Together with Chateaubriand, Nerval, and Proust, in Julien Gracq we are in the family of writers who rely on memory. The Narrow Waters is the "Combray" of Gracq. In this poetic and multi-layered essay, Gracq's "favorite of all excursions" of his childhood, going boating on the Evre, is recounted as a sort of diorama unwinding in front of the boat. The journey inevitably calls up images: the caption of an illustrated book, motives of Chinese painting, a painting by Titian; but also lines from a poem by Nerval, or a simply gestures, or a certain quality of light or silence. In the subtle play between poles of proximity and distance, the ambiguity of the present is apprehended as an object of thought. Revisiting sites is the means of a personal quest: here are deposited images which, upon reappropriation, make up one's self.
By Julien Gracq.
Paperback, 4.75 x 7.25 in./72 pgs /
