Politics, Writing, Mutilation: The Cases of Bataille, Blanchot, Roussel, Leiris, and Ponge

182 Pages·1985·9.843 MB·English

by  Allan Stoekl

Politics,
Writing,
Mutilation
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Politics,
Writing,
Mutilation
The Cases of Bataille, Blanchot,
Roussel, Leiris, and Ponge
Allan Stoekl
UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA PRESS, MINNEAPOLIS
The University of Minnesota Press
gratefully acknowledges assistance provided by
the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for publication
of this book.
Copyright ® 1985 by the University of Minnesota
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any
form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of
the publisher.
Published by the University of Minnesota Press,
2037 University Avenue Southeast, Minneapolis, MN 55414
Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Stoekl, Allan.
Politics, writing, mutilation.
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
1. French literature—20th century—History and criticism.
2. Politics in literature. 3. Utopias in literature. 4. Modernism
(Literature). I. Title.
PQ307.P64S76 1985 840'.9'00912 85-8594
ISBN 0-8166-1299-4
ISBN 0-8166-1300-1 (pbk.)
Chapter 1, "Politics, Mutilation, Writing," copyright ® 1984
by Allan Stoekl, is reprinted from Raritan 3, no. 3 (winter
1984) with permission of the author. Chapter 5, "Ponge's
Photographic Rhetoric," copyright ® 1984 by the University of
Wisconsin Press, is reprinted from Sub-Stance 41 (winter 1984)
with the permission of the publisher.
The University of Minnesota is
an equal-opportunity educator and employer.
D'autres sont rebelles a 1'angoisse. Us
rient et chantent. Us sont innocents et je
suis coupable. Mais que suis-je a leurs
yeux? un intellectuel cynique, tortueux,
malaise. Comment supporter d'etre lourd
a ce point, odieux, meconnu? J'accepte,
etonne de 1'exces.
Bataille, Le Coupable
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Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: Utopias of Conflict,
Urtexts of Deconstruction xi
CHAPTER ONE Politics, Mutilation, Writing 3
CHAPTER TWO Blanchot and the Silence of Specificity 22
CHAPTER THREE Roussel's Revivifications of History 37
CHAPTER FOUR Leiris's Unwritten Autobiography 51
CHAPTER FIVE Ponge's Photographic Rhetoric 70
CHAPTER six Betrayal in the Later Bataille 89
CHAPTER SEVEN Derrida, Foucault, and
Their "Precursors" 104
CHAPTER EIGHT Reading Avant-Garde Utopias 124
Notes 135
Selected Bibliography 147
Index 757
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Acknowledgments
Paul de Man's interest and encouragement enabled me to write this book.
It is dedicated to his memory. I also want to thank my editors Wlad
Godzich and Lindsay Waters for their support of this project, and Vir-
ginia Hans for her excellent copy editing.
A. S.