Bibliographical Society of the University of Virginia

Does "Text" Exist? Author(s): Louis Hay Reviewed work(s): Source: Studies in Bibliography, Vol. 41 (1988), pp. 64-76 Published by: Bibliographical Society of the University of Virginia Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40371877 . Accessed: 08/01/2013 12:47
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Does "Text"Exist?
by LOUIS HAY*

: on thisnote,jacques petitconcluded the 44"1^ ~T"o it doesn't" I first debate with of the the text and dealing production 1^^^ I ^^1 withliterary ten back, ago.1Looking manuscripts, years usaboutthis X ^| what strikes comment is notso much itsproas simply itsdate.From thispoint vocativeness resignation?) (orrather new At text the same time started the onwards, generating questions. called criticism a textual genetic today approach, ("critique appeared to takea closerlookat therapport and it is interesting gnetique"), ofboth andtext, Butin order tospeak these twoevents. between genesis their these orrather tounderstand ofall toredefine weneedfirst terms, Andso wemust further than tenyears. original meaning. gobackmuch oftext thenotion a rather hasundergone remarkable Historically, witha longperiod ofstability which wasfoldevelopment, beginning lowedrecently mutations. The former by a brief periodof multiple MiddleAges, whenby the 13th periodtakesus backto themonastic in all European thewordtextus, befabric, century languages meaning cametext with thepresent At thebeforthat term. meaning accepted of themodern In had remained ginning age,itsmeaning unchanged. the1786edition oftheFrench it "an is defined as: Academy dictionary, author's ownwords, as opposed to notes, or glosses" commentaries ("les considerees aux notes, aux parolesd'un auteur, propres par rapport aux gloses"), and thefollowing is "The commentaires, example given: textof HolyScripture. It is thepure,formal text. To restore a text." texte de l'Ecriture Sainte. C'est le text et formel. un Restituer ("Le pur Two notions are thus the texte.")2 contrasting distinguished: sharply text ownwords") as opposed tothegloss commen("theauthor's ("notes, Each of these notions has defined functions. The text taries"). precisely
* This and editing that essay was a contributionfor a Symposiumon textual criticism took place from 20th to 23rd April 1985 in Charlottesville,Va. A version in French has appeared as "Le texten'existe pas. Reflexionssur la critique ge"ne*tique." Poetique 62 (1985), 147-158. The translationis by MatthewJocelyn, revisedby Hans Walter Gabler.

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form ofitsmeanitsvery thepureness andformal"is "pure guarantees its of social transmission ensure legitispiritual ing,and theconditions of glossare defined: At thesametimethe functions philology macy. thetext";thecomit has to "restore overtheliteral accuracy, guards reto HolyScripture The reference ofmeaning. is in charge mentary is a distinction in suchan arrangement whatis implied minds us that evensecularThe critical and theprofane. thesacred between edition, thisdayit faithful to itsoriginal remained ised,hasalways calling-to thelegitimacy andtoreinforce ofrighteousness, theword tocarry claims oftext. centhatfor wereall themore rooted, The definitions given firmly in all Europeancultures. tradition the accepted turiestheyformed theFrench itscontemporary, echoes The German dictionary Adelung their from as distinct of an author "The words dictionary: Academy Bible of the the this . in underlying way passages (. .) interpretation texts". considered are most thesermon ("Die Worteeines specifically derselben der zu Unterschiede zum Schriftstellers, Auslegung (. . .) in Stelleniiberwelchegedie biblischen besonders Verstande welchem inGreat Charles Richardson's Texteheissen.").3 dictionary wird, predigt notewithout definition the maintains later of date, Britain, though or the notes to in "A opposed change: composition writing, worthy with"in from Chaucer: is text, An annotations." example given plain "Text is technically and theauthors outennedeofglose", apspecify: of as a subject thetextofScripture, quotedfrom pliedto anypassage This canonical orsermon."4 discourse unchanged understanding persists Morethana century revolution. ofcultural a longperiod throughout usesa virtually Larousse Pierre theFrench after dictionary, Academy of distinctive thegenerally definition, perspective despite unchanged commenthe to as opposed ownwriting "An author's his dictionary: the text." . .) To restore of text The . taries Holy Scripture (. .) (. auxcommentaires d'unauteur (. . .) Le paropposition paroles ("Propres of As theonly un texte.")5 Sainte de l'Ecriture texte signs (. . .) Restituer theBible,and ofPlato"alongside "thetext itcites as itwere, thetimes, thesame Ataround tothetext. incontrast time, "translations" mentions "the thedefinition: Brother's Worterbuch Grimm the monumental gives the . translation to the as 'ur'-text, fundamental, .) (. opposed original, or to commentaries as opposed ofa pieceofwriting words substantive a from reference verse sense in the strict text) (Biblical interpretations: Oberzur im orspeech." sermon Gegensatz ("derOriginal-Grund-Urtext zu denErlauterimGegensatz Schrift einer setzung (. . .) dieHauptworte der im Sinne und (BibelGrundspruch Anmerkungen, engeren ungen aheadone morecentury Andleaping oderRede.")6 einer Predigt text)

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ofreference frame remained tothe the same strict unchanged day, present tothe a law until a "An author's own decade words, ago. (as opposed up loi une lit dans un termes auteur, (par qu'on commentaries)" ("Propres in the1964edition thedefinition auxcommentaires)")thus opposition ofa oftheGrand in theBrockhaus: "thewords Larousse.7 Andin 1973, a sermon." of or Biblical a lecture; underlying piece writing passage diederPredigt eines eines Schriftwerkes, zugrunde Vortrags; ("Wortlaut gelegte Bibelstelle.")8 is a change tomark ofmy thefirst To thebest knowledge, dictionary is work" as 1966"literary as early where Le Robert, litteraire") ("oeuvre bienecrit") text" and"a well-written in thedefinition, included ("texte as neologisms, identified Suchusesarecarefully is usedas an example.9 canbe oftherapid A goodindication however. development subsequent imwith of thisentry thetimidity seenbycomparing JuliaKristeva's litof later: can six "We no statement longer barely years speak perious inLe Robert is ingeneral, However theentry butofthetext."10 erature* Structural of of the its date: also saw because 1966 interesting appearance Poulet's Semantics George byA. L. Greimas, (Semantique structurale) I. It remarkis Three Genette's and Gerard Figures Essays (Troisessais) was theworkof a teamof young able, too,sincethisnewdictionary ofthetheories andsemioticians, and theinfluence they linguists repreof impending As Roland sented was to be the motor developments. laterremarked: Barthes "It was at theheight of structural linguistics that ofa new themselves often theproduct researchers, (aroundi960) the to formulate a to critical linguistic training, began sign approach and a newtheory ofreofthetext."11 At thesametime, thedirection search from wastovary tocountry, thesense ofthe thus country causing term to fragment. It wasno longer in an to "the text" discuss possible international forum first without definition of one's own establishing theterm. In Germany, and to a lesser in the UnitedStates, extent a novel arose around editorial assessment from the Attention shifted enterprises. to text when editors faced the the of textual gloss genesis problems by oftheapparatus ofvariants. It wasfrom means this like critics anglethat BedaAlleman andespecially Peter in Germany, Szondi orVinton Dearin the United States and Gaskell in turned GreatBritain, ing Philip their interest to theproblems oftext Butat thetime there production. wasno exchange with other theoretical neither theAngloapproachesAmerican "newcriticism" northeGerman In France, "Textlinguistik". matters took a somewhat different since a newcurrent ofcriticism turn, basedlargely onlinguistic models. As Barthes developed putit: "A wide field hasgoneovertolinguistics under theheading ofpoetics literary (a

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which hadrecognised In this as necessary)."12 critiValery displacement thetextitself is thefocus ofattention, cal approach, situated between ownwords" "theauthor's and theeyesof thereader, but considered an The aimofthecritic is to buildup aboveall as autonomous object. thetextas a scientific withprecision itsconstitutive objectto analyse offorms, andfunctions. itsrelatively limited system significations Despite from thelatefifties totheearly this innolifespan (essentially seventies), And alvative critical movement was to have long-felt consequences. on thelevelofdiscourse, or semantics oftextual though, systems syntax couldnotbe established on theanalogy ofmodels byformal developed orfuncstructure a certain number ofconcepts, suchas sign, linguistics, that works in theoretical articulate tion,became brought increasingly in literary aboutan irreversible renewal criticism. tiedto its remained movement this Yetsomehow closely widespread still The new critical an umbilical cord. as almost first theory by origins, formal incommenthe"pure, notion oftext, theclassical assumed text", wasno albeitthis notitself, toanything andopposed surable opposition exon an but tradition a founded on epistemological religious longer and remarked Arriv6 text. As Michel the of the closure (in 1978, igency: as thetext is considered "In structuralism, a certain with thus distance): the and from the distinct . a finished pre-text product (. .) categorically are bothto be found remain which they peripheral (though post-text and thepre-text thetext, to include thus seems which thework within thenumerous outamongst He alsopointed thepost-text)." ambiguities between such oftherelations the"intricate ofsucha postulate question to In it is narrative".13 and text terms as discourse, light easy distoday's this within fundamental ofa cover theindication terminologiproblem to an old new of a cal ambiguity: thatis to saytheapplication theory for a need the to wasfirst recognise OnceagainRolandBarthes object. In seventhe a newobject. tocreate second theoretical early designed step intoaccount takes which this wasthegoalofthetheory ties, ofthetext, andthepersonofhistorical dimension thesocial materialism, bymeans these two between The means of interchange psychoanalysis. ality, by be examcannot whose network a vasttheoretical fields creates pattern ofthedouhowever wastheemergence inedin thispaper.One result Soviet from borrowed ofpheno-text/geno-text, ble notion linguists by the to present In 1972JuliaKristeva wasthefirst semioticians. French As an utterance witha meaning". as "a finished product: pheno-text "an infinite ofthegeno-text, manifestation suchit is theempirical synto the be reduced cannot semantic tactic generation (. . .) which and/or of the In thisconstruction, thedeepest structure."14 reality generated not "thelimitless textliesin itsproductivity, operations", in possible

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"The Work is in your With Barthes'neat comment the productitself. canonizedwere in as the text the the terms hand, originally language", not inverted. The boundaries precompletely disappeared, onlybetween Both and criticism. but also betweenwriting text,textand post-text, becamesubjectto infinite Due perhapsto thiscircularity, significations. the theory thanconcrete rather a new problematic of thetextprovoked function to criticism. sinceit no longerassigneda specific applications, # witha secondcritical is in sharpcontrast This situation approachwhich knownas geneticcritiat the beginning of the seventies, also tookform withthe theory is contemporary cism.This secondcurrent of the text, betweenthe textand its genesis, and alike deals withthe relationship of the writing the activity and withthe mechanics of textproduction, and theobject the method all Both But resemblance ends. there, subject. of Its methodis theresult ofstudy ofgenetic criticism are quite distinct. It extensive work authors' dedicated to manuscripts. appeared empirical allowedto undercertain thatthesedocuments, conditions, progressively from itsoriretains Geneticcriticism ofwriting. thegenesis reconstruct from a series models builds which an inductive up general gins approach, observations. As foritsobject,it has a dual status:it is both of concrete and an intellectual as a document ofstudy, a material construction, given, Fromthegraphic of immobilised as a pre-text. bythepen pattern writing the processof and scattered over the page it is possibleto reconstruct creationand thoughtthrougha fullyconceivedsequence of analytic thechronology, seizingthewriting operations: deciphering, establishing in itsmoves.15 In thisway, themanuto first criticism has consider genetic then the back to the text on a new before script, writing, getting finally level. is thatthey demonstrate thelimimerit ofmanuscripts The principal Fromthe outsetthereare of geneticcriticism. tationsand possibilities it is impossibleto studya nonexistent materiallimitations: important In manuscript. this regard,Monsieur de la Palice remindsus of the which todaywe tend to overlook. fragileprocessof text transmission Our notionofEuropeanliterature would be radically different however were it not forthe fortuitous survivalof such unique manuscripts as Pascal's Thoughts(Pensees)or the Urfaust by Goethe,Lucien Leuwen or Kafka'sgreatnovels.Likewise,how different would it be had we inherited thegreatworks whichhavedisappeared, whoseghost-list we can are the imponbarelyestablish? Coupled with the capricesof history derablesofthehumanmind.Even themostdetailedand well-conserved documentation reveals buta fraction ofthecomplicated mentalprocesses

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The inkon thepageis notthewriting it bears itself. witness. to which with in handfrom evidence meet a contemporary Oneneedonly writer, tostudy, tobe effectively cured that onehashada chance hismanuscripts havehadtothecontrary. onemay ofanypresumptions toliterary critics. alsogivea newpower Butmanuscripts Theymake in itsirrefutable material howthepenworks toexamine itpossible presno speculative towhich a levelofreality manifest ence.In this waythey noeffort that a material richness andpossess canpenetrate interpretation evenclearer whenwe This becomes can hope to exhaust. of analysis force us to change that realise singular bytheir properties manuscripts the into account to take force us ofthought. ourhabits unpredictThey an document time able,sinceourknowledge changes every important unknown to access or a newtechnology is discovered gives previously with their cometo grips we must Likewise information. heterogeneity, ofthe arethetestimony sometimes arediverse since they bynature: they like of the remote record the sometimes stimulation, memory original document or sometimes notebooks diaries; notes, early they operations aretheinstruments sometimes orscenarios, likeprojects, they workplans drafts. often and most versions suchas sketches, ofrevision rough early have as another isyet structure Theirpolymorph challenge, manuscripts into multhe of for the convention norespect overflowing page linearity, thetextis laid out on thepage,with in which The ways tiplespaces. in deletions, alterations, cross-references, additions, notations, marginal the texture and and with different drawings symbols, handwriting styles, thepossible andmultiply thesignifications increase discourse, readings. Levaillant the isolated word a single In extreme cases, by writing (Jean ofPaul Valery: to themanuscripts in reference calledthem "keystones" of an entire themeaning canattract tolook, shine, page.Or in incest)16 mark iconic a single forexample, forFinnegans thenotebooks Wake, which or themythical thecharacter, thetheme, entity maydetermine toseehow It is easy setofwords.17 ofa certain thefunction willgovern the with contact habits areshaken ouranalytic bythevery thoroughly ofgenetic criticism. material material theoriginal we passfrom thecasewhen This is evenmore from of thepre-text The constitution construction. to an intellectual a and solidified is both which implies new polymorphous handwriting ofsemanthe take into consideration must of which totality type reading In this of in a to found be ticand semiotic page writing. significations the document between is established dialectic a relationship way truly is shaped ofthemanuscript eachtranscription and thepre-text: bythe hasto be modified vision one hasofit,butat thesametimethis vision intoan adequate tobe turned oftheobject representation bythereality

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IN BIBLIOGRAPHY

ofit.This relationship and thispolarity are evident in thediversity of themethods usedto maketextual HenriBonnet and readable. genesis Bernard to clearthe Brun,in dealingwithProust's try manuscripts, for a continuous thus a spectrum in ofpre-texts ground reading, offering On theother Dietrich Sattler toreconstruct hand, contiguity.18 attempts thedepth offield ofgenesis in Holderlin's andpresents the manuscripts, witnesses tothestages ofrevision in their For chronological sequence.19 or Kafka, HansWalter Gabler or Gerhard Neumann bothtry to Joyce embrace these twoaspects thuspublishing thegenesis simultaneously, in itsprocess and thefinal state ofthetext sidebysideor alternately.20 Each ofthese choices to thediversity testifies ofmanuscripts as wellas to that ofthetheoretical oftheeditor. But they all mark their options distance from thetraditional of the viewvariants, apparatus abandoning ofpureerudition for theproblematic ofthepre-text. point This problematic is obviously In defining multi-faceted. thepre-text as a constructed one must the existence a of of object, accept variety constructionsa fact true both for and for theories edipossible writing torial An examination ofthescopeofsuchtheoretical practices. possibilities wouldnecessitate a general overview ofgenetic which is studies, nottheobject ofthis in order to the of the status Rather, paper. clarify alonein question we willsatisfy a lookat the ourselves with text, here, twoprime models which deal with two ofwriting, the analytic aspects and production product. Textproduction forth twonewtypes ofapproach. The first is brings to and describe the of combination strictly analytic, attempting identify extensions and reductions in manumanifest transfers, substitutions, in order to the whole of and scripts, gamut genetic apprehend operations them into a transformation. textualisation, system: put programmation, The second is inductive. Its aimis to trace backthese approach operations tothe forces which actuate them: affective dynamic impulses, representations ofimagination, or rhythmic values.. . . The study linguistic oftheproduct hasmore substantial Eachin turn, newcriticism, support. werkimmanente and French structuralism haveoffered Interpretation for models theforms, andeffects ofthetext. The examining significations newproblem, theimplications ofwhich remain concerns the unknown, between thegenetic and thetextual a relationship approach approach, which we will deal withas modestly as possible, problem beginning with a return toterminology. In 1974 Bellemin-Noel created theimmediately successful term Jean or"pre-text", toencompass thegreat ofdocuments "avant-texte", variety which untilthenhad had no specific nomenclature.21 Beingin fullac-

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oftheFrench with thecreative this term cordance language, singularity to a number ofsubsequent terms, including gavebirth, bysymmetry, Butbycreating thepair or "post-text". thestill surviving "apres-texte", between text and non"text" and "pre-text", theold binary opposition todearticulated. text wasrekindled, anda theoretical Trying problem on Genin hisEssays commented fine Bellemin-Noel this Jean problem, de critique Criticism erative (Essais genetique (1979)):"The difference andthepretext words: inother The Text(finished, between published) in its destiny, itself as an entity offers is thatthe former spellbound It isclearthat this itsownhistory."22 andreveals holds thelatter whereas the text definitions: favours andsubtle, both dense definition, objective and its own determinationwhenpublished, achieved is considered ofthis social the is and both destiny. meaning integrity durability- result theauthor's in thebackground: canalsobe distinguished factors Other and the in theact of publication, manifest which becomes intention add We might its"unity". ofthework, coherence internal simply theact andin so doing to existencethe text eachtime which ofreading brings defined: text is the which to criteria the werediscover normally according is of these elements Each the the the theauthor, work, reader, society. here. to not I shall which of much theobject debate, attempt reproduce can be to anyofthem function a general ofascribing Butthedifficulty of evidence. look at certain a understood ranges by brief an hisitwithin means ofthetext thesocialaspect placing Invoking the fluctuainto time same at the which torical context, brings question We now ofourowncriteria. and thevariations norms tionofcultural at thebeor even in the19th which works as texts century many accept files as mere wouldhavebeenregarded ofthis (suchas century ginning Francis of drafts ofArnoSchmidt), thework Ponge, rough (thewriting of work the as of or for Philippe early collages (such quotations example), was Wakewhich ofFinnegans thearchetype notto mention Sollers)before its fanatic's Bible" calleda "cross-word by contemporaries puzzle a look Andit isclearthat for a prototype writing. present-day becoming results. ourownwould than other atperiods givesimilar since is evenmore ofreading thefunction Nextto consider telling, ofhistory. in theaccidents rest nature, itdoesnotexclusively Byitsvery how It is well-known itsobjectintoa text. converts theactofreading inabsolute ofreading conceived terms, Mallarm6 considering anyvisual one's seeinlifting onemight the astext focal countryside including point we written the within But book. world, one's from easily remaining eyes themanuus to go from allows which it is theactofreading that mark bethe distinction weakens sometimes which and the to script pre-text,

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tweenmanuscript and text.Such is especially thecase whenroughdrafts are presented forreading-a practice withtherecentpublication which, of literary in editions, now concerns thegeneralpublic. manuscripts In turn, thecontingencies ofhistory and ofreading call intoquestion the structural of the text.This is an objectivecriterion coherence in so faras it is based on the lawswhichgovernthe language.Yet theselaws, and evenproper are farbetter in theroughsketches grammar, respected of Flaubertand Proustthanin thefinaltextsof Celine or Joyce. Such a consideration does notnullify thecriterion ofcoherence, but rather acts as an incentive to place it in relationto the othervariabledetermining factors. The last among theseto be questionedis the writing subject, thatis, theauthor, whosedecisionit is to cut the umbilicalcord of the the pre-text into the text. genesis, ushering The writing of is the mostevidentand perhapsthe course, subject, surest of thecriteria fortextuality, in thatit conjoinsan individualdetermination and a social reality;in any case it is the easiestto handle. But it is notan absolutecriterion. Its twoconstituent partsare farfrom related. Either the author's intention is defeatedby ecobeing always nomicor politicalobstacles whole of brood in my birdlings ("A chirping head / Books good forconfiscation", as HeinrichHeine put it, making himselfthe mouthpieceof manyof his contemporaries in Germany: A Winter's or on the the work is Tale), contrary, publishedagainstthe author'sdesire,or posthumous desireas was the case with Kafka.But even when such is not the case, the relationship betweenwhat is nonand what is is as diverse as are thewaysofwriting: published published fromClaude Simonwho destroys his manuscripts afterpublication, to who them under lock and from JulienGracq guards key; Aragonwho to researchers, to FrancisPonge who closes the gave his manuscripts circle by publishinghis rough drafts, thus transforming the pre-text into text. # of textuality is in itselfa constant certain Clearlynone of the criteria nor can such be established factor, themall together. certainty byputting The history ofthetext, itsinternal theact ofreadingand the coherence, author'sdesigndo notconstitute a system. We have no four-faced prism whichallowsus infallibly to consider a givenliterary workas a text, and thesearchforsuchan instrument would undoubtedly be as futile as was thatforthe ultimate criterion of literariness. Must we simply conclude thatthe textdoes not exist?It seemsto me thatit should be sufficient to agree thatthereis no absolutedefinition. And the above-mentioned criteria remainoperative as long as we accept themas parameters in a

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variable field oftheactofwriting. realisations registering ever-differing Not The Text,buttexts. Andso I prefer tomodify theconcept andvoin order a new not at totake theopposition between look, cabulary pretext and text, butat therelationship between and thewritten writing work. usas being strikes this contradictory, Today, relationship profoundly ofthedifficulty which westill havein understandbecause undoubtedly itis impossible to separate the categorically ingit.Aswehavejustseen, it is impossible to from work. But likewise, thewritten actofwriting Between creative which theother. onewith them confuse operprocess and the extensions and retractions, atesthrough contiguity, repetition, On conthe no there is of the text, correspondence. possible deployment cannot be conthe of that has shown process writing trary: experience The it nevertheless thetextto which gavebirth. bystudying jectured of full discoveries and is the text to from the backwards, manuscript, trip ofwriting The process arefoiled. one'sexpectations astonishment: often word. thanthewritten nature is ofa different to deas longas one seeks is notdisturbing This difference simply with well to is suited an Such thegenetic scribe dealing approach process. from a base of it functions since conditions, displacements, heterogeneous at thetextitself short notstopping and transformations, substitutions It matters little ofthegenetic as a stage isconsidered which process. only or considof outcome as the seen be should thetext that stages preceding The difficulty arises versions. alternative ofmany a set within ered merely the within dimension the to integrate generative whenone tries study within active isalways that thewriting tosay text. It iseasy ofthe enough as Julien ofsuccessive "theghosts that thewritten books", work, Gracq remains situated work which thefinished to inhabit putsit,continue And on thetext? shedlight Buthowdoesthewriting "in their light".23 I this Facedwith cantheonetellusabouttheother? what problem,will twocomments. detour a slight make onceagain bymaking or shouldI sayourlackofreflecourreflectionconcerns The first haslittle The writing oftheauthor. on thequestion tion?place subject of ofthebanality because first intodisrepute fallen in modern criticism, text from the removed and commentaries, subsequently biographical Yetheresurges offormal theoretical strict today analysis. approach bythe incriticism with In dealing ofnewquestioning. as thesubject writing, out It stretched is itself. the of moment the encounters writing evitably onwhich likea drumskin ofpaper sheet life andthe the author's between is but incomplete, The echowe receive thepen beatsitsmessage. yet itscontradictions. nottomention oftheactitself, reveals thecomplexity altends that from thefact comenotonly Thesecontradictions writing

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and towards ternately communicating simultaneously) (andsometimes but also from the use of and mediback, holding contiguous imagination tated calculation. This dynamic creates a polarity configuraopposition tionwhich seems to be inherent in writing, a state which influences as much theconcepts weusefor as itdoesourunderwith thetext dealing ofthetext itself. standing ourconcept ForKafka, ofthework. for we To begin with, example, of"writing" ofnotebooks, in which to a series he hasattempted possess in other and form entities"works"difdelimit words, yetwith great of aboutfifteen stories, ficulty, by thesuccessive presentation judging unitsof textthatremained other textual and other yet unpublished, for which hesitations evenas to their actualstatus segments (narrative? are indicated. in different both though ways, aphoristic?) Comparably, from thefiles which Leiriscomposes his writing and themanuscripts which in order tocreate Theatre Aragon arranged I Romanbearwitness to sucha conflict between of thewriting theflow and thefixity ofthe From itself. here wecanundoubtedly work inourconsideration advance ofthecohesiveness orfragmentation ofan oeuvrethat istosay, thetotal of a author. of And the of course intertextuproduction given concepts orhistoricity canalsobe evaluated an author's in ality through working ithelps that ustoelucidate thedocuments, observations andexperiences it. which fed Nevertheless this dialectic in eachauthor in a different appears way. are and this Writing subjects alwaysunique, uniqueness constantly causes in thegeneralising tendencies ofliterary criticism. entanglements Which that we must our in ormeans, undoubtedly, diversify approach dertounderstand oursubject betternotonly inorder totake the author intoconsideration onceagain, butalsoin order to consider hiswriting ina newway. Thisisthe of second comment. point my The analysis of meanings, forms and effects tends to treat thetext as a system from one in such a law, resulting single waythatnoneof itsparts canbe changed without thewhole. Withthis in mind, affecting letus take a lookat Paul Eluard's famous poem:
Sur mes cahiersd'ecolier Sur mon pupitreet les arbres Sur le sable sur la neige J'ecriston nom On my school notebooks On mydesk and on the trees On thesand and on thesnow I writeyour name

It is easy toseehowthis text is triggered off and keptin movement, almost which as the and exmagnetised byoneword appears only incipit ofthelongpoem of21 stanzas: cipit

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Andbythepower Et parle pouvoir (Tun ofoneword mot ma I vie life recommence begin my again Je I wasborn toknow you Jesuisnepourteconnaitre To name Pour tenommer you Libert^. Liberty. from themanuscript that when welearn word is the this Whathappens that the author reveals to us the name of ofa latecorrection result (and Onceagaintheanswer willvary which wasin itsplace)? achisbeloved Forthehistorian, it toourapproach tothetext. nothing changes: cording for thepoem's national which accounted success ofliberty wasthetheme couldchange thepheandno manuscript oftheLiberation, at thetime to which now enthusiasm nomenon ofcollective belongs literary history. of thisworkis clarified and For the Eluardspecialist, interpretation tothe between ofthe words attests The substitution verified. relationship between lifeand political caseit is therapport and in this thethemesofthispoem.Froma thecourse wasto determine which commitment It is truethatthelaws aremore textual complex. pointofviewthings a single wordtheentire are upheld:bychanging ofstructure poemis version ofthepoem norevenanother a variant Liberte isneither altered. Butatthesame time theperitisa different for Nuschpoem. composed ofthe was distinct work one us that this shows of first, spective genesis nor neither subsumed it was of the text, integrated though possibilities is notsimply consumthewriting In other work. in thesecond words, consider the text as a we should work. in thewritten mated Perhaps a of which is manifestation as one always process possibility, necessary of the dimension in thebackground, a kindof third virtually present the is work In thisopen (or half-open) work. written fatefully space, ofexhaustion, movements andcalms forward between tossed impetuous to unachieveand lacunae,from between stammerings interruptions not The text annihilated us off course. is that ments bythe keepbringing an which is but rather it out as of its stands object weight possibilities far and more farmorecomplex thanour former aleatory conceptions causedby genetic thanour modern ones.The effects of theupheaval be conareonlybeginning to be felt. criticism Theywillundoubtedly in to research the to come. years sequential NOTES
i. "Les manuscrits: transcription, Edition, signification", Colloquium C.N.R.S.- Ecole Normale Superieure,Paris, 1975 (Acta published by PENS, 1976). 2. Dictionnatrede VAcademieFrangatse,new ed., vol. 2, Nismes, 1786. 3. Adelung (Johann Christoph): Versuch eines vollstandigen grammatisch-kritischen der hochdeutschenMundart, vol. 5, Leipzig, 1786. Worterbuchs

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STUDIES IN BIBLIOGRAPHY

4. Richardson (Charles): New dictionaryof the english language (. . .), London, vol. 2, 1837. 5. Larousse (Pierre): Grand Dictionnaire universelledu XlXe. stecle,Pans, vol. 15, 1876. 6. Grimm (Jakob u. Wilhelm): Deutsches Worterbuch, Berlin, vol. 1891. 7. Grand Larousse encyclopedique,vol. 10, Paris, 1964. 8. Brockhaus-Enzyklopadie.17th ed., vol. iq, Wiesbaden. 1Q73vol. 9. Robert (Paul): Dictionnaire alphabitique et analogique de la langue frangaise, 6, Paris, 1966. 10. Kristeva(Julia): Semananalyseet productiondu sens, in Essais de Se"miotique podtique, ed. by A. J. Greimas, Paris, 1972,p. 207. vol. 15, Paris, 1973, 11. Barthes (Roland): Theorie du textein Encyclopedia Unwersalts, p. 1014. 12. Ibid. 13. Arrive* (Michel): Grammaire et linguistique/ Le texte in Grand Larousse de la vol. 7, Paris, 1978,p. 6043. langue frangaise, 14. Kristeva (Tulia): op. cit.,p. 216. 15. Those techniques cannot be examined here. Refer to: Les techniquesde laboratoire dans Vetude des manuscrits, texte,apres-texte, Paris, 1974, Ed. du C. N. R. S.; Avant-texte, Paris & Budapest, 1982, Ed. du C. N. R. S. & Akademiai Kiado; Lebrave (Jean-Louis): Le traitement automatique des brouillons,Paris, 1984,PSH. 16. Levaillant (Jean): Ecriture et ginetique textuelle in Valiry a Voeuvre,Lille, 1982, p. 19. 17. See the volume Genese de Babel / Joyceet la creation,to be published in the series Textes et Manuscrits1985 (Paris, Ed. du C. N. R. S.) 18. Proust (Marcel): Matinee chez la Princesse de Guermantes/ Cahiers du "Temps Retrouv6",Paris, 1982. Ausgabe), Frankfurt, 19. Holderlin (Friedrich):SdmtlicheWerke(Frankfurter pub. since 1976. 20. Kafka (Franz): Schrtften, e, Frankfurt, Tagebucher, Brief pub. since 1982 and Joyce (Tames): Ulysses,New York and London, a vol., 1084. si. Bellemin-Noel (Jean): Le texte et Vavant-texte, Paris, 1972. 22. Bellemin-Noel (Jean): Lecture psychanalytiqued'un brouillon de poeme in Essais de critique genetique, Paris, 1979,p. 116. 23. Gracq (Julien): Lettrines,Paris, 1967,p. 27 &

This content downloaded on Tue, 8 Jan 2013 12:47:40 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions