Robbe-Grillet on Target Or Interrogation by the Numbers

Abstract

Numbers as visible language are at the center of one of the legs of Robbe-Grillet’s recent triangular novel which focuses on verbal-visual relationships. The work of Jasper Johns provokes a visit to a recent retrospective exhibition from which Robbe-Grillet draws an enigmatic detective tale linked with narratives provoked by the work of Irina Ionesco and René Magritte. The focus of the enigma is on painting by the numbers that lead to both writing and painting. This essay visibly plays with three and/or more problems suggested in re-counting.