ABSTRACT
The landscapes that Patrick Drevet (b. 1948) describes with stunning precision in Paysages d’Eros are all located on the human body, and often on the face. Throughout his investigation, Drevet is thinking hard about the motivations and justifications of writing. Avoiding contemporary cliches about sexual allurement, Drevet mostly skips over the “erogenous zones” so as to better highlight unexpected loci of attraction. He evokes the enticement of another person’s hands and arms, noting that tiny hairs and nuances of skin tone participate in the seductive process. Although other revealing anecdotes are analyzed, the overall aim of Paysages d’Eros goes well beyond heightening the reader’s sensitivity to anatomical detail. Thought-provoking observations about the human condition also emerge from the exceedingly close observations. Drevet’s sensuous empiricism leads him time and again to this mysterious “invisible ray” which, in his view, is necessarily biological in nature, not mystical or psychological.
