Résumé / Abstract
La source du Nil est un lieu qu’on a longtemps cherché à atteindre, mais qui s’est dérobé aux explorateurs. C’est une rétrotopie : un lieu auquel on retourne sans cesse et qui se retire à mesure qu’on avance. En même temps, ce qu’on dit de ce lieu, les légendes dont on l’entoure, en font un des plus anciens rétrotopos : un lieu commun qu’on ne cesse de raviver. Caput Nili de Richard Kandt, médecin et explorateur allemand de la fin du XIXe siècle, documente cette quête de la source du Nil et en confirme la nature rétrotopique. Il y a plus : pour légitimer sa fascination pour les Tutsis (et son indifférence envers les Hutus), Richard Kandt identifie les Tutsis aux chevaliers du Moyen-Âge européen et fait du Rwanda un autre lieu où on retrouverait quelque chose de l’Europe du Moyen-Âge, où on reviendrait en arrière : une hétérorétropie. Enfin, l’écriture même de Richard Kandt peut être deux fois qualifiée de rétrotopique. D’abord parce qu’à l’image de l’exploration plutôt monotone, qui traverse les mêmes paysages et les mêmes situations, elle est répétitive et que le lecteur lit plusieurs fois quasiment la même chose. Ensuite, parce qu’autour d’une situation d’énonciation à laquelle il revient toujours, l’auteur multiplie les analepses et les prolepses.
Caput Nili de Richard Kandt, a meandering retrotopia
The source of the Nile is a place that people have long sought to reach, but which has eluded explorers. It’s a retrotopia: a place to which we return again and again, and which retreats as we go. At the same time, what is said about this place, the legends that surround it, make it one of the oldest retrotopos: a commonplace that is constantly revived. German physician and explorer Richard Kandt’s Caput Nili from the late 19th century documents this quest for the source of the Nile and confirms its retrotopic nature. And there’s more: to legitimize his fascination with the Tutsis (and his indifference to the Hutus), Richard Kandt identifies the Tutsis with the knights of the European Middle Ages, and turns Rwanda into another place where we find something of the Europe of the Middle Ages, where we go back in time: a heteroretropy. Finally, Richard Kandt’s writing itself can be described as retrotopic in two ways. Firstly, because the rather monotonous exploration of the same landscapes and situations is repetitive, and the reader reads virtually the same thing over and over again. Secondly, because the author multiplies analepses and prolepses around an enunciation situation to which he always returns.
Caput Nili de Richard Kandt, a meandering retrotopia
The source of the Nile is a place that people have long sought to reach, but which has eluded explorers. It’s a retrotopia: a place to which we return again and again, and which retreats as we go. At the same time, what is said about this place, the legends that surround it, make it one of the oldest retrotopos: a commonplace that is constantly revived. German physician and explorer Richard Kandt’s Caput Nili from the late 19th century documents this quest for the source of the Nile and confirms its retrotopic nature. And there’s more: to legitimize his fascination with the Tutsis (and his indifference to the Hutus), Richard Kandt identifies the Tutsis with the knights of the European Middle Ages, and turns Rwanda into another place where we find something of the Europe of the Middle Ages, where we go back in time: a heteroretropy. Finally, Richard Kandt’s writing itself can be described as retrotopic in two ways. Firstly, because the rather monotonous exploration of the same landscapes and situations is repetitive, and the reader reads virtually the same thing over and over again. Secondly, because the author multiplies analepses and prolepses around an enunciation situation to which he always returns.
Citer
Michael Wilhelm, « Caput nili de Richard Kandt, une rétrotopie méandreuse » (n° 3 | 2024) dans Pagaille, n°3, « Rétrotopies ou l’idéalisation du passé », 2024, p. 14–26. Url : https://revue-pagaille.fr/2024–3‑wilhelm/