The “Journal d’un corps” by Daniel Pennac

Abstract

The influence that ancient and modern devices of representation of the body have on the work of some contemporary authors is central to the book Corpi in frammenti. Anatomia, radiologia, fotografia e forma breve del narrare (Le Lettere, Firenze 2013). It is proposed here the final part of the volume, which summarizes many of the issues investigated, by analyzing the recent novel Journal d’un corps by Daniel Pennac. This detailed narration of the physical changes occurred over the course of a lifetime reveals the unreachable distance between the subject and the specular, photographic, medical images of the subject’s own body, as well as the therapeutic role of journal writing, an act that is capable of healing this rift.