Pierre Alferi. Poetry, Religion, Prophesy. 2010.

http://www.egs.edu/ Pierre Alferi, French poet, novelist and filmmaker, lectures on poetry, religion and prophesy. In this lecture, Pierre Alferi, discusses the differences between modes of expression, most specifically between poetry, religion and experimental film. Alferi also considers the possibility that all these modes may be aiming at the same object, despite their varying conceptions of it, lastly Alferi also considers the logic of prophesy and its relationship to art. Over the course of the lecture, Alferi makes repeated reference to the works of Blake, Stevens, Plato, Brakhage, and Len Lye. Public lecture for the students and faculty of the European Graduate School EGS Media and Communication Studies department program Saas-Fee Switzerland Europe 2010 Pierre Alferi.

Pierre Alferi (b. 1963, France) is a novelist, poet and filmmaker. Pierre, following in the footsteps of his notorious father, Jacques Derrida, began as a philosopher. In 1989 he earned a philosophy degree from the University of Paris, and published his dissertation on William of Ockham, two years later he published a further philosophical work, Chercher une phrase, which dealt with questions of language and literature. Pierre, however, pursued neither a career in philosophy, nor one in academics. Beginning in the early 1990's, Pierre has become of France's most celebrated poets. It would, however, be unfair to call Pierre just a poet, given his musings on the visual arts, literature, and experimental film.
It is difficult to categorize Alferi's writing, not least because it involves intentional experimentation with the limits and loops of language, that is, with its formulas and reflexivity. Moreover, in much of Pierre's writing the intention is to merge all traditional categories of writing and constitute a form that is continuously reinvented, in respect to its critical relationship to its surrounding world. In his writings, if we are painting in broad strokes, the form is of equal concern as the content, not least because the separation between them is not o balck and white.
Alferi has published several books of poetry, including: Les Allures naturelles (1991), Le Chemin familier du poisson combatif (1992), Kub Or (1994), Sentimentale journée (1997), La Voie des airs (2004), as well as the novels: Fmn (1994) and Le cinéma des familles (1999), and most recently Les Jumelles (2009).
Alferi has also collaborated with artists and musicians. With Suzanne Doppelt, Alferi founded Detail, an esteemed literary review. While with Olivier Cadio, he founded La Revue de Littérature Générale. Alferi has also written lyrics for Jeanne Balibar, including two songs ("Cinéma" and "Ton Diable") from her 2003 album, Slalom Dame. Alferi is also a renowned for his translations of John Donna, Giorgio Agamben and Meyer Schapiro, George Oppen and Louis Zukofsky, into French.
Pierre Alferi teaches at the European Graduate School, in Saas-Fee, Switzerland, as well as in the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, and École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs, both in Paris, France. Alferi was also the writer in residence at the French Academy in Rome, Italy, between 1987 and 1988.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Pierre
• Alferi
• cinema
• religion
• Blake
• Stevens
• Brakhage
• Len
• Lye
• poetry
• prophesy
• EGS
• European
• Graduate
• School