Le Geste - Hacks, Charles 1851-1935; Lanos, Henri 1859-1929 (Paris Marpon Flammarion, 1892)
To begin with, Charles Hacks approaches gesture as a linguist, promising to "do the work of a grammarian", seeking to understand the origin of the word, working on the definitions that are given for it, but also what it is opposed to grammatically. But the grammatical approach (often coupled with a strong literary culture) did little to help him define his subject.To understand what 'gesticulate' means, Hacks takes a diversion into the lives of men, outside the dictionaries. He takes on the role of historian - searching for the origins - and, even more excitingly for today's readers, he becomes a moralist. In the 'chanson de geste' and the warlike Middle Ages, he finds the origin of the word that interests him. An origin which is less factual than fantasised and theological: it refers to a kind of pre-Babelic golden age where every gesture was an act, where acts and gestures merged. The historian in Hacks doesn't last long; here he is a moralist, a man of his time, fantasising about a truer past, when men, from a "strong race", adjusted their capacity for meaning (their words and gestures) to their power of action, particularly in combat; a time when men were what they did and meant.Hacks' dream is in keeping with a virile vision of the world, that of "an age of muscle, of personal courage, of strength, showing itself in pleasures as well as in love". Manliness here means: harmony of word and deed, clarity, possible confidence in human relationships, and therefore, between the lines, a form of Eden - women are not part of this warrior Middle Ages, freed from seductions. Hacks criticises the theatre and the femininity - he doesn't say feminine, he says hysterical - of his time. In doing so, Hacks offers us a fascinating critique of the Belle Epoque, as an era of exaggerated theatre, an era of grand gestures and imposing figures, transformed today into imperturbable clichés. The Belle Epoque invented its gestures, and Hacks wrote both a critique and a science of them.Finally, Hacks works as an anatomist and scientist, as he was a doctor. Here again, Hacks' time was eminently science-oriented. In very concrete terms, he links movement to the organism, the body and physical activity. (translated from https://sht.asso.fr/ct/le-geste-par-charles-hacks/)
Ex libris Recherches et Formation Théâtrales en Wallonie, Liège (stamp)
Keywords: 19th Century (1801-1900); Gesticulation; Theater history