In Earth and Mind : Dreaming, Writing, Being Michael Bishop examines the very recent work of nine major contemporary French and Francophone writers : Yves Bonnefoy, Jacqueline Risset, Salah Stétié, Vénus Khoury-Ghata, Tahar Ben Jelloun, André Velter, Marie-Claire Bancquart, Jean-Claude Pinson and Jacques Dupin. The issue of writing’s complex relation to the experience of the earth is of central pertinence, involving questions of dreaming, voice, figurativity, emotion, desire, revolt, metaphysics, meaning, poiein and being. Discussion entails close reading of works as well as broad contextualisation and a sensitivity to interrelevancies from writer to writer. Bishop’s book is intended as a companion to his 2014 Dystopie et poïein, agnose et reconnaissance. Seize études sur la poésie française et francophone contemporaine.
