The Leclezian image, icon of identity and memory

Abstract

The image in Le Clézio’s work is often inserted in the narrative, giving depth to the writing. The figure of the photographer, focused on teenage girls with ethnic traits, is introduced in his stories. The photographic nature of his visual character fixes the memory and becomes an icon of identity; however, it is unable to restore the gaps in memory. Writing, like photography, freezes the immediacy of lived experience, and the power of the words is sometimes, more effective to retrieve the past. Like the image, writing is a support for identity and projects ancient memories which go back to a state of pre-consciousness prior to the narrator himself.

Light, keystone of the photographic or cinematographic image, and the onirism of the filmic image carry a metaphorical language of the figures of deliquescence. In spite of the constant imbrication of image and memory, Leclezian heroes, buried in the quick sands of remembrance, are engaged in the pursuit of a fulfilled identity.