Lise Wajeman

Lise Wajeman (1973, France) teaches comparative literature at Paris Cité University. She works on Renaissance literature and art, and has published, in particular, L’Amour de l’art : Erotique de l’artiste et du spectateur au XVI^e siècle [Love of Art: Eroticism of the Artist and the Viewer in the Sixteenth Century] (Droz, 2015). Since 2016 she has also been following current developments in contemporary literature as a critic: she has published numerous articles in Mediapart and is a regular contributor to the podcast L’Esprit critique.

Her residency project, entitled Seconde zone, is devoted to writing a praise of commentary, of the reader, the viewer, the word that comes after, in second place: the word that stands in the shadow of the work. The text will be hybrid in form, combining first‑person narrative, commentary on artworks, and literary theory. The ultimate aim is to destabilize the authority of the “I” that leads the narrative: pervaded by the otherness of works, it is a permeable person. It will be a question of turning this weakness into a self-assertion, a “pride”, against whoever claims to be the only one that makes sense – which is not without political considerations.

Portrait © SZ