Oscarine Bosquet’s Present Participle is a verb of the present lived “from wherever one is in the world” as a call to act in language, as a radical way of listening, in the shapes of letters. In a dozen taut sequences, the book explores metaphorical and actual prisons and revolutions through references to political captivity, torture, and despotism as well as philosophical heroism through nuanced, striking, and heartfelt language. The writing reflects keenly the sufferings of those in distant places and the narration identifies closely with political leader and prisoner Rosa Luxembourg. Fragmentation, affect, repetition, and riffs on proper names, places, dates, and facts construe a haunting verbal landscape for readers to navigate.

translated by Sarah Riggs & Ellen LeBlond-Schrader

The French original of this text can be accessed through Archive.org

And though we searched on abebooks.com and bookshop.org,  we couldn’t find any copies on those sites, but the book can be found at Amazon.