1,249,674.

since 1996, when he came back to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

after having lived in

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...

(1979–1981) and

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria t ...

(1981–1984). After a brief come back to France (1984–1987), he lived in

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ' ...

(1987–1990) and in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

(1990–1996), on temporary assignment for the French Foreign Affairs Ministry. His mother (born in Figline di Prato) worked sometimes as dressmaker, sometimes as cleaning lady, and his father (born in

Rutali Rutali is a commune in the Haute-Corse department of France on the island of Corsica. Population See also *Communes of the Haute-Corse department The following is a list of the 236 communes of the Haute-Corse department Department may ...

) was a cartographic designer at the

Institut Géographique National An institute is an organisational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations (research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes can ...

during the week, and, with his brother Jean, guitarist and singer at feast days in Corsican receptions during the 1950s in

. He spent his childhood not far from the

Musée Rodin The Musée Rodin ( en, Rodin Museum) in Paris, France, is a museum that was opened in 1919, primarily dedicated to the works of the French sculptor Auguste Rodin. It has two sites: the Hôtel Biron and surrounding grounds in central Paris, as ...

in the

7th arrondissement of Paris The 7th arrondissement of Paris (''VIIe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, this arrondissement is referred to as ''le septième''. The arrondissement, called Palais-Bourbon in a r ...

. From 1955 till 1979, he stayed in 3 rue Rousselet. He was introduced to

Heraclitus Heraclitus of Ephesus (; grc-gre, Ἡράκλειτος , "Glory of Hera"; ) was an ancient Greek pre-Socratic philosopher from the city of Ephesus, which was then part of the Persian Empire. Little is known of Heraclitus's life. He wrot ...

Empedocles Empedocles (; grc-gre, Ἐμπεδοκλῆς; , 444–443 BC) was a Greek pre-Socratic philosopher and a native citizen of Akragas, a Greek city in Sicily. Empedocles' philosophy is best known for originating the cosmogonic theory of the ...

Arthur Rimbaud Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud (, ; 20 October 1854 – 10 November 1891) was a French poet known for his transgressive and surreal themes and for his influence on modern literature and arts, prefiguring surrealism. Born in Charleville, he start ...

and

Friedrich Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, prose poet, cultural critic, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philosophy. He began his ...

. He began to write when he was fifteen. His ''poésie du devenir'' ("poetry of destiny"), lightning and crystal-clear according to Geneviève Clancy who revealed him, is influenced by

Pierre Reverdy Pierre Reverdy (; 13 September 1889 – 17 June 1960) was a French poet whose works were inspired by and subsequently proceeded to influence the provocative art movements of the day, Surrealism, Dadaism and Cubism. The loneliness and spiritual a ...

and even more by René Char, and is at the junction of poetry and prose, of politics and philosophy. It was recognised as such by

Yves Bonnefoy Yves Jean Bonnefoy (24 June 1923, Tours – 1 July 2016 Paris) was a French poet and art historian. He also published a number of translations, most notably the plays of William Shakespeare which are considered among the best in French. He was pr ...

, André du Bouchet,

Abdellatif Laabi Abdellatif Laâbi is a Moroccan poet, journalist, novelist, playwright, translator and political activist, born in 1942 in Fes, Morocco. Laâbi, then teaching French, founded with other poets the artistic journal Souffles, an important literar ...

and

Laurent Terzieff Laurent Terzieff (27 June 1935, in Toulouse – 2 July 2010, in Paris) was a French actor. Biography Terzieff was the son of French ceramist

The transvisible

The ''transvisible'' is a

theory A theory is a rational type of abstract thinking about a phenomenon, or the results of such thinking. The process of contemplative and rational thinking is often associated with such processes as observational study or research. Theories may be ...

according to which there is a passage between the

visible Visibility, in meteorology, is a measure of the distance at which an object or light can be seen. Visibility may also refer to: * A measure of turbidity in water quality control * Interferometric visibility, which quantifies interference contrast ...

and the

invisible Invisibility is the state of an object that cannot be seen. An object in this state is said to be ''invisible'' (literally, "not visible"). The phenomenon is studied by physics and perceptual psychology. Since objects can be seen by light in ...

world which lasts no longer than a flash of lightning, no longer than a vision. To fully understand this theory that is still in the making, it is necessary to refer to other key notions of the transvisible; we still haven’t found the way out of

Plato’s cave The Allegory of the Cave, or Plato's Cave, is an allegory presented by the Greek philosopher Plato in his work ''Republic'' (514a–520a) to compare "the effect of education ( παιδεία) and the lack of it on our nature". It is written as ...

and we still mistake the appearance of reality for reality itself, in a world trapped in the fallacies of images and when the absence of such images is accepted as a token of un-reality, of untruth and consequently of falsehood, a world in which

reality Reality is the sum or aggregate of all that is real or existent within a system, as opposed to that which is only imaginary. The term is also used to refer to the ontological status of things, indicating their existence. In physical terms, r ...

itself has become fiction; in "a world ''truly turned upside down''", as Guy Debord once said, the virtual has become a reality. The first of these notions is the ''posthuman'' which witnessed the death of the old

Humanist movement The Humanist Movement is an international volunteer organisation following and spreading the ideas of Argentine writer Mario Rodríguez Cobos, commonly known by his nickname "Silo". The movement's ideology is known as New Humanism, Universal Hu ...

that was born out of the

Italian Renaissance The Italian Renaissance ( it, Rinascimento ) was a period in Italian history covering the 15th and 16th centuries. The period is known for the initial development of the broader Renaissance culture that spread across Europe and marked the trans ...

. Beyond this notion, as in a second step, one could refer to the ''transhuman'' as the necessary move to go beyond the notion we have just mentioned. Dante’s ''transumanar'' remains a major reference in the issue. "Transhumaner" would mean "to go beyond what is human", "beyond Good and Evil" as

Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, prose poet, cultural critic, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philosophy. He began his car ...

once said. On a symbolical level, the ''transvisible'' could be epitomized by an arrow shot from the visible and that would vanish in the invisible. As the symbol of a philosophy of destiny and of evolution, the transvisible is the moment between what is ''already no more'' and what is ''yet to come'', a moment with dreamlike qualities, when the mind itself passes from day-time subconscious to evening slumber and sometimes premonitory dream. According to Henri Bergson, it is the first function of consciousness to hold onto what is no more in order to look into the future. Water too would seem to be an excellent

metaphor A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide (or obscure) clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are often compared wi ...

between the liquid word (the visible) and vapour (the invisible). So would the wind when you don’t even notice it rustling the leaves or conversely, when nothing seems to move, when it comes and sweeps across your face like a ray of light. Or quite differently, money now that the banking rules have disappeared and that monetary value has become more and more immaterial, if not totally virtual and transvisible This is why it is so difficult to explain how quick the passage is between what is visible for the eye and the mind and what is not, as is revealed by the notorious fade in-fade out effect used in the

movie A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

s when one picture succeeds another: as one picture gradually vanishes, the following one gets clearer and clearer. And the same goes for

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...

when one theme succeeds another. When

science Science is a systematic endeavor that Scientific method, builds and organizes knowledge in the form of Testability, testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earli ...

and

art Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...

intertwine, the Florentine engineer

Maurizio Seracini Maurizio Seracini (born 1946) is a diagnostician of Italian art. A 1973 graduate in bioengineering from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), he founded, in 1977, the first company in Italy for diagnostic and non-destructive analyses on ...

, provides another fine example. As a specialist in reflectography and infra-red techniques, he pioneered the restoration of the works of

Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 14522 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, Drawing, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially res ...

and was able to use the latest technology to uncover The Batlle of Anghiari and to reveal one of the first drawings of the master from under the current unfinished

The Adoration of the Magi The Adoration of the Magi or Adoration of the Kings is the name traditionally given to the subject in the Nativity of Jesus in art in which the three Magi, represented as kings, especially in the West, having found Jesus by following a star, ...

. To see another reality under the appearance of representation is to be confronted to the transvisible. To see beyond our senses is a problem

Pablo Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...

had already pointed out when he declared: "it would be necessary to reveal the paintings beneath the actual painting". Therefore, between being and non-being, in a world in which communication is increasingly being dematerialised as time goes by, the supporters of rationality see in all this nothing more than just an expression of what is not determined, improbable or unmentionable, thereby refusing to get involved in the whole issue. All that is not clearly expressed doesn’t hold water and is consequently deemed irrelevant. However, there were people like

Merleau-Ponty Maurice Jean Jacques Merleau-Ponty. (; 14 March 1908 – 3 May 1961) was a French phenomenological philosopher, strongly influenced by Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger. The constitution of meaning in human experience was his main interest an ...

, who at one time happened to be passionate about the links between the visible and the invisible. As a philosopher, Merleau-Ponty even discovered in it some sort of "profondeur charnelle". Poets too have also attempted to meet the transvisible in the flesh. What is void, empty and unthinkable offers countless possibilities in this respect. To ''see'', to pass from what is opaque to what is transparent is required before reaching the transparency of the invisible. The ''openness'' of such worlds should also be emphasised for people with too rational a mind have chosen not to trouble themselves with such interactions. As media of transvisibility, poets act as torch-bearers in charge with the fire of eloquence; they are walkers between worlds. As we cross from the visible to the invisible, the transvisible transfigures Time itself.

Works

* ''D'aurorales clartés : Choix de poèmes réunis par l'auteur, 1971-1995'', Gutenberg XXIe siècle, Paris, 2000 (dedicated to

Osip Mandelstam Osip Emilyevich Mandelstam ( rus, Осип Эмильевич Мандельштам, p=ˈosʲɪp ɨˈmʲilʲjɪvʲɪtɕ mənʲdʲɪlʲˈʂtam; – 27 December 1938) was a Russian and Soviet poet. He was one of the foremost members of the A ...

) * ''Éclats : d'une poétique du devenir humain, 1976-1999'', L'Harmattan, Paris, 2000 (dedicated to Paul Celan) ** Review: Paul Van Melle, "J'ai trouvé une autre Bible", in ''Bulletin'', n° 44 (2000),

La Hulpe La Hulpe (; nl, Terhulpen, ; wa, L’ Elpe) is a municipality of Wallonia in the Belgian province of Walloon Brabant, 20 km south-east of the centre of Brussels, but only about 3 km from the edge of the Brussels-Capital Region. On Janua ...

* ''Le sens de la terre'', followed by ''L’Effeuillée, Aphrodite en trente variations, 1999-2003'', Éditions Didro, Paris, 2004 (dedicated to Yves Battistini) ** Review: Paul Van Melle, "Prose... sans ateliers", in ''Bulletin'', n° 84, La Hulpe *

Sayat-Nova Sayat-Nova ( Armenian: Սայեաթ-Նովայ ( сlassical), Սայաթ-Նովա ( reformed); ka, საიათნოვა; ; ; born Harutyun Sayatyan; 14 June 1712 – 22 September 1795) was an Armenian poet, musician and ''ashugh'', w ...

, ''Odes arméniennes'' (translation of the 47 odes), with Elisabeth Mouradian, L’Harmattan, 2000–2006, Paris, 2006 (dedicated to

Sergei Parajanov Sergei Parajanov, ka, სერგო ფარაჯანოვი, uk, Сергій Параджанов (January 9, 1924 – July 20, 1990) was an Armenian filmmaker. Parajanov is regarded by film critics, film historians and filmmakers t ...

) . This book has been labelled for the Armenian year in France, September 2006-July 2007 : "Arménie, mon amie!", and selected for the Price

Charles Aznavour Charles Aznavour ( , ; born Shahnour Vaghinag Aznavourian, hy, Շահնուր Վաղինակ Ազնավուրեան, ; 22 May 1924 – 1 October 2018) was a French-Armenian singer, lyricist, actor and diplomat. Aznavour was known for his dist ...

on 19 November 2006, at the Marseille Armenian Book Festival.Prix Charles Aznavour 2006
/ref> ** Reviews: *** Annie Pilibossian, in ''Bulletin de l'ACAM'', n°66 (January–March 2007), Val-de-Marne *** Paul Van Melle, "Ressusciter les auteurs méconnus", in ''Bulletin'', n°208 (September 2006), La Hulpe *** "Սայաթ-Նովայի ստեղծագործությունները ֆրանսերենով" (''Sayat-Novayi stértsagortsutyunnére fransérénov'', "Sayat-Nova's works in French"), in ''Հայաստանի Հանրապետություն'' (''Hayastani Hanrapetutyun'', "Republic of Armenia"), 16 February 2007,

Erevan Yerevan ( , , hy, Երևան , sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerevan is the administrative, cultural, and i ...

*** Jean-Baptiste Para
"Historiens de l'Antiquité"
in ''Europe'', n° 945-946 (January–February 2008), p. 345-346 * ''Éclats d’une poétique du devenir posthumain, 2000-2007'' (Livre II), L’Harmattan, Paris, 2007 (dedicated to

Lucie Aubrac Lucie Samuel (29 June 1912 – 14 March 2007), born Lucie Bernard, and better known as Lucie Aubrac (), was a French history teacher and member of the French Resistance during World War II. In 1938, she earned an agrégation of history (somethi ...

) ** Review: Paul Van Melle, "Pour une poétique de la pensée", in ''Bulletin'', n° 214, La Hulpe * ''Fulgur''i''ances et autres figures'', (1980–2007), postface by Philippe Tancelin, L'Harmattan, Paris, May 2008 (dedicated to

Alexander Blok Alexander Alexandrovich Blok ( rus, Алекса́ндр Алекса́ндрович Бло́к, p=ɐlʲɪˈksandr ɐlʲɪˈksandrəvʲɪtɕ ˈblok, a=Ru-Alyeksandr Alyeksandrovich Blok.oga; 7 August 1921) was a Russian lyrical poet, writer, publ ...

) **Reading of ''Fulguriances'' at the ''Théâtre Noir du Lucernaire'' in Paris, 16 June 2008 * ''Éclats d’une poétique du devenir transhumain, 2003-2008'' (Livre III), L’Harmattan, Paris, 2009 (dedicated to

Missak Manouchian Missak Manouchian (Western hy, Միսաք Մանուշեան; , 1 September 1906 – 21 February 1944) was a French-Armenian poet and communist activist. An Armenian genocide survivor, he moved to France from an orphanage in Lebanon in 1925. ...

) * ''Éclats d’une poétique du devenir, Journal du transvisible'', (Livre IV) 2007-2009 Editions

L’Harmattan Éditions L'Harmattan, usually known simply as L'Harmattan (), is one of the largest French book publishers. It specialises in non-fiction books with a particular focus on Sub-Saharan Africa. It is named after the Harmattan, a trade wind i ...

, Paris, February 2010, collection « Poètes des cinq continents » * ''Avant tout et en dépit de tout'' (2000–2010), (dedicated to

Marina Tsvetaeva Marina Ivanovna Tsvetaeva (russian: Марина Ивановна Цветаева, p=mɐˈrʲinə ɪˈvanəvnə tsvʲɪˈtaɪvə; 31 August 1941) was a Russian poet. Her work is considered among some of the greatest in twentieth century Russia ...

), Editions

, Paris December 2010, collection « Poètes des cinq continents », *

Yeghishe Charents Yeghishe Charents (; March 13, 1897 – November 27, 1937) was an Armenian poet, writer and public activist. Charents' literary subject matter ranged from his experiences in the First World War, socialist revolution, and frequently Armenia an ...

, ''Dantesque legend'' (1915–1916), (dedicated to Liu Xiaobo), Editions

, Paris December 2010, collection "Armenian letters", * ''Éclats d’une poétique de l'inaccompli, (2009-2012)'' (Livre V), (dedicated to René Char)

L'Harmattan Éditions L'Harmattan, usually known simply as L'Harmattan (), is one of the largest French book publishers. It specialises in non-fiction books with a particular focus on Sub-Saharan Africa. It is named after the Harmattan, a trade wind in ...

, coll. « Poètes des cinq continents », Paris, 2012 * ''Éclats d'une poétique de l'approche de l'inconnaissable'', (Livre VI), (dedicated to

Laurent Terzieff Laurent Terzieff (27 June 1935, in Toulouse – 2 July 2010, in Paris) was a French actor. Biography Terzieff was the son of French ceramist L'Harmattan Éditions L'Harmattan, usually known simply as L'Harmattan (), is one of the largest French book publishers. It specialises in non-fiction books with a particular focus on Sub-Saharan Africa. It is named after the Harmattan, a trade wind in ...

, Paris, 2013, * ''Éclats d'une poétique des métamorphoses'', (Livre VII), (2013-2015), (dédicated to Gilles-Claude Thériault), coll. « Poètes des cinq continents », éd.

, Paris, nov. 2015, * ''Du fleuve débordant Du fleuve sans retour (essai en poésie)'', postface de Philippe Tancelin, coll. « Poètes des cinq continents », éd.

, Paris, sept. 2017, * '' Tcharents, présentation chronologique, dans le vent de l'histoire'' suivi de '' Nausicaa de Yéghiché Tcharents'' (Version de Serge Venturini avec l'aide d'Élisabeth Mouradian), coll. « Lettres arméniennes », éd. L'Harmattan, Paris, octobre 2018, . * '' Tcharents our contemporary'' suivi de la traduction du poème ''Foules affolées'' avec l'aide d'Élisabeth Mouradian, coll. « Lettres arméniennes », éd. L'Harmattan, Paris, février 2020.

References

External links

* *
"Lucie Aubrac"
* Serge Venturini

{{DEFAULTSORT:Venturini, Serge French poets 1955 births Living people French translators French male poets French male non-fiction writers