Bonnefoy contro se stesso

In all his works, Bonnefoy asserted the fundamental value of "presence", in contrast with the abstractions typical of image and concept. This attitude reveals that the author was perfectly coherent and confident in his own poetics. Nonetheless, he often criticized his poetry collections, thus questioning his own achievements. This contradiction is evident in texts such as L'Arrière-pays, L'Improbable, Du mouvement et de l’immobilité de Douve, dominated by ambiguities, bewilderment, and deja vus.