Short Review: Killing Plato by Chantal Maillard
Book: Killing Plato by Chantal Maillard, translated by Yvette Siegert (New Directions, 2019)
Genre: Poetry
Killing Plato is made up of two sections: the first, “Killing Plato”, describes an accident involving a pedestrian and a truck, while the second, “Writing”, is a meditation on writing. The two sequences are quite different and I wonder how it would have effected my reading/experience if I had read them in the opposite order — akin to Ali Smith’s How To Be Both.
The first section, with all its characters, layers, action, has a parallel narrative running at the bottom of the page. I found this absolutely fascinating, if a little difficult to wrap my mind around at first. The second section is slower and more thoughtful. Being about writing, it was also in the end my favourite of the two. Despite being so different in form, the two sections are held together by a strong thematic thread that led to a constant “communication” within the text itself which I really enjoyed.
My only complaint would be that some of the emotion gets lost in the theory and philosophy. I felt at times that Maillard pulls back just as she was about to get to the heart of something. Other than that, I loved it and I’ve read it (the second section in particular) multiple times over now. Thanks to New Directions for sending me a review copy.
Filed Under: playing with form; philosophy meets poetry; self-aware narrator; literature in translation; parallel narratives, double narratives; on suffering.
Recommended for: writers, philosophers, semioticians; fans of Han Kang’s The White Book*; anyone else who is at home in my preferred niche where literature meets philosophy; anyone who was offended when Plato said poets are untrustworthy.
Favourite quotes:
#23
“But the most common thing is to go around
with your soul sewn up in its special lining —
the way we stitch up the bucket of a brand-new suit
so it can’t be deformed
by the weight of things.”
From “Writing”:
“I write
To make the poisoned water
Fit to drink.”
My rating: 4/5
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