Loading color scheme

“Stories!”

 

“The floor to the defense”, was published by Agatha Christie in 1933. Original painting by Stefano Frassetto.[1]

 

 

Agatha Christie has been said a solitary woman, who preferred reading since she was a young girl, instead of making friends with people introduced to her : we know however that she was able to get to a good judgement on the appointment and reliability.

“The floor to the defense” is not one of her most famous novel, so unusually quiet and lean, even it contains an indispensable core for love, which is a fair alliance and not for crime : that is founding instead of undermining, and defending instead of removing.

It is not infact, during the trial, the speech of the accused woman – as a matter of fact capable to say not so much and with difficulty – to acquit her of the very serious charge of fatal poisoning towards Mary Gerrard, but the logic set out by her defender, the gentle inflexible detective Hercule Poirot, able to rummage with profit into dense annotations which were leading Elinor Carlisle maybe to the capital punishment, and find those smiling ‘gaps’ of logic by which people condemn just for their own - and others – pleasure,  more than for justice : but first of all ascribing to the justice their own pleasure, even their own ‘jouissance’[2].

Any ‘gap’ into the logic really has presence together with consistency, also if veiled by modesty and kindliness which however are common to the villains too. The same ‘gaps’ – unduly filled up with the most disparate affections – can vigorously flash elsewhere.

You may think of the notebook offered by an analyst to the supervisor, when starting to form again the work between the analyst and the patient, an indispensable third reading, external without any non-involvement, aimed at grasping anything the science of thinking (or unconscious) entrusts to neglected finds and little remains, which easily can shift to a story of disease – for many people pretious, infinite, inhuman – that unique end of skein so skilfully adulterated and removed : not without responsibility.

 

Marina Bilotta Membretti / Cernusco sul Naviglio – August 19,  2022

 

 

[1] Stefano Frassetto is born in Turin in 1968. After his degree in Architecture at ‘Politecnico’ he begun as graphic novelist for local magazines. In the ‘90s he edited in France too, on ‘Le Réverbère’ and on ‘Libération’ : then he created ‘Ippo’ for ‘Il Giornalino’ and then the stripe ‘35MQ’ for the swiss magazine ‘20 Minuti’. In 2000 he came into ‘La Stampa’ as portraitist for cultural page and the insert ‘Tuttolibri’, then for the weekly ‘Origami’. Today he works also for the swiss magazine ‘Le Temps’. His collection “35mq. 2012-2022 Dieci anni di inettitudine” has been just published in 2022.

[2] ‘jouissance’ is a typical French word introduced and then often used in psychoanalysis by Jacques Lacan :  as a matter of fact it points out that widespread ‘pleasure’ of both ingenuity and envy, as escaping one’s mind. Among others see ‘Kant con Sade’, ‘Critique’ n.191 aprile 1963 in ‘Jacques Lacan. Scritti’, a cura di Giacomo B. Contri - Vol. II pp.764-791 ‘Giulio Einaud editore SpA’ (1974 and 2002)

Save
Cookies user preferences
We use cookies to ensure you to get the best experience on our website. If you decline the use of cookies, this website may not function as expected.
Accept all
Decline all
Analytics
Tools used to analyze the data to measure the effectiveness of a website and to understand how it works.
Google Analytics
Accept
Decline
Unknown
Unknown
Accept
Decline