Picture Theory

Marguerite Andersen is a professor of French studies at the University
of Guelph.

In this novel of writing and of lesbian love, four women move from South
America to Montreal and from New York to Paris, ignoring the political
and linguistic boundaries that symbolize the male world and its binary
oppositions.

First published in 1982, Picture Theory reveals Brossard’s intense
preoccupation with the difficulty of writing and reading woman. The
title, taken from Wittgenstein, refers to the theory of the hologram
which is to be viewed from an infinite number of positions. Brossard’s
fiction also views reality and its protagonists from changing positions,
and leads, as translator Godard puts it, to “an unfolding to
infinity” and “in infolding of infinity . . . discrete elements
linked in an endless curve.”

This is a difficult book. It not only demands a reader’s attention
but simultaneously requires a willingness to let go of old theories
before embarking with the author on her utopian voyage.

Brossard, who has published more than 20 books since 1965, is twice the
winner of the Governor-General’s Literary Award for poetry, and in
1991 was presented the Toronto Harbourfront Festival Prize in
recognition of her contribution to Canadian literature.