ABSTRACT
Writing prose "like no one else's" does not necessarily mean that an author's style is ostentatiously new. In the case of Gil Jouanard, readers may spot Montaigne as a mentor, as well as the nineteenth-century entomologist, Jean-Henri Fabre. These influences aside, Jouanard has undeniably mastered a singular kind of short-prose text. More expansive than diary entries, yet not really classifiable as stories, Jouanard's crafted pieces can sometimes be read as prose poems; others are more like on-the-spot reports or personal essays. Even more characteristically, Jouanard examines the "interminable series of 'briefnessess' making up Time". In contrast to authors seeking out "exceptional moments", Jouanard postulates that "any instant" is suitable for experiencing the "inexhaustible savor of the world". Although "any instant" and "any place" theoretically suffice for the kind of close observing and subsequent generalizing in which Jouanard excels, his urban strolls or countryside hikes often comprise seeking out special nooks in which he feels "immersed in thick, forgotten memories".
