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ct so perilous :
too much freedom, a thousand ways, aljust as legit
imate, to accentuate, to set the rhythm, to make the
tone change.
In other cases, where it is still a question of cesura,
pause or agreement, the most contradictory deci
sions were required simultaneously: the same sylla
ble should be pronounceable on two incompatible
registers. But then again it shouldn't be. This poten
tiality remains, so to speak, in the background [dans
Ie fnd] , to be perceived by silent reading precisely as
something enveloped, veiled. How can we force this
potentiality out of hiding without a act of faith, the
absolute hiatus at the moment of an impossible deci
sion? This decision is always confded, when the
time comes, to the other's voice. No, to a voice of the
other, to aother voice: here, that of Carole Bou
quet.
25 . . .
Qui deci dera si cette voi x fut pretee, rendue ou don nee? Et a
qui ?
En s' engageant dans l es choi x i mpossi bl es, l a haute voi x "re
cordee" donne a l i re une reserve de I ' ecri tu re, ses pul si ons
tonal es et phoni ques, l es ondes ( ni I e cri n i l a parol e) qui se
nouent ou denouent dans I ' uni que voci ferati on, l a si ngu
l i ere portee d' une autre voi x. Cel l e-ci , a fi l trer l es possi bl es,
se l ai sse al ors passer, el l e est d' avance passee, memoi re
doubl ement presente ou presence dedoubl ee.
Qu' est-ce qui s' engage dans cet acte phonographi que? une i n
terpretat i on, une seul e par mi d' autres. A chaque syl l abe, a
chaque si l ence meme, une deci si on s' est i mposee: el l e ne
fut pas touj ours del i beree, ni parfoi s l a meme d' une repeti
t i on a I ' autre. Et el l e ne si gne ni l a l oi ni l a veri te. D' autres
i nterpretat i ons restent possi bl es - et sans doute neces
sai res. On anal yse ai nsi l a ressource que nous offre au
j ourd' hui ce doubl e texte: un espace graphi que d' une part,
ouvert a une mul ti pl i ci te de l ectures, dans l a forme tradi
ti onnel l e et sauve du l i vre -et c' est autre chose qu' un l i vret
pui squ' i l est re-donne a l i re, un autre don, l a nouvel l e
donne d' une premi ere f oi s; mai s d' autre part, si mul tane
ment, et aussi pour l a premi ere foi s, voi ci I ' archi ve sonore
d' une i nterpretat i on si ngul i ere, un j our , par tel ou tel I e, cal
cui et chance d' un seul coup.
A trancher, quel quefoi s sans I e vou l oi r, entre pl usi eurs i nter-
Who will decide whether this voice was lent, returned,
or given? And to whom?
By entangling itself in impossible choices, the spoken
"recorded" voice makes a reservoir of writing read
able, its tonal and phonic drives, the waves (neither
cry nor speech) which are knotted or unkotted in
the unique vociferation, the singular range of a
other voice. This voice, to narrow the possibilities,
is then left to pass away, it has passed away in ad
vance, doubly present memory or doubly divided
presence.
What is involved in this phonographic act? Here's an
interpretation, one aong others. At each syllable,
even at each silence, a decision is imposed: it was not
always deliberate, nor sometimes even the same
from one repetition to the other. And what it signs is
neither the law nor the truth. Other interpretations
remain possible - and doubtless necessary. Thus we
aalyze the resource this double text afords us to
day: on the one hand, a graphic space opened to
multiple readings, i the traditional ad protected
form of the book - ad it is not like a libretto, be
cause each time it gives a diferent reading, another
gif, dealing out a new hand all over again - but on
the other hand, simultaneously, and aso for the frst
time, we have the tape recording of a singular inter
pretation, made one day, by so on and so forth, at a
single stroke calculated ad by chance.
To decide, sometimes without wating to, between
pretat i ons (au sens de la l ecture mai s aussi du t hMtre et de
l a musi que) , l a voi x ne t rahi t pas un texte. Si el l e I e fai sai t ,
ce serai t au sens OU l a trahi son revel e: par exempl e I e pol y
l ogue remuant qui di vi se chaque atome d' ecr i t ure. Mani
festat i on de I ' i mpossi bl e veri te dont i I aura fal l u, a chaque
i nstant, et mal gre des repeti t i ons, en une seu l e foi s deci der.
L' enonci at i on al ors denonce, e l l e devoi l e ce qui I ' au ra em
porte, un j our , entre toutes l es voi x qui se partagent ou que
se partage l a meme voi x.
En face du pol yl ogue, sur l a page de gauche, des ci tat i ons
d' autres textes (La dissemination, Glas, La carte postale1 )
qui tous di sent quel que chose de l a cendre, mel ent l eurs
cendres et Ie mot "cendre" a autre chose. l i s accompa
gnent, i l s comparai ssent: arch i ve i ncompl ete, encore en
trai n de brOl er ou dej a consumee, rappel ant certai ns l i eux
du texte, l a medi tat i on conti nue, harcel ee, obsedee de ce
que sont et ne sont pas, veul ent di re - ou tai re, des cendres.
Ces ci tat i ons sont precedees du mot animadversio qui si
gni f i e en l ati n attention, observation, remarque, rappel, et
que j ' ai choi si en hommage a la revue Anima.
1. Bien qu' i l ne soi t pas cite, un autre texle est vi se par une al l usi on (p. 75): Te/epathie,
sorle de suppl ement a La cre postale qui , comme Glas, se trame autour des lett res LAC,
CLA ALC CAL, ACL, etc. (Furor 2. 1 981 et Confrontation 1 0, 1 983). Schibbo/eth (1 986).
aussi dedi e aux cendres, n' etai t pas encore publ i e.
26 . . .
several interpretations (in the sense of reading that is
also that of music and theater) : t?YQice does. not
_
etray a text. If it did, it woul,d be in the sense that
betrayal is a revelation: for example, the restless
polylogue that divides up each atom of writing.
Maifestation of the impossible truth on which it
wil have been necessary, at every instant, and de
spite repetitions, to decide once and for all . . !he_._
terace
.
EuS betrays, it unveils what will have, .?ne
day, carried it away, between the divisions of all the
voices or those into which the sae voice divides it-
self.
Facing the polylogue, on the lefhad page, citations
from other texts (Dissemination) Glas) The Postcardr )
that all say something about the cinder, mingle their
ashes ad the word "cendre" with something else.
The citations co-appear along with it, they are "sum
moned" [comparaissent] : a incomplete archive, still
burning or already consumed, recalling certain tex
tual sites, the continuous, tormenting, obsessive
meditation about what are and are not, what is
meant - or silenced by, cinders . These citations are
preceded by the word animadversio) which in Latin
means "observation, " "perception," or "call to at
tention," and which I chose in homage to the j our
nal Anima.
I. Athough it is not cited, another text is alluded to (p. 75) : "Telepathie," a
ki nd of supplement to The Postcard, which, l i ke Glas, is woven around the
letters LAC, CLA, ALC, CAL, ACL, etc. (FtrOr 2 [1981] and Confrontation
10 [1983] ) . Schibboleth (1986), also dedicated to cinders, was not yet pub
l ished.
27 . . .
Qu' on me permette de soul i gner enfi n deux di ffi cul tes parmi
d' aut res dans l a scenographi e son ore qui fut tentee d' autre
part. Tout d' abord, i l fal l ai t a fa {Dis marquer et effacer I ' ac
cent sur I e a de l a dans " i I y a l a cendre" et ai l l eurs. Fai re l es
deux a l a foi s etai t i mpossi bl e et si I e mot "accent" di t quel
que chose du chant, c' est I ' experi ence de l a cendr e et du
chant qui cherche i ci son nom.
Pui s si l a versi on enregi stree donne a entendre deux voi x, dont
I ' une paraTt mascul i ne, I ' autre femi ni ne, cel a ne rMui t pas
Ie pol yl ogue a un duo, voi re a un duel . Et en effet l a ment i on
"une aut r e voi x, " qu' on entend parfoi s sans l a l i re, aura sou
vent l a val eur d' une mi se en garde. El l e si gnal e que cha
cune des deux voi x se pr!e a d' autres encore. Je I e repete,
el l es son! en nombre i ndetermi ne: cel i e du si gna!ai r e des
!extes ne f i gure que I ' une d' entre el l es, e! i l n' es! pas sOr
qu' el l e soi l mascu l i ne. Ni I ' autre femme.
Mai s l es mots "une autre voi x" ne rappel l ent pas seul ement l a
mul t i pl i ci te des personnes, i l s appel l ent, i l s de man dent
une autre voi x: "une autre voi x, encore, encore une autre
voi x. " C' est un desi r, un ordre, une pri ere ou une pro
messe, comme on voudra: "une autre voi x, que vi enne a
cette heu re, encore, une autre voi x . . . . " Un ordre ou une
promesse, I e desi r d' une pr i ere, j e ne sai s pas, pas encore.
J. D.
May I emphasize fnally two difculties aong others
in the resonant scenography that was attempted
elsewhere. To begin with, it was necessary at once to
mark and eface the accent on the "a" in "la" in "il y a
la cendre" and elsewhere. To do both at once was
impossible and if the word "accent" says something
about "song," it is the experience of cinders and
song that here seeks its nae.
So if the recorded version makes to voices heard, of
which one seems masculine, the other feminine, that
does not reduce the polylogue to a , much less
to a <: Ad the efect of mentioning "another
voice," which one sometimes hears without reading
it, will often be to put one on one's guard. It signals
that each of the two voices yields to still others . I re
peat, they are indeterminate in number: the voice of
the signatory of the texts is the fgure of only one
aong oters, ad it is not certain whether this fg
ure is masculine; nor whether the other is a woman.
But the words "another voice" recall not only the com
plex multiplicity of people, they "call," they "ask
for" aother voice: "another voice, again, yet an
other voice." It is a_9_ire, a.t_9J: ger, a Ryer 9_
I
<!ie, as you wish: "_C!.voic, may it CQme
soon now, again, anothe!yoice . . . " A orer" or . a
+a
promise, the desie of a prayer, I_ d?1t )0W, not
yet.
J. D.
Feu l a cendre
Ci nders
Animadversiones
"S'ecarant d'el/e-meme, s'y formant toute, presque
sans reste, NJriture d'un seul trait renie et reconnalt la
dette. Efondrement extreme de la signature, loin du
centre, voire des secrets qui s'y paragent pour disper
ser jusqu'a leur cendre.
"Que la lettre soit forte en cette seule indirection, et de
toujours pouvoir manquer /'arrive, je n'en prendrai
pas pretexte pour m'absenter a la pontualite d'une de
dicace: R. Gasche, J-J Goux, J-C Lebensztejn, J.-H.
Miller, d'autres, il y a la cendre, reconnaltrnt, peut
etre, ce qui intervient ici de leur lecture. Decembre
1971 . "
30 . . .
Animadversions
"Moving of of i tself, forming i tself wholly therein, almost wthout
remainder, writing denies and recognizes its debt in a single dash.
The utmost disintegraton of the signature, far from the center,
indeed fom the secrets that are shared there, divi ded up so as to
scatter even their ashes.
"Though the letter gains strength solely fom this indirection, and
granted that it can always not arrive at the other si de, I wll not
use this as a pretext to absent myself fom the punctuality of a
dedication: R. Gasche, ]. ]. Goux, ]. C. Lebensztejn, ]. H. Mil
ler, others, cinders there are til y a Ia cendre] , will recognize, per
haps, what their reading has contributed here. December
1971. "
31 . . .
- Et pres de l a f i n, au bas de l a dern i ere page, c' est
comme si tu si gnai s de ces mots: "I I y a l a cendre. " Je
l i sai s, rel i sai s, c' etai t si si mpl e et pourtant j e compre
nai s que je n' y etai s pas, l a phrase se reti rai t sans m' at
tendre vers son secret.
- O' autant pl us que ce mot, l a, vous ne I e donni ez pl us a
entendre. A I ' ecouter seu l ement, l es yeux fermes, j ' ai
mai s me rassurer en mur murant l a cendre, confondant
ce l a, oui , avec I e si ngul i er femi n i n d' un art i cl e defi ni s
sant. / I tal / ai t dechi ffrer sans perdre I ' equ i l i bre, entre
I ' ci l et I ' orei l / e, je ne sui s pas sOre d' avoi r pu m' y arre
ter .
- J' avai s d' abord i magi ne pour ma part que cendre etai !
l a, non pas i ci mai s l a comme I ' hi stoi re a raconter: l a
cendre, ce vi eux mot gri s, ce theme poussi ereux de I ' hu
mani te, I ' i mage i mmemori al e s' etai t d' el / e-meme de
composee, metaphore ou metonymi e de soi , tel est I e
desti n de toute cendre, separee, consumee comme une
cendre de cendre. Qui oserai t encore se ri squer au po
eme de l a cendre? Le mot de cendre, on reverai t qu' i l tOt:
l ui -meme une cendre en ce sens, l a, l a-bas, el oi gne
dans I e passe, memoi re per due pour ce qui n' est pl us
d' i ci . Et par l a, sa phrase aurai t vou l u di re, sans r i en gar
der: l a cendre n' est pl us i ci . Y fut-el / e j amai s?
-And near te end, at the bottom of the last page, it
was as though you had signed with these words :
"Cinders there are." I read, reread them; it was so
simple, and yet I knew that I was not there; without
waiting for me the phrase withdrew into its secret.
- Al the more because this word, !4 "tQ," you
woud no longer let it be heard. Listening only to it,
with eyes closed, I liked putting my mind at rest by
wbisFering "the cinder," con1ing this ta) "there,"
y, .) me_,sjglar. fminine ddnite article. It
was necessary to decipher without losing equilib
rium between the eye and the ear; I a not sure that
I was ever able to achieve it.
-As for me, I had at frst imagined that cinders were
there, not here but there, as a story to be told: cin
der, this old gray word, this dusty theme of human
ity, the imemorial image had decomposed from
within, a metaphor or metonymy of itself, such is
the destiny of every cinder, separated, consumed
like a cinder of cinders. Who would stil dare run the
risk of a poem of the cinder? One might dream that
the word "cinder" was itself a cinder in that sense,
"there," "over there," in the distant past, a lost mem
ory of what is no longer here. And thereby [par tal
its phrase would have meant, without holding any
thing back: the cinder is no longer here. Was [ut] it
ever?
32 .
33 . . .
- I I y a 1 cendre, quand cel a fut, i l y a pres de di x ans, l a
phrase el oi gnai t d' el l e-meme. En el l e, el l e portai t I e
l oi ntai n. Mal gre sa pl ace et I ' apparence el l e ne se l ai s
sai t pas si gner, el l e n' appartenai t pl us, un peu comme
si , ne si gni f i ant ri en qui fOt i ntel l i gi bl e, el l e vena i t de tres
l oi n a l a rencont re de son presume si gnatai re qui ne l a
l i sai t meme pas, l a recevai t a pei ne, l a revai t pl utat
com me une l egende, une lumee de tabac: ces mots qui
sortent de votre bouche et vont se perdre sans recon
nai ssance.
- Suppose, voi 1 ce que j ' aurai s ai me l u i demander
(mai s a qui ? pour l a premi ere l oi s ce mat i n, di x ans
apres, j e prends consci ence j usqu' a pouvoi r me I ' a
vouer de ce qui a l a l ecture s' i mpr i me en moi , au centre
defendu mai s prepare pour l a j oui ssance muette: I ' art i
cl e absent devant tel l e cendre, en un mot l a ressem
bl ance esqui ssee par cet homophone 1 fai sai t trembl er
d' une lemme I e lantame au f ond du mot , dans l a fumee,
I e nom pr opre au fond du nom commun. La cendre n' est
pas i ci mai s i l y a 1 Cendre.
- Qui est Cendre? OU est-el l e? Ou court-el l e a cette
heure? Si I ' homophoni e ret i ent I e nom si ngul i er dans Ie
nom commun, ce lut bi en l a, une personne di sparue
mai s une chose qui en garde et a l a loi s perd l a t race, l a
- Cinders there are; when that happened [ut]
nearly ten years ago the phrase withdrew from itself
The phrase carried distance within itself, within her
self Despite its venue and despite al appearances, it
did not permit itself, did not permit herself, to sign;
it no longer belonged; somewhat as if, signifing
nothing that was [t] intelligible, the phrase cae
from very far away to meet its supposed signatory,
who did not even read it, who scarcely received it,
dreaed it rather, like a legend or a saying, a whif of
tobacco smoke : these words that lea
v
e your mouth
ony to be lost i unrecognizability.
- Just suppose, this is what I would have liked to ask
( but whom? This morning, for the frst time, ten
years later, I becae aware to the point of being able
to admit to myself that something about this read
ing is imprinted in me, in a place sheltered but ready
for silent ecstasy: the article missing before such cin
ders, in a word, the resemblance sketched by this ho
mophonic la "there," made a feminine phantom
tremble deep within the word, in the smoke, the
proper name deep within the common noun. The
cinder is not here, but Cinder there is.
- Who is Cinder? Where is she? Where did she run
of to at this hour? If the homophony withholds the
singular name within the common noun, it was
surely "there," la; someone vanished but something
preserved her trace and at the same tie lost it, the
34 . . .
35 . . .
cendre. C' est la la cendre: ce qui garde pour ne pl us
meme garder, vouant I e reste a l a di ssi pat i on, et ce n ' est
pl us personne di sparue l ai ssant l a cendre, seul ement
son nom mai s i l l i si bl e. Et r i en n ' i nter di t de penser que
ce soi t aussi I e surnom du soi -di sant si gnatai re. I I y a l a
cendre, une phrase di t ai nsi ce qu' el l e fai t , ce qu' el l e est.
El l e s' i nci nere a l a seconde, sous vos yeux: mi ssi on i m
possi bl e ( mai s j e n' ai me pas ce verbe, i nci nerer, j e ne l u i
trouve aucune affi ni te avec l a tendresse vul nerabl e, avec
l a pat i ence d' une cendre. II est acti f, ai gu, i nci si f).
- Non, l a phrase ne di t pas ce qu' el l e est, mai s ce qu' el l e
rut, et comme ce vocabl e f ut empl oye par vous dej a tant
de foi s depui s tout a I ' heure, n ' oubl i ez pas qu' i l reste en
memoi re de feu , du mot feu dans I ' expressi on feu un tel
ou feu une tel l e. Cendre de to utes nos etymol ogi es per
dues, tatum, {uit, functus, defunctus.
- La phrase di t ce qu' el l e aura e!e, des l ors se donnan! a
el l e-meme, se donnant comme son propre nom, I ' art
consume du secret: de I ' exh i bi t i on savoi r se garder.
- Su ppose, aurai s j e demande, que cette l egende seul e
men! si gnal e, et pour ne ri en di re d' aut re que soi : je sui s
un si gnal de cendre, j e rappel l e quel que chose ou quel -
cinder. There the cinder is : that which preserves i
order no longer to preserve, dooming the remant
to dissolution. Ad it is no longer the one who has
disappeared who leaves cinders "there"; it is only her
stil ureadable nae. Ad nothing prevents us
from tinng that this may aso be the nicknae of
the so-caled signatory. Cinders there are, the phrase
thus says what it does, what it is. It imediately in
cinerates itself, in front of your eyes : an impossible
mission (but I do not like this verb, "to incinerate"; I
fnd in it no afnity with the verable tenderness,
with the patience of a cinder. The verb is active,
acute, incisive) .
- No, the phrase does not say what it is, but what it
was [ut}) and since this vocable was [t} just used
by you so many times, do not forget that it remains
in memory of the departed [u}) of the word fu in
the idiom, "the late so and so," the departed, the be
reaved. Cinder of al our lost etymologies, fatum)
fit) fnctus) defnctus.
- The sentence says what it wil have been, from te
moment it gives itself up to itself, givig itself as its
own proper nae, the consued ( and consu
mate) art of the secret : of knowing how to keep itself
from showing.
- Just suppose, I would have asked, that this saying
ony gives a signa and only i order to say nothing
other than itself: I a a cinder signal, I recal some
thing or someone of whom I will say nothing but
36 . . .
37 . . .
qu' un dont j e ne di rai r i en mai s ce trace vi si bl ement
pour ne ri en di re aura dO annul er I e di t de son di re, I e
donner au feu, I e detrui re dans l a f l amme et non autre
men!. Pas de cendre sans feu.
Cel a se doi t au teu et pourtant, si possi bl e, sans I ' ombre
d' un sacr i f i ce, a mi di , sans dette, sans Pheni x et I ' uni
que phrase vi ent a pl acer, au l i eu d' aucun pl acement, I e
l i eu seul ement d' une i nci nerat i on. El l e n' avoue que I ' i n
ci nerati on en cours dont el l e reste Ie monument, taci te a
peu pres, ce peut etre la -
- Mai s pourquoi aur i ez-vous donne au feu? Pour gar
der, cache, au pour perdre en l ai ssant voi r I e gri s du
deu i l , I e demi -deui l qui ne l i ent a soi que I e temps d' une
cendre? Pourquoi la cendre? Li eu de brOl ure mai s de
quoi , de qui ? Tant qu' on ne I e sai t pas, et vous ne I e sau
rez jamai s, decl are l a phrase en ce qu' el l e di t de pl us
haut, I ' i nci nere n' est pl us r i en t or s l a cendre, un reste
qui se doi t de ne pl us rester, ce l i eu de r i en qui soi t , un
I ieu pur se chi ffrat-i I .
- Pur est I e mot. I I appel l e un feu. I I y a l a cendre, voi l a
qui prend pl ace en l ai ssant pl ace, pour donner a enten
dre: r i en n' aura eu l i eu que I e l i eu. I I y a l a cendre: i l y a
l i eu.
this rough sketch obviously i n order to say tat
nothing wil have had to anul what is said in its say
ing, to give it to the fre, to destroy it in the fame,
and not otherwise. No cinde without fre [u] .
That is what is
..
o
thing th
ve her
in.! t;
:
l .(that's te only thing he loves) , u
decipherable, impassively tacit, in a word, sheltered
from the cinder that there is and that she is. For
abadoned to its soli
t
de, witness to whomever or
whatever, the sentence does not even say the cinder.
This thing of which one knows nothing, knows nei
ther what past is still carried in these gray dusty
words, nor what substance cae to consume itself
there before extinguishing itself tere (do you know
II
"Pure et sans figure, cete lumiere brOle tout. file se
brOle dans Ie brOle-tout qu'elle est, ne laisse d'elle
meme ni de rien, aucune trace, aucune marque, aucun
signe de passage. Pure consumation, pure efusion de
lumiere sans ombre, midi sans contrake, sans resis
tance, sans obstacle; onde, ondees, fots enfammes
de lumiere: "[. ] (Li chtgOsse) [. ] "
"Le brOle-tout est 'un jeu sans essence, pur accessoire
de la substance qui se leve sans jamais se coucher
(ei n wesenl oses Bei herspi el en an di eser Substanz di e
nur aufgeht, ohne i n si ch niederzugehen) sans devenir
sujet et sans stabiliser ses differences par Ie moyen du
soi-meme (Sel bst) '. "
42 . . .
II
"Pure and fgureless, this light burns all . It burns itself in the a11-
burning [Ie brle-tout] it is, leaves, of i tself or anything, no
trace, no mark, no sign of passage. Pure consuming destruction,
pure efusion of light without shadow noon wthout contrary,
wthout resistance, wi thout obstacle, waves, showers, streams
ablaze with light: 'f . . $ 1 (Lchtgisse) [ . . . 1. ' "
"The all-burning is 'an essenceless by-play, pure accessory of the
substance that rses wthout ever setting (ein wesenloses Bei
herspielen an dieser Substanz die nur aufgeht, ohne in sich
niederzugehen), wthout becoming a subject, and without con
solidating through the self (Selbst) its diferences. ' "
43 . . .
combi en de types de cendres di st i nguent l es natura
l i stes? et de quel " boi s" tel l es cendres parfoi s rappel
l ent un desi r?), une tel l e chose, di ra-t-on encore qu' el l e
garde meme une i denti te de cendre? Au present, i ci
mai ntenant, voi l a une mati ere - vi si bl e mai s l i si bl e a
pei ne - qui ne renvoyant qu' a el l e-meme ne fai t pl us
trace, a moi ns qu' el l e ne trace qu' en perdant l a trace
qu' el l e reste a pei ne
- qu' el l e reste pour peu
- mai s c' est j ustement ce qu' i I appel l e l a trace, cet effa
cement. J ' ai mai ntenant I ' i mpressi on que Ie mei l l eur
paradi gme de l a trace, pour l ui , ce n' est pas, comme cer
tai ns I ' ont cru , et l ui aussi peut-etre, l a pi ste de chasse,
I e frayage, I e si l l on dans I e sabl e, I e si l l age dans l a mer,
I ' amou r du pas pour son emprei nte, mai s l a cendre (ce
qui reste sans rester de I ' hol ocauste, du brO l e-tout, de
I ' i ncendi e I ' encens)
- Qu' el l e reste pour tres peu de personnes, et pour peu
qu' on y touche el l e t ombe, el l e ne tombe pas en cendres,
el l e se perd, et j usqu' a l a cendre de ses cendres. En ecri
vant ai nsi , i l br Ol e une f oi s de pl us, i l brul e ce qu' i l adore
encore mai s qu ' i l a deja bru l e, i l s' y acharne
how many types of cinders the naturalists disti
guish r and for what "wood" such cinders sometimes
recall a desire? ) ; will one still say of such a thing that
it even preserves the identity of a cinder? At present,
here and now, ther
Aierent
_?_!,
ifgf_e
J
I}i_f
e
rent. Ih Eu_e_plgy gierene_! s IthiIg, does
not even relate to i ts own confagration. The light envelops itself
in darkness even before becoming subj ect. "
"How, fom this consuming destruction wi thout limi t, can there
remain something that primes the dialectical process and opens
history?"
"How would the purest of the pure, the worst of the worst, the
panic blaze of the all-burning, put forth some monument, even
were it a crematory? Some stable, geometric, solid form, for ex
ample, a pyramis that guards the trace of death? Pamis is also
a cake of honey and four. It was ofered as a reward for a sleepless
night to the one who thus remained awake. "
"If the all-burning destroys up to i ts letter and i ts body, how can i t
guard the trace of itself and breach/broach a history where i t pre
serves i tself in losing i tself?"
Here is experienced the impl acable force of sense, of mediation, of
the hard-working negative. In order to be what it is, puri t of
play, of diference, of consuming destructi on, the all-burning
must pass into i ts contrary, guard i tself, guard its own monument
of loss, appear as what it is in i ts very disappearance. As soon as i t
appears, as soon as the fre shows i tself, i t remains, i t keeps hold
of i tself, it loses i tself as fre. Pure diference, diferent from (t)self,
ceases to be what it is in order to remain what it i s. That is the ori
gin of history, the beginning of the going down [declinJ , the set-
45 . . .
coucher du soleil, Ie passage a la subjectivite occiden
tale. Le feu devient pour-soi et c'est perdu; encore pire
puisque meilieur.
Alors au lieu de tout bruler on commence a aimer les
feurs. La religion des feurs suit la religion du soleil.
L 'erection de la pyramide garde la vie - Ie mor -pour
donner lieu au pour-soi de I'adoration. file a la signifi
cation d'un sacrifce, d'une ofre par laquelle Ie brule
tout s'annule, ouvre I'anneau, Ie resserre dans I'anni
versaire de la revolution solaire en se sacrifianl
comme brule-tout donc en se gardanl. "
"Chance ae la substance, de la reslance determinee en
subsistance. "
"La diference et Ie jeu de la lumiere pure, la dissemma
tion panique et pyrmane, Ie brule-tout s'ofre en ho
locauste au pour-soi, gi bt si ch dem Fursi chsei n zum
Opfer. /I se sacrifie mais c'est pour rester, assurer sa
garde, se lier a lui-mame, strictement, devenir lui
mame, pour-soi, aupres de soi. Pour se sacrifier, if se
brule. "
"Inversion panique, sans limite: Ie mot hol ocauste qui
se trouve traduire Opfer est plus approprie au texte que
Ie mot de Hegel lui-meme. Dans ce sacrifice, tout (ho
l DS) est brule (caustos) et Ie feu ne pourra s'eteindre
qu'attise. "
"Qu'esle-ce qui se met en jeu dans cet holocauste du
jeu lui-mame?
Ceci peut-atre: Ie don, Ie sacrifice, la mise en jeu ou a
feu de toul, I'holocauste, sont en puissance d'ontolo
gie. Sans I'holocauste Ie mouvement dialectique el
I'histoire de I'alre ne pouvaient pas s'ouvrr, s'engager
dans I'anneau de leur anniversaire, s'annuler en pr
duisant la course solaire d'Orent en Occident. Avant,
si ron pouvait compter ici avec Ie temps, avant toute
chose, avant tout etant determinable, il y a, il y avait, il y
46 , . ,
|lag e|:ae saa, :ae passage :e eccliea|al sa|jec:lrl :j. Ere |e-
cemesler- l :)sellaailsles:,je:nerse[pie] slace|e::et.
Ihealalaceel|atalngall,eeglas:aerenaners.Jherell-
lene|eners|allens:aetellgleae|:hesaa.
Iaeetec|leae||hepyraml1gaatisll|e- :aeieai- laerier:e
glrerlse[donner lieu] :e:he|et-l:)sel|elaiara:lea. Jalsaas
:aeslgallca:leae|asacrlhce,e|aaeer|jnalca:aeall-|aralag
aaaalsl|sel|,epeas:aeaaaalas,cea:rac:s:aeaaaalasla:e:ae
aaalrersarjal:hesalarterala:lealnsactlhclagl|sel|as:heall-
|aralag,:aere|erelagaar1lagl :sell.
"Jaecaaacee|sa|s:aace,e|:aeremn+ncejtes|aace|ie:erlaei
assa|sls:ence.
"JaeilEerenceaai:heplaja|:heparellga:, aakanij-
tnlailssemlaa|lea, |l clNaraing eersl:s a h|a
a(:a a)r-(l sel|,gbt sich dem Purslchselnzum Opfer.
f) 'L|(l||:sel|, 1. Y __ pl:elasatel|sgaarilag,:e
|la1l :sel|:e l:sel|s:tlc:l, |a |ecemel :sel|, lar-t)sell, clese)-
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" / ':
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se::lagealreeleretj:alag, :aealecs:c;:alas:aese]el
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47 . . .
aura eu I'evenement irrptifdu don. Evenement qui n'a
plus aucun rapport avec ce qu'on designe couram
ment sous ce mot. On ne peut donc plus penser la do
nation a partir de I'etre, mais 'Ie conlraire' pourrait-on
dire si cete inversion logique eta it ici perinente au
moment ou il ne s'agit pas encore de logique mais de
I'origine de la logique. Dans Zei t und Sei n, Ie don du
es gi bt se donne a penser avant Ie Sei n dans Ie es gi bt
Sei n et deplace tout ce qu'on determine sous Ie nom
d' Erei gni s, mot souvent traduit parevenement. " j . . ]
" . . . Ie proces du don (avant i'echange), proces qui
n'est pas un prces mais un holocauste, un holo
causte de I'holocauste, engage i'histoire de i'elre mais
ne lui apparient pas. Le don n' est pas, I'holocauste
n' est pas, si du moins il y en a. Mais des qu'il brule
(I'incendie n'est pas un etan! il doil, se brOlant lui
meme, brOler son operaton de brO/er et commencer a
etre. Cele reflexion, ce refet de I'holocauste engage
I'histoire, la dialectique du sens, I'ontologie, Ie specu
lalif. Le speculatif est Ie refel (specul um) de I'holo
causte de I'holocausle, I'incendie ref/8chi et rafra1chi
par la glace du mirir".[. . ]
"II Y a la un falum du don, el cette necessite se disail
dans Ie 'doit' ( muss) qui nous I'indiquait plus haul
[. . ]Je te donne - don pur, sans echange, sans re
tour - mais que je Ie veuille ou non, Ie don se garde et
des lors tu dois. Pour que Ie don se garde, lu dois.
[. . ] Le don ne peut eire qu'un sacrfice, tel est
i'axiome de la raison speculative. Meme s'il surgit
'avant' la philosophie et la religion, Ie don a pour desti
nation ou determination, pour Best i mmung, un retour
a soi dans la philosophie, verite de la religion. "
48 . . .
hae_ beI the jrrlptj) event of th(gtf [don] . An event that no
more has any relation with what is currently deSignated under
this word. Tus giving can no longer be thought stati!g.fIe
[etre] , but ' the contrary, ' it could be sai d, i f this logical inver
sion here were pertnent when the question is not yet logiC but the
origin of logic. In Zeit und Sein, the gift of the es gibt gives itself
to be thought before the Sein in the es gibt Sein and displaces all
that is determined under the name Ereignis, a word translated by
event. " [. . . J
" . . . t
.
'
rocess of th. 9!ft (before exchange), the process _
O
.
put a. hQlocaust! aJ_oc_t 9f rb. holocaust,
gage th
.
histor ofBeiqg lt 4,10. belong t it. The gift is,
pt,tQhQIQ1t is not; if at least something there is [il yen
I
a] . But as soon as it burns (the blaze is not a beingHIt, burn-
ing i tself,
he gift .. cn only be a
!
acrifc>,
that is the axiom of speculative reason. Even if it psurges ' before'
philosophy and religion, the gift has for its destination or deter
mination, for i ts Bestimmung, a return to self in philosophy, re
ligion's truth. "
49 . . .
et j e I e sens,
j e veux di re I ' odeur du corps, peut-@tre du si en. Toutes
ces cendres, i l s' acharne en el l es.
- On di t "cendres chaudes, " "cend res froi des, " sel on
que I e feu s' y souvi ent encore, y couve au ne fomente
pl us. Mai s la? Quand la cendre toute en phrase n' a pour
consi stance que sa syntaxe et de cor ps qu' en son voca
bul ai re? Les mots, ga fai t chaud au froi d? Ni chaud ni
froi d. Et l a forme gr i se de ces l ettres? Entre I e bl anc et I e
nai r, l a coul eur de I ' ecri tu re ressembl e a l a seul e " I i tte
ral i te" de la cendre qui t i enne encore dans un l angage.
Dans une cendre de mots, dans l a cendre d' un nom, l a
cendre el l e-m@me, l a l i tteral e - cel i e qu' i l ai me - a di s
paru . Le nom de cendre est une cendre encore de la cen
dre meme.
- C' est pour quoi l a cendre dans une sentence i ci n' es!
pl us, mais i I y a l a cendre.
- La, une i nci nerat i on de I ' arti cl e defi ni l ai sse en cen
dres l a cendre meme. l i l a di sperse et l a garde par l a, el l e,
a l a seconde.
- Lui ( mai s c' est peut-etre el l e, l a cendre), peut-etre
sai t- i l ce qu' i l vou l ai t ai nsi i ncendi er , cel ebrer, encen-
and I sense it, I mean the
odor of the body, perhaps his. Al these cinders, he
feels them burning in his fesh.
- One says "warm cinders," "cold cinders, " depend
ing whether the fre still lngers there or no longer
stirs . But there? Were the cinder witin a sentence
has for consistency only its syntax and for body only
its vocabulary? Does this make the words warm or
cold? Neither warm nor cold. Ad the gray form of
these letters ? Beteen black and white, the color of
writing resembles the ony "literality" of the cinder
that still ineres in a language. In a cinder of words,
in the cinder of a name, te cinder itself, the literal
that which he loves - has disappeared. The name
"cinder" is still a cinder of the cinder itself
-That is why te cinder in a sentence here no longer
is, but cinder tere is .
- There, la) an incineration of the defnite article
leaves the cinder itself in cinders. It disperses it and
thereby [par la] preserves it, preserves her, in a in
stant.
- He (but perhaps it is she, la cinder) perhaps he
knows what he thus wished to set on fre, to cele
brate, to ignite with praise m the secret of the sen-
50 . . .
51 . . .
ser dans I e secret de l a sentence, peut-etre I e savent- i l s
encore, peut-etre en sai t-i l du moi ns quel que chose.
Mai s cette nui t meme i l peut encore decouvri r de I ' i n
connu ou de I ' i nconsci ent a cette l egende qu' i l di t tant6t
avoi r l ue tantot avoi r, je me rappel l e son mot, forgee. I I
I ' avai t prononce avec un accent ang l ai s, ma "forger i e de
cont refacteur. " Or i l va bi en mour i r. Et si peu de temps
que ce soi t, l a peti te phrase a quel que chance de l ui sur
vi vre, pl us cendre que jamai s, l a, et moi ns que j amai s
sans personne a di re moi .
- Mai s I e contrefacteur peut ment i r , i l ment fen sui s
presque sOre, comme d' experi ence, i l n' y a sans doute
aucun vrai secret au fond de cette phrase, aucun nom
propre determi ne. Un j our i l m' a confi e mai s j e ne I e
cr oi s j amai s que l a premi ere l ettre a peu pres de chaque
mot I . L. Y. A. L. C. etai t I ' i ni t i al e d' un aut r e mot , I e tout
proferant, mai s dans une l angue etrangere, une toute
autre decl arat i on, et que cette derni ere aurai t j oue Ie rol e
d' un nom pr opre code, en veri te sa si gnature chi ffree. Je
n' en ai ri en cru, i I venai t d' i nventer l a supercheri e, i l peut
touj ours menti r ou ne pas meme etre assure de ce qu ' i l
di t savoi r. C' est preci sement a c e pOi nt qu' i l y a l a cen
dre. S' i l etai t sOr en veri te de son savoi r , pourquoi
aurai t-i l eu ce desi r d' ecri re et surtout de publ i er une
tence, perhaps they still know it, perhaps he knows
at least something about it. But even tonight he may
still discover what is unknown or unconscious in
tis saying that he sometimes says he has read ad
sometimes, I recal his expression, forged. He had
pronounced it with an English accent, my "counter
feiter's forgery." He wil of course die someday; and
for however brief a time, the little phrase has some
chance of surviving him, more a cinder tha ever,
there, ad less tan ever without anyone to say "I. "
- But the counterfeiter can lie, he's lying, I am a
most sure of it, from experience. There is doubtless
no rea secret at the bottom of this sentence, no de
termined proper nae. Once he confded to me, but
I still do not believe that the frst letter of almost ev
er word, I. L.YA. L. C. [l Y a la cendrej, was the frst
letter of another word, al of it expressing, but in a
foreign language, an entirely diferent statement,
which would have played the role of a coded proper
nae, in truth his ciphered signature. I believed
none of it, he had j ust invented the hoax, _: al
ways lie or not even be certain of 'h< he claims to
,.. _---- - .. - .' -
. . .. . .
. It is precisely at this point tat the cinder is
there. If he were sure of the trut of his knowledge,
why woud he have this desire to write and above al
to publish a phrase that makes itself indeterminate in
52 . . .
53 . . .
phrase qui s' i ndetermi n e ai nsi ? Pour quoi mettre en de
r i ve et cl andest i ner de l a sorte une proposi t i on aussi l i
si bl e? Sa proposi t i on, qu' i l y ai t l a cendr e, voi l a qu' el l e
consi ste, dans son extreme fragi l i te comme dans I e peu
de temps dnt el l e di spose (sa vi e aura ete si cou rte) en
ce non-savoi r vers l equel se preci pi tent, touj ours de
pai r, I ' ecri tu re et I ' aveu. L' un I ' autre, I ' une I ' autre dans l a
meme crypte se compul sent.
- Par I e retour pat i ent , harcel ant, i roni que de I ' exegese
qui n' avance a ri en et que l es i ngenus trouverai ent i nde
cente, ser i ons-nous en trai n de model er I ' urne d' un l an
gage pour cette phrase de cendre qu ' i l a, l u i , abandon
nee a sa chance et au sort, une vertu d' autodestruct i on
fai sant f eu t out e seu l e en pl ei n ccur?
- Mai s I ' u rne de l an gage est si fragi l e. El l e s' eff ri te et tu
souffl es aussi t6t dans une poussi ere de mots qu i sont l a
cendre meme. Et si tu l a confi es au papi er c' est pour
mi eux t ' enf l ammer mon enfant, tu te raval es aussi t6t.
Non, ce n ' est pas I e tombeau dont i l aurai t reve pour
qu' un travai l de deu i l , comme i l s di sent, y ai t l i eu de
prendre son t emps. Dans cette phrase je voi s: I e tom
beau d' un tombeau, I e monument d' une tombe i mpos
si bl e - i nterdi te, com me l a memoi re d' un cenotaphe, l a
this way? Why set adrif and "clandestine" in tis
way such a readable proposition? His proposition,
that cinders there were, fnaly consists, in its ex
treme fragility and in the lite time at its disposal (its
life will have been so short) , of this non-kowledge
toward which writing and recognition, always a
pair, are precipitated. One and the other, both of
them, are compelled into the same crypt.
-Through the patient, tormenting, ironic retrn of
the exegesis tat leads to nothing and which te u
sophisticated would fnd useemly, would we be
molding te urn of a language for this cinder sen
tence, which he, he, has abadoned to its chace and
to fate, a self-destrctive vire fring on its own
right into te heart.
- But the urn of language is so fragile. It crumbles
and imediately you blow into the dust of words
which are the cinder itself And if you entrust it to
paper, it is al the better to infame you with, my
dear, you will eat yourself up immediately. No, this
is not the tomb he would have dreamed of in order
that there may be a place [y ait lieu}) as they say, for
the work of mourning !Q take its time. In this sen
tence I see the tomb of a tomb, the momuent of an
impossible tomb - forbidden, like the memory of a
I
I
54 . . .
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
!
I
I
I
!
I
!
I
I I
I
I I
I I
I I
I I
I I
I I
I I
I I
I I
I I
I I
I I
I I
I
I
I I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
55 . . .
pati ence refusee du deu i l , refusee aussi l a l ente decom
posi t i on abr i tee, si t uee, l ogee, hospi tal i see en toi pen
dant que t u manges i es morceaux ( i l ni a pas voui u man
ger I e morceau mai s i l l ' a dO), Une i nci nerat i on cel ebre
peut-etre Ie r i en du tout, sa destruct i on sans retour mai s
fol i e de son desi r et de sa r use ( pour mi eux t out garder
mon enfant), I ' affi rmati on di ssemi nal e a corps perdu
mai s aussi tout I e cont rai re, I e non categor i que au l a
bour du deui l , un non de feu, Comment accepter de tra
vai l l er pour monsei gneur Ie deu i l ?
- Comment ne pas I ' accepter? I I est cel a meme, Ie deu i l ,
I ' hi st oi re de son refus, I e reci t d e ta revol ut i on, ta rebel
l i on, mon an ge, quand el l e entre en hi stoi re et a mi nui t tu
epouses un pr i nce. Quant a I ' urne de l angue, fOt-el l e de
feu, ne l a crei s pas si fri abl e. Et ne mens pas, tu sai s bi en
ce qu' une ph rase est sol i de. Par sa di spar i t i on meme
el l e resi ste a tant et t ant d' ecl i pses, e l l e gar de t ouj ours
une chance de reven i r, el l e s' encense a I ' i nfi n i , c' est
beaucoup pl us sOr au fond que I e pl acement de I ' archi ve
dans un beton su rarme a dest i nati on de nos neveux
extra-terrestres. La phrase se pare de toutes ses morts.
Et si mi eux tu te raval es, di t l a grand-mere et I e l oup pour
qui tu travai l l es, c' est encore au benefi ce du deu i l .
ccnotaph, dcprvcdot thcpatcnccot mournng,dc-
nicd a|so thc slov dccomposton that shcltcrs, lo-
catcs,lodgcs,hospitazcsitscltmyouwhlcyoucat
mcpcccs hcddnotvanttocatthcpcccbutwas
forccd to) . aton c|cbrats prsm
poU(||,dcc(igQJ prnbut
madvthtsdcsrcandwrthtscunnng( althcbct-
tcrtoprcscrvccvcjthng,mydcar) ,thc dpcratcly
dsscmna|ammanqbutals {sc,thc
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o|ution, your rcbc||on, my angc|, vhcn it cntcrs
ntohrstoryandatmidnghtyoumarjaprrncc.As
torthcurnotthcspokcntonguc,cvcnwcrc[ut} ta
tonguc othrc,do not thnk that t brcaks upcasly.
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is . Bytsvcjdsappcarcc itrcssts sovcrymany
cclipscs, t a|ways has a chancc otrcmrnng,_. .
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tarnhnallythan p|acngmcarchvc|n a rcnforccd
bcamdcstincdtorourcxtratcrrcstrialcousins .Jhc
scntcnccis adorncdwitha|lotits dcad. Ada||mc
bcttcrtocatyoursc|tw|th,saythcgrandothcrand
thcwolttorwhomyouwork, tssti|ltothcbcncnt
otmournng.
III
" . . . E finir cette Deuxieme Lettre: ' . . . Refechis
donc a cela et prends garde d'avoir a te repentir un jour
de ce que tu laisserais aujourd'hui se divulguer indi
gnement. La plus grande sauvegarde sera de ne pas
ecrire, mais d'apprendre par crur . . . to me gra
phei n al l ' ekmanthanei n . . . car il est impossible que
les ecrits ne finissentpar lomber dans Ie domaine pu
blic. Aussi, au grand jamais, je n'ai moi-meme ecrit
sur ces questions . . . oud' est i n sungramma Pl ato
nos ouden oud' estai , il n'y a pas d'ouvrage de Platon
et il n'y en aura pas. Ce qu'f present I'on designe sous
ce nom S6kratous est i n kal ou kai neou gegonotos . . .
est de Socrate au temps de sa belle jeunesse. Adieu et
oMis-moi. Aussit6t que tu auras lu et relu cette lettre,
brule-Ia . . . "
- J'espere que celle-ci ne se perdra pas. Vite, un
double . . . graphite . . . carbone . . . relu cette lettre
. . . brule-Ia. I y a la cendre. E maintenant il faudrait
distinguer, entre deux repetitions . . .
56 . . .
III
" . . . And to fnish that Second Letter: ' . . . Consider these facts
and take care lest you sometime come to repent of havins now
unwisely published your views. It is a very weat safesuard to
learn by heart instead of wri tins . . . to me graphein all' ek
manthanien . . . . It is impossi ble for what is wri tten not to be
disclosed. That is the reason why I have never written any thins
about these thinss . . . oud' estin sungramma Platonos ou
den oud' estai, and why there is not and will not be any wri tten
work of Plato's own. What are now called his . . . Sokratous es
tin kalou kai neou gegonotos . . . are the work of a Socrates
embellished and modernized. Farewell and believe. Read this let
ter now at once many times and burn i t. . . . '
- I hope this one won' t set lost. Quick, a duplicate . . . sraphite
. . . carbon . . . reread this letter . . . burn i t. Cinders there are
[II y a la cendre] . And now to distinsuish, between two repeti
tions . . .
57 . . .
- Si c' etai t moi , j ' aurai s prefere n' avoi r jamai s ecr i t cel a,
j e I ' aurai s aussi t6t br Ol e.
- Cel a f ut fai t, non?
- Tu di sai s tout a I ' heure qu' i I ne pouvai t pas y avoi r de
phrase d' "auj ourd' hui " pour ce mot de cen dre. Si , i l n' y
en a qu' une peuHtre dont l a publ i cat i on soi t di gne, e l l e
d i rai t I e br Ol e-tout, autrement d i t hol ocauste e t I e four
crematoi re, en al l emand dans toutes l es l angues j u i ves
du monde.
- Vous di tes ne pl us vous souven i r du l i eu au l a 1 1-
gende, une seconde foi s, dans I e mme l i vre, comme un
murmure de Pl aton pour occuper I ' encei nte . . .
- Un murmure parfume, I e pharmakon desi gne parfoi s
une sorte d' encens, et I ' i terati on, l a seconde qu' el l e est
aussi ferai t penser a une ci tat i on mai s el l e ne recom
mence qu' une premi ere et une der ni ere foi s a l a loi s. Si
vous ne vous rappel ez pl us, c' est que I ' i nci nerat i on sui t
son cours et l a consumat i on va de soi , l a cendre mme.
Trace dest i nee, comme tout e, a di sparaitre d' el l e-m@me
pour egare r l a voi e autant que pour ral l umer une me
moi re. La cendre est j uste: parce que sans trace , j uste
ment el l e trace pl us qu' une autre , et comme I ' autre trace.
- If it were I, I would have preferred never to have
written that, I would have burnt it at once.
- Was [ut] that not done?
- You j ust said that he could not have a "up to date"
phrase for tis cinder word. Yes, there is perhaps
only one worth publishing, it would tell of te al
burning, otherise called holocaust and the crema
tory oven, in German in all the Jewish languages of
the world.
- You say you no longer remember the place where
the legend, a second time, in the sae book, like
Plato murmuring in the enclosure of the phar
macy . . .
- A perfmed murmur, the pharmakon sometimes
designates a kind of incense, and the second itera
tion, which looks like a citation, which pretends to
be a citation, but it only starts up all over again te
frst time and the last time at the same time. If you no
longer recall it, it is because the incineration follows
its course and the consumation proceeds from it
self, the cinder itself. Trace destined, like everthing,
to disappear from itself, as much in order to lose the
way as to rekindle a memory. The cinder is exact : be
cause without a trace it precisely traces more than an
oter, and as the other trace( s) . Although it comes
La nui passe. Au maln, on entend des coups a la
pore. lis semblent venir du dehors, cette (ois, les
coups . . .
Deux coups . . . quatr . . .
IV
"J' espere que ce/le-ci ne se perdra pas. Vite, un double
. . . graphite . . . carbone . . . relu cette lettre . . .
brule-Ia. E maintenant il (audrait distinguer, entre
deux repetitions . . .
La nuit passe. Au matin, on entend des coups a la
pore. /Is semblent venir du dehors, cete {ois, les
coups . . .
Trois coups . . .
V
"Le 27 aout 1979. Tu viens d'appeler. Ah non, surout
pas Phenix (d'ail/eurs c'est d'abord pour moi, dans
ma langue {ondamentale, la marque . . .
58 . . .
The night passes. In the morning, knocks are heard at the door.
They seem to be coming fom outside, this time . . .
Two knocks . . . four . . .
IV
"I hope this one won' t get lost. Quick, a duplicate . . . graphite
. . . carbon . . . reread this letter . . . burn it. And now to distin
gUish two repeti ti ons . . .
The night passes. In the morning, knocks are heard at the door.
They seem to be coming fom outside, this time . . .
Three knocks . . .
V
"
27 August I979. You just called. A no, above all not Phoenix
(which for me, moreover, is frst of all, in my fndamental lan
guage, the mark . . .
59 . . .
Bi en Qu' el l e arri ve pl us tot dans I ' ordre du l i vre et l a re
l i ure des pages, el l e y fut i nscri te apres l a seconde: el l e
ne f i gurai t pas dans l a premi ere edi t i on du meme texte,
Entre l es deux versi ons, ou est l a cendre de I ' autre, i ci ou
l a?
- Or par ce j uste ret our des cendres, et depui s l ong
temps j e t ' observe Quand tu ecri s, ce Qui revi ent de ta
course essouffh e fai t sa voi e d' une l ongue pi ste cen
dree, Tu as beau t' en defendre, tu n' es vol ume Qu' a te
couvri r de cendres, comme l a tete en si gne de deu i l .
-I I ya l a rebel l i on contre Pheni x et aussi I ' affi rmat i on du
feu sans l i eu ni deui l .
- La phrase reste pour moi vi si bl e et avant mame de l a
rei i re son i mage dans mon souveni r s' i mpri me a l a pl u
ri el l e, i l ya l a cendres, Versi on fauti ve a enterrer, comme
font l es Jui fs Quand I e nom de Di eu un manuscri t I e
bl esse, Cel a, I ' s muet pour ne pouvoi r s' entendre et ne
r i en changer a l ' ou'e, ma memoi re I e j ouai t , el l e j ouai t
avec I e si ngul i er homophone un j eu pl us di scr i mi nant,
pl us rassu rant, sans doute, Mai s ce l a desormai s si gni
f i ai t Que I ' i nnombrabl e couvai t t out uni Quement sous l a
cendre, I ncubati on du f eu couche so us l a poussi ere,
earlier in the book and in the order of the pages, it
was [ut] inscribed there after the second iteration: it
did not fgre in the frst version of the text. Between
the two versions, where is the cinder of the other,
here or there?
- Now, through this precise return of the cinders,
and for a long time I have observed you when you
write, what returns from the breathless race makes
its way on a long cinder track. No matter how much
you resist it, you have mass and volume only when
covered wit cinders, as one covers one's head wit
ashes in a sign of mourning ,
-There is rebellion against the Phoenix ad also the
afrmation of the fre without place or mourning.
- The sentence remains visible for me and even be
fore rereading it, its image in my memory is im
printed in the plura: cinders there are. A faulty ver
sion to be buried, as do the Jews when a manuscript
has wounded the name of God. The "s," silent so
that it calot be heard ad to chage nothing in the
hearing, my memory played with that; and with the
singular homophone [cendre] it played a gae more
discriminating, more reassuring, no doubt. But this
"there" from now on signifed that the innumerable
lurks beneath the cinder. Incubation of the fre lurk
ig beneath the dust.
VI
"Quant aux Envoi s eux-memes, je ne sais pas si la lec
ture en est soutenable. Vous pourriezles considerer, si
Ie ccur vous en dit, comme les restes d'une corres
pondance recemment detruite. Par Ie feu ou par ce qui
d'une figure en tien! lieu, plus sur de ne rien laisser
hors d'atteinte pour ce que j'aime appeler langue de
feu, pas meme la cendre s'il y a Ii cendre.
Fors- une chance. "
VII
"Car les envois totalement incineres n'ont pu etre in
diques d'aucune marque. "
VI I I
"Si tu m'avais ecoute, tu durais tout brule et rien ne se
rait arrive. Je veux dire au contraire que quelque chose
d'inefatable sera it arrve, au lieu de . . .
IX
"Rien n'est arrive parce que tu as voulu garder (et donc
perdre), ce qui en efet formait Ie sens de /'ordre venu
60 . . .
VI
''s for the 'Envois' themselves, I do not know if reading them is
bearable. You might consi der them, if you really wish to, as the
remainders of a recently destroyed correspondence. Destroyed by
fre or by that which fguratively takes i ts place, more certain of
leaving nothing out of the reach of what I like to call the tongue of
fre, not even the cinders if cinders there are [s'il y a la cendre] .
Save [fors] a chance."
VII
"For the totally incinerated envois could not be indi cated by any
mark. "
VIII
"If you had listened to me, you would have burned everything, and
nothing would have arrived. I mean on the contrary that some
thing inefaceable would have arrived, in the place of . . . "
IX
"Nothing has arrived because you wanted to preserve (and there
fore to lose), which in efect formed the sense of the order coming
61 . . .
- Le feu: ce qu' on ne peut pas etei ndre dans cette trace
parmi d' autres qu' est une cendre. Memoi re ou I ' oubl i ,
comme tu voudras, mai s du feu, trai t qui rap porte en
core a de l a brO l u re. Sans doute I e feu s' est- i l ret i re, I ' i n
cendi e maltri se, mai s s' i l y a la cendre, c' est que du feu
reste en retrai t . Par sa retrai te encore i I fei nt d' avoi r
abandonne I e terrai n . I I camouf l e encore, i l se degui se,
so us l a mul t i pl i ci te, l a poussi ere, l a poudre de maqui l
l age, I e pharmakon i nconsi stant d' un corps pl uri el qui
ne t i ent pl us a l ui -meme - ne pas rester aupres de soi , ne
pas etre a soi , voi l a I ' essence de l a cendre, sa cendre
meme.
- Au-dessus du l i eu sacre, I ' encens encore, mai s aucun
monument , aucun Pheni x, aucune erect i on qui ti enne -
ou tombe - , la cendre sans ascensi on, des cendres
m' ai ment, el l es changent de sexe al ors, el l es s' andrent,
el l es s' androgynoci denl .
- El l e j oue avec l es mots comme on j oue avec I e feu, j e l a
denoncerai s comme une pyromani aque qui veut nous
fai re oubl i er qu' on construi t des egl i ses, en Si ci l e, avec
l a pi erre de l ave. L' ecri tu re pyrotechn i ci enne fei nt de tout
abandonner a ce qui part en fumee, ne l ai ssant l a que
cendre a ne pas rester. Je pl acerai s un l ong reci t, des
noms, Mal l arme, I ' hi stoi re du tabac, La fausse monnaie
de Baudel ai re, I ' Essai sur Ie don, "To ute I ' me resumee
-The fre: what one canot extinguish in this trace
among others that is a cinder. Memory or oblivion,
as you wish, but of the fre, trait tat still relates to
the burning. No doubt the fre has withdrawn, the
conagration has been subdued, but if cinder there
is, it is because the fre remains in retreat. By its re
treat it stil feigns having abandoned the terrain. It
still camoufages, it disguises itself, beneath the mul
tiplicity, the dust, the makeup powder, the insistent
pharmakon of a plural body that no longer belongs
to itself- not to remain nearby itself not to belong
to itself, there is the essence of the cinder, its cinder
itself.
- Above the sacred place, incense again, but no
monument, no Phoeni, no erection that stands -or
falls -, the cinder without ascension, the cinders love
me, they change sex, they re-cinder themselves, they
androgynocide themselves .
- She plays with words as one plays with fre, I
would denounce her as a pyromaniac who wants to
make us forget that i Sicily churches are built with
the stone of lava. Pyrotechnical writing feigns aban
doning everything to what goes up in smoke, leav
ing there only cinder that does not remain. I woud
set out a long narrative, of names, Mallarme, the
history of tobacco, Baudelaire's "Counterfeit Mo
ney," Mauss's The Gi) "The whole soul sumed up
de derriere ma voix, lu Ie rappel/es, il y a tant d'annees,
dans ma premiere 'vraie' letre: 'brule-tout. ' "
X
" . . . puis tu ajoulais) 'Je brule. J'ai /'impression bete
de t'etre fdete. Je garde pourant de les phrases cer
tains simuJacres [depuis tu me les as montresj. Je
m' eveille. Je me souviens des cendres. Quel/e chance,
bruler, oui, oui . . . '
XI
"Le symbole? Un grand incendie holocaustique, un
brule-tout enfin ou nous jetterions, avec toute notre
memoire, nos noms, les lettres, les photos, les petits
objets, les cles, les fetiches, etc. "
XII
"Holocauste des enfants.
Dieu lui-meme
n'avait que Ie choix entre deux fours crematoires . . .
XIII
"I/s n'y verront que du feu-. "
XIV
"Au bout du compte, premiere chance ou premiere
echeance, la grande brulure de cet ete. Tu seras la, dis
moi, au demier moment, une allumetle chacun pour
commencer [. . . J Nous toucherns au feu un jour de
62 . . .
fom behind my voi ce, you remember, so many years ago, in my
frst ' true' letter: ' burn everything. ' "
x
" . . . then you added) 'I am burning. I have the stupid impression
of being faithfl to you. I am nonetheless saving certain simula
cra fom your sentences [you have shown them to me since] . I am
waking up. I remember the cinders. What a chance, to burn, yes
yes . . .' "
XI
"The symbol? a great holocaustc fre, a burn-everything into
which we would throw fnally, along wth our entire memory, our
names, the letters, photos, small obj ects, keys, fetshes, etc. "
XII
"Holocaust of the children
God himse1f
had only the choice between to crematory ovens . . .
XIII
"They wll only see it through the fre (they will only be blinded
by it). "
XIV
"In the fnal account, the frst chance or the frst reckoning, the
great burning of this summer. You' ll be there, say it, at the last
moment, one match each to start. [ . . . ] We will draw dose to the
63 . . .
grand pardon, peut-etre, ce sera au mains la troisieme
fois que je joue avec ce feu jour-la, et chaque fois pour
Ie depar Ie plus grave. "
XV
"Mais en principe seulement, et si la part du feu est im
possible a delimiter, en raison du lexique et des
'themes, ' ce n'est pas pour la raison habiuelle (faire au
feu sa par, allumer des contre-feux pour arreter la pro
gression d'un incendie, evier I'holocauste). Au con
traire, la necessite du tout s'annonce . . . "
XVI
" . . . je n'y arriverai jamais, la contamination est par
tout et l'incendie nous ne /'allumerions jamais. La
langue nous empoisonne Ie plus secret de nos secrets,
on ne peut meme plus brOler chez soi, en paix, tracer Ie
cercle d'un foyer, il taut encore lui sacrifier son propre
sacrifice. "
XVII
"et quand tu ne reviendras'plus, apres Ie feu, je t'enver
rai encore cares vierges et muettes, tu n'y reconnal
tras meme plus nos souvenirs de voyage et nos lieux
communs, mais tu sauras que je te suis fidele. "
XVI I I
"Ce fut sans doute I e premier holocauste desire
(comme on dit un enfant desire, une file desiree). "
XIX
"La au surout je dis vrai ils ne verront que du feu. A
propos, tu sais que la Sophie de Freud fut incineree.
Lui aussi. "
64 . . .
fre on a day of judgment, perhaps, i t wl l be at least the third
time that I play wi th the fre on that day, and each ti me for the
most serious stakes. "
XV
"But in principle only, and if fre's share is impossible to delimi t, by
virtue of the lexicon and the ' themes, ' it is not for the usual reason
(give fre i ts due, light counter-fres in order to stop the progres
sion of a blaze, avoid a holocaust). On the contrary, the necessity
of the whole [du tout] announces i tself . . . "
XVI
" . . . I will never get there, the contamination is everyhere and
we would never light the fre. Language poisons for us the most
secret of our secrets, one can no longer even burn at home, in
peace, trace the circle of a hearth, one must even sacrifce one's
own sacrifce to it. "
XVII
"and when you will no longer come back, after the fre, I wil l still
send you vrgin and mute cards, you will no longer recognize even
the memoirs of our travels and our common places, but you will
know that I am fai thfl to you. "
XVI II
"Doubtless this was the frst desired holocaust (as one says a de
sired chi l d, a desired girl). "
XIX
"There [La] especially where I speak truly they will be blinded by
the fre. On this subject, you know that Freud's Sophi e was cre
mated. He too."
65 . . .
XX
"Demain je t'ecrirai encore, dans notre langue etran
gere. Je n 'en retendrai pas un mot et en septembre,
sans que je /'aie meme revue, tu brO/eras,
tu /a brO/eras,
to; taut que ce soi toi. "
66 . . .
XX
"Tomorrow I will wri te you again, in our foreign language. I won' t
remember a word of i t and i n September, wi thout my having even
seen it again, you will burn,
you will bur i t,
i t has to be you. "
67 . . .
[ . . . ] pour peu Que l a cendre se separe [ . . . ] Le sens
trop preci s rature Ta vague l i tterature. "
- Par ces ci tati ons, ces references, vous autori sez la
cendre, vous construi sez une uni versi te nouvel l e, peut
etre. Ecoutez pl utOt Vi rgi ni a Wool f, dans Three Guineas:
" L' argent gagne [ par l es femmes] ne devra en aucun cas
al l er a la reconstructi on d' une uni versi te a I ' anci enne, et
comme i l est certai n Qu' i l ne pourra etre consacre a l a
construct i on d' une uni versi te fondee sur de nouvel l es
bases, cette gui nee portera l a menti on. ' Chi ffons, es
sence, al l umettes. ' On y attachera cette note: ' Prenez
cette gui nee, et redui sez I ' uni versi te en cendres. Br Ql ez
l es vi ei l l es hypocri si es. Que la l umi ere du brasi er effrai e
l es rossi gnol s! Qu' el l e empou rpre l es saul es! Que l es
fi l l es des hommes eduQues fassent l a ronde autour du
feu! Qu' el l es entreti ennent l a fl amme en y j etant des
brassees de feui l l es mortes, et des pl us hautes fenetres
que l eurs meres se penchent et cri ent: Br Ql e! BrQl e! Car
nous en avons f i ni avec cette "educati on" !
,
"
- Encore faut- i l savoi r br Oi er . I I faut s' y entendre. I I y a
aussi ce "paradoxe" de Ni etzsche - Qui en fai t autre
chose peut-etre Qu' un penseur de l a total i te de I ' etant
quand Ie rapport de la cendre au tout ne l ui paralt pl us
[ @ . q ] howcvcrs|ight|yJhccindcrscparatcsitsc|t. . . |
Jhcovcr|yprcciscmcaningcrascsYourvaguc|itcra-
turc."
- Withthcsc citat|ons, thcsc rctcrcnccs,youautho-
r|zcthc cindcr, youw|||constructancwunivcrsity,
pcrhaps. But|istcntoVirgn|aWoo|tnThree Guin
eas: Moguncaotcarncdmoncymoncycarncdby
thcwomcn| shou|dgoto rcbu|dingthcco||cgcon
thc o|d p|an, ust as ccrtain|y nonc cou|d bc spcnt
upon bu|dingaco||cgcuponancwp|an,thcrctorc
thc guinca shou|d bc carmarkcd `Kags. Pctro|.
Matchcs.` And this notc shou|d bc attachcd to it.
`Jakcthisguincaandv|thitburnthcco||cgctothc
ground.Sctnrctothco|dhypocrsics.Lctthc|ight
otthc burn|ng bui|dngscarc thc nightnga|cs and
|ncarnadnc thc wiUovs. And |ct thc daughtcrs ot
cducatcdmcndanccroundthcnrcandhcaparmml
uponarmm|o|dcad|cavcsuponthchcs.And|ct
thcirmothcrs|cantromthcuppcrwindowsandcry,
Lctitb|azc'!ctitb|azc'Forwchavcdoncwiththis
cducat|on"' ` "
- nc must sti|| know how to |ct t b|azc." nc
mustbcgoodatt.JhcrcisaIsoM|ctzschc`sparadox
- wh|ch makcs hm somcming c|sc pcrhaps than a
thmkcrofthctotaIityofcntitcs[PitantJ - whcnhc
no |ongcr norma|izcs thc rc|at|on otthc c|ndcr to
thc who|c by trcat|ng|t as partotthc who|c, or by
68 . . .
69 . . .
regul ar i se par I ' i ncl usi on de l a parti e ou par quel que
tranqu i l l i sant l ogos metonymi que: "Notre monde tout
enti er est l a c1/d' i nnombrabl es etres /|/o|s;et si
peu de chose que soi t I e vi vant par rapport a l a total i te, i I
reste que, une foi s dej a, tout a ete converti en vi e et con
ti nuera de I
'
etre ai nsi . " Or ai l l eurs Go/ So/|/) .
"Gardons-nous de di re que la mort serai t opposee a l a
vi e. Le vi vant n' est qu' un genre de ce qui est mort, et un
genre tres rare. "
- Dans l a premi ere l egende, qui vi ent a l a seconde,
apres el l e, I e mouvement de l a dedi cace ( reconnai s
sance de delte et non rest i t ut i on) di t au moi ns, montre
en di sant a pei ne que la cendre vi ent a l a pl ace du don. I I
y aurai t e u don, meme s' i l n'
est pas di t, comme i l s e do i t
pour qu' i l ai t l i eu, de qu oi ou de qui . Reconnai ssance et
denegati on d' une dette, d' "un seul trai t di vi se, " "l oi n
du centre. " Et d' une l eUre seul e, d' un coup de dent en 1/|
( "Que la l eUre soi t forte en cette seu l e i ndi recti on") un
centre s' effri te et s' attendri t , i l se di sperse d' un coup de
de: cendre.
- Muette, l a dedi cace fei nt de resti tuer. Mai s el l e ne sau
rai t rendre ou donner ri en que des poussi eres de feu ,
el l e n e di t r i en, e l l e ne l ai sse ri en paraltre d' el l e-meme,
introducing some tranquilizing metonymic logos :
"Our entire world is the cinder of innumerable living
beings ; and what is living is so little in relation to the
whole, it must be that, once already, everything was
transformed into life and it wil continue to be so. "
Or elsewhere ( Gay Science) : "Let us guard against
saying that death is opposed to life. The living being
is only a species of what is dead, and a very rare spe
cies ."
- In the frst legend, which comes afer the second,
afer her, the movement of the dedication ( recogni
tion of debt and non- restitution) says at least, shows
by barely saying that the cinder comes in place of te
gif. Gift there would have been, even if it is not said,
as it shoud be so that it may take place, from what
ever or whomever. Recogition and denial of a debt,
of a "single divided trait," "far fom the center." Ad
from a mere letter, idebted to a dental d/t fung fom
the tongue ("Though the letter gains strength solely
from this indrection") , a center crumbles and melts, it
is dspersed i a throw of the de: cinder.
-Mute, the dedication feigns restitution. But it only
knows how to render or give nothing but fery dust;
it says nothing, it allows nothing of itself to appear,
70 . . .
71 . . .
de son or i gi ne ou de sa dest i nat i on, qu' une pi ste de sa
bl e, et encore vous anesthesi ant: sabl e brOl ant ou pas?
A l a pl ace d' autres, au pl uri el deja, de l eurs noms et non
d' eux-memes, i l y a l a cendre, "d' autres, i l y a l a cen
dre. "
- G' est evi demment une f i gure, al ors meme q u' aucun
vi sage ne s' y l ai sse regarder. Gendre de nom f i gure, et
parce qu' i l n' y a pas i ci de cendre, pas i ci (ri en a toucher,
aucune cou l eur, poi nt de corps, des mots seu l ement) ,
mai s surtout parce que ces mots, qui a travers Ie nom
sont censes ne pas nommer I e mot mai s l a chose, l es
voi l a qui nomment une chose a l a pl ace d' une autre, me
tonymi e quand l a cendre se separe, une chose en f i gu
r ant une autre dont i l ne reste r i en de fi gurabl e en el l e.
-Mai s comment un mot, i mpropre a seu l ement nommer
l a cendre a l a pl ace du souveni r d' autre chose, pourrai t
i i , cessant de renvoyer encore, se presenter l u i -meme, I e
mot, comme de l a cendre, a el l e parei l , comparabl e j us
qu' a I ' hal l uci nati on? Gendre, Ie mot, j amai s ne se trouve
i ci , mai s l a.
- I I faut pour cel a que tu I e prennes dans ta bouche,
quand I ' emi ssi on du souffl e, d' ol qu' el l e vi enne au vo
cabl e, di sparalt a l a vue comme une semence brO l ante,
of its origin or its destination, only a trail in the sand,
and it still anesthetizes you: can you not feel the step
[pas] into the burning sand? In the place of others,
plural already, of their names and not of themselves,
cinder there is, "of the others, cinder there is."
- It is obviously a fgure, athough no face lets itself
be seen. The name "cinder" fgures, and because
there is no cinder here, not here (nothing to touch,
no color, no body, only words) , but above all be
cause these words, which through the name are sup
posed to name not the word but the thing, they are
what naes one thing in the place of another, me
tonymy when the cinder is separated, one thing
while fguring another from which nothing fgur
able remains.
- A word, unft even to name the cinder in the place
of te memory of something else, and no longer re
ferring back to it, how can a word ever present it
self? The word, like the cinder, similar to her, com
parable to the point of hallucination. Cinder, the
word, is never found here, but there.
- For that it is necessary that you take the word into
your mouth, when you breathe, whence the cinder
comes to the vocable, which disappears from sight,
72 . . .
73 . . .
une l ave en vue de r i en. Cendre n' est qu' un mot. Mai s
qu' est-ce qu' un mot pour se consumer j usqu' a son sup
port ( bande de voi x ou de papi er, autodestructi on de
I ' emi ssi on i mpossi bl e une foi s I ' ordre donne) , j usqu' a
se I ' assi mi l er sans reste apparent? Et tu peux recevoi r
aussi l a semence dans I ' orei l l e.
- Quel l e di fference entre cendre et f umee: ce l l e-ci appa
rem men! se perd, et mi eux, sans reste sensi bl e, mai s
el l e s' el eve, el l e prend de I ' ai r, subti l i se et subl i me. La
cendre - tombe, l asse, I ache, pl us materi el l e d' eff ri ter
son mot, el l e est tres di vi si bl e.
- Je comprends que l a cendre n' est ri en qui soi t au
monde, ri en qui reste comme un etant. El l e est I ' etre,
pl uta!, qu ' i l y a - c' est un nom de I ' etre qu ' i l y a l a mai s
qui , se donnant (es gibl ashes), n' es! ri en, reste au-del a
de tout ce qui est (konis epekeina les ousias), reste i m
pronongabl e pour rendre possi bl e I e di re al ors qu' i l
n' es! r i en.
- Mon desi r ne va qu' a l a di stance i nvi si bl e, i mmMi ate
ment "gr i l l ee" entre les l angues, ent re cendre, ashes,
ci nders, ci ni s, Asche, cendr i er (to ute une phrase) ,
Aschenbecher, ashtray, etc. , et ci neres, et surtout la ce-
like burning semen, like lava destined nowhere. Cin
der is only a word. But what is a word for consum
ing itself all the way to its support (the tape-re
corded voice or strip of paper, self-destruction of the
impossible emission once the order is given) , to the
point of assiilating it without apparent remainded
Ad you can also receive semen through the ear.
-What a diference between cinder ad smoke: the
latter apparently gets lost, ad beter still, without
perceptible remainder, for it rises, it takes to the air,
it is spirited away, sublimated. The cinder - fals,
tires, lets go, more material since it fritters away its
word; it is ver divisible.
- I understand that the cinder is nothing that can be
in the world, nothing that remains as an entit
[etantj. It is the being [[Jetej) rather, that there is
this is a name of the being that there is there but
which, giving itself ( es gibt ahes) , is nothing, re
mains beyond everthing that is (koni epekeina tes
ousia) , remains unpronounceable in order to make
saying possible although it is nothing.
- My desire only goes so far as the invisible distance,
immediately "grilled" between laguages, overnm
ning the distance between cendre) cenere) ashes,
cinders, cinis) Asche) cendrer (a whole sentence) ,
Aschenbecher ashtray, etc. , and cineres and above all
XXI
"Avant ma mor je donnerais des ordres. Si tu n'es pas
la, on retire mon corps du lac, on Ie brDle et on t'envoie
mes cendres, ume bien protegee ("fragile") mais non
recommandee, pour tenter la chance. Ce serait un en
voi de moi qui ne viendrait plus de moi (au un envoi
venu de moi qui I'aurais ordonne mais plus un envoi
de moi, comme tu preferes). Alors tu aimerais meIer
74 . . .
XXI
"Before my death I would give orders. If you aren' t there, my body
is to be pulled out of the lake [lac] and burned, my ashes are to be
sent to you, the urn well protected ('fagile') but not registered, in
order to tempt fate. This would be an envoi of/fom me [un en
voi de moil which no longer would come fom me (or an envoi
sent by me, who would have ordered it, but no longer an envoi of
me, as you like). And then you would enjoy mixing my cinders
75 . . .
ni za de Franci sco de Quevedo, ses sonnets AI Vesubi o,
et "Yo soy ceni za que sobr6 a l a l l ama; / nada deja por
consumi r el fuego / que en amoroso i ncendi o se de
rama. " , se di sperse, et "sera ceni za, mas tendra sent i do;
/ pol vo seran, mas pol vo enamorando. "
- J' entends bi en, j e I ' entends, car j ' ai encore de I ' orei l l e
pour l a f l amme si une cendre est si l enci euse, comme
s' i l br Ol ai t du papi er a di stance, avec une l oupe, concen
trat i on de l umi ere a force de voi r pour ne pas voi r, ecri
vant dans l a passi on du non-savoi r pl utot que du secret.
Je di rai s, pour l a defense et i l l ustrat i on de sa pr opre
phrase, moi la cendre, que Ie savoi r n' i nteresse pas son
ecri ture. La cendre crue, voi l a son goOt; et l a consonne
i ni t i al e i mportant peu, t out mot f i ni ssant par ( )endre,
ou ( )andre, verbe, nom propre ou commun, et meme
un verbe quand i I devi ent attri but - I e tendre. Que fai t-i I
avec OR E, je me Ie demande (sans, sens, sang, cent
O R E) . Je vous l ai sse chercher l es exempl es.
- Et avec ce l ac, ces l acs, ce l acs - quand i l y engage
toute l a tel epathi e, l a aussi i I y a LA Cendre.
- Non, vous trai tez sa ph rase comme I ' accumu l at i on
d' une pl us-val ue, comme s' i l specu l ai t sur quel que
the ceniza of Francisco de Quevedo, his sonnets "To
Vesuvius," and "I a cinder that darkens in the
fae / nothing that remains to consume the fre /
that in aorous confagration is dispersed," that
"wil be cinder, but will remain sentient / wil be dust
but amorous dust."
,
- I hear wel, I hear it, for I stil have an ear for the
fame even if a cinder is silent, as ifhe burned paper
at a distace, with a lens, a concentration oflight as a
result of seeing in order not to see, writing in the
passion of non-kowledge rather than of the secret.
I would say, for the protection and illustration of its
own sentence, "1" the cinder would say that his writ
ing is not interested in knowledge. The raw cinder,
that is more to his taste; and the initial consonat
matters ver little; ever word seems to fnish wit
( ) inder, whether it's a common or proper noun, or
even a verb, even a noun that we make into a verb -
" ' d " " ' d " C th ' d k tm er, to tin er - lor e cm er ra es ever
word "tinder." Wat does he do with DER? I won
der: (scin- , [pre] scin- , [re] scin- , DER) . I leave it to
you to fnd exaples.
- Ad with this lack that is la cendre, these lac(k)s)
this lac(k) (s) - when he gets al entangled with tele
pathy, there [la] also LA Cinder is there.
- No, you treat his phrase like the accumulation of
surplus-value, as if he speculated on some cinder
mes cendres a ce que tu manges (cafe Ie matin, pain
brioche, the a 5 heures, etc.). Passe une certaine dose,
tu commencerais a t'engourdir, a tomber amoureuse
de toj, je Ie regarderais t'avancer doucement vers la
mor, tu t'approcherais de moi en toi avec une serenite
dont nous n'avons pas idee, la reconciliation absolue.
E tu donnerais des ordres . . . En ['attendant je vais
dormir, tu es toujours la, mon doux amour.
I I
Ani madversi ones I . La dissemination 408. 1 1 . Glas 265
sq. I I I . La pharmacie de Platon, in La dissemination
1 97. I V. La pharmacie de Platon, in Tel Que1 33, 59. V.
La care postale 271 . VI . 7. VI I . 9. VI I I . 28. I X. 28. X. 28.
XI . 46. XI I . 1 55-56. XI I I . 1 96. XI V. 21 3. XV. 238. XVI .
240-1 . XVI I . 262. XVI I I . 271 . XI X. 272. XX. 273. XXI .
21 1 .
76 . . .
with what you eat (morning cofee, bri oche, tea at 5 o' clock,
etc.). After a certain dose, you would start to go numb, to faIl in
love with yourself, I would watch you slowly advance toward
death, you would approach me wthin you wth a serenity that
we have no idea of, absolute reconciliation. And you would give
orders . . . While waiting for you I'm going to sleep, you're al
ways there, my sweet love. "
Animadversions I. Disseminati on, trans. Barbara Johnson
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, I98I), 3 66. II. GIas,
trans. John P. Leavey, Jr. , and Richard Rand (Lincoln: Uni
versity of Nebraska Press, I 986), 238-43 . Translation
modifed. III. "Plato's Pharmacy, " in Dissemination, I70-
71. IV "La Pharmacie de Platon, " Tel Quel 3 3 ( I968 ) : 5 9. V.
The Postcard, trans. Alan Bass (Chicago: University of Chi
cago Press, I987) , 254. VI. The Postcard, 3 . Translation
modifed. VII. The Postcard, 5 . VIII. The Postcard, 23 . IX. The
Postcard, 23 . X. The Postcard, 23 . Translation modifed. XI.
The Postcard, 40. XII. The Postcard, I43 . XIII. The Postcard,
I 8 2. XlV The Postcard, I98 . Translation modifed. XV. The
Postcard, 222. Translation modifed. XVI. The Postcard,
224. XVII. The Postcard, 24 5 . XVIII. The Postcard, 254. XIX.
The Postcard, 25 5 . Translation modifed. XX. The Postcard,
25 6. Translation modifed. XXI. The Postcard, I96. Trans
lation modifed.
77 . . .
cendre capi tal e. Or c' es! d' un ret rai t qu' i l s' agi t, pour
l ai sser sa chance a un don sans la moi ndre memoi re de
soi , au bout du compte, pas un corpus, un tas de cen
dre i nsouci eux de garder sa forme, un retrai t seul ement
sans aucun rapport avec ce que mai ntenant par amour j e
vi ens de fai re et j e m' en vai s vous di re -
capital. It is, however, a question of makng a wit
drawal, in order to let him try his luck on a gif with
out the least memory of itself, in the fa account,
the remains of a body, a pile of cinders unconcerned
about preserving its form, a retreat, a retracing only
without ay relation with what, now, trough love,
I just did and I a just about to tell you -
77. We reprint the phrase "pas un corpus" from the 1982 text of Feu
la cendre rater than "par un corpus" from the 1987 version. Both
readngs are, however, revealing in their own way. The gif on
which one takes a chance is and is not a body; it is, rather, what re
mains of a corpse whose form is no longer decipherable. Was it
ever?
These notes have been provided by the editor and are keyed to page numbers.
N o t e s
37. Fors la cendre) "nothing but the cinder," but also fr la cendre) as
in Ie fr intbieur one's innermost sense, thus "the innermost cin-
der"; Ie fur the frnace or oven, is not far of
37. Un lieu pur se chif dt-t-il. Derrida echoes the "tang pl ace" of
"place" (RI EN N
'
AURA EU LI EU QUE LE LI EU) dans cesparages du
vague) "in these vague regions," from Mallarme's "Un Coup de
des," where it is a question ofhaI Iucination, agony, and the uncon
cealment of the concealent of the origin of number (LE
NOMBRE . . . clos quandapparu) , where it is a question of"taIIying
up the whole" ( SE CHI FFRAT- I L / evidence de lasomme) .
37. Pur est Ie mot. Pur = Pyr Greek for "fre." Thus, pyrijcatin.
39. Tombe en tant que nom. Tombe) as a noun, is "tomb"; as a verb, it
means "falls."
41. Encenser to praise or extol, as well as to burn i ncense, also
sounds out insense) insane or maddened; the English "i ncense" or
"incensed" contains all these meanings .
53. "Clandestining" is the inevitable efect that the cinder envoi has
on the sending of any letter.
55. "Rien du tout," "nothing at al l," or "the nothing of the alL"
57. Although the saying "il y a la cendre" appears in "Plato's Phar
macy" prior to its appearance in the dedicatory envoi at the very
end of Disseminatin) this alusion was in fact written afer the one
in the concluding acknowledgments . In distinguishing between
the repetitions at work here, Derrida is reminded of Pl ato "mut
ter[ing] . . . [i]n the enclosed space of the pharmacy" as he begins
to analyze the pharakon [Dissemination 169] . In "Plato's Phar
macy" and more recently in "Chora" [in Poikilia: Etudes Ofrtes a
Jean-Piere Verant (Pari s: Eqirions de L'Ecole des hautes etudes
en sciences sociales, I987) ; 265-96] , Derrida presents chora as
Plato's most challenging version of this "enclosed space," the
"place" rather, te "mother and receptacle of this generated world"
(Timaeus 5ra) , "there" between the unchanging Forms ( eids) on
the outside and the mutable copies (eikon) on the inside.
59. "Cinders" makes the silent "s" in "cendres" audible. Here we
might cite from T E. Hulme's "Cinders," the fi nal section of his
Speculations (I92+) : "That the world is fnite [ . . . ] and that it is yet
an infnitude of cinders." Levinas has writen of the Jewish custom
of burying a faulty manuscript.
67. Derrida's caesura is formed from four of the fourteen lines of
Mallarme's sonnet, "Toute l'ame resumee," in Hommages et Tom
beau) where Mall arme compares the expiration of the soul to the
separation of the ash from the burning cinder (la cendre se separe /
De son cair baiser de fu) in a well-smoked cigar (que/que ciare /
Bralant savamment) . Here lies perhaps a trace of the promised
"history of tobacco." Incidentally, Baudelai re's prose poem,
"Counterfeit Money," concerns a "singularly minute reparti
tioning" of the notion of the gif that occurs as to friends exit a
tobacconist's shop. Derrida analyzes Mauss and Baudelaire in de
tail in Donner Ie temps (Given Time) ( forthcoming) .
69. The frst Nietzsche citation is from notes made in 1881 during
the composition of The Gay Science (Friedrich Nietzche, Idylen
aus Messina / Die fohliche Wissenschaf / Nachgelassene Fragmente
Fruhjahr 1881 bis Sommer 1882, in Kritische Gesamtausabe: Werke)
pt. 5, vol . 2, cds . Giorgio Colli and Mazzino Montinari [Berlin:
Walter de Gryter, 1973] , 370-71) .
69. The mortal throw of the die that is the exhalation of a vocable,
at once delivers the gif and the debt, dissemination and grace, the
necessity and impossibility of return; thus cinders fall to ash,
"de: cendre." The "thrownness" of Dasein is very much the work of
the tongue.
7. "Sable brulat ou pas," burning sand or not, also suggests the
heat of the non-negative "step," the pa) the "stop" or obstruction
t which we can be so anesthetized that we no longer feel the non
presence burning within language.
73. The "impossible emission" recalls, of course, the T series Mis
sion Impossible.
73. Konis epekeina tes ousia (cinders beyond being or presence) re
writes Plato's agathon epekeina tes ousias (The good beyond being) .
73. "Griller une distace" means "to overrun a distance," here in
the sense of being unable to stop because the very notion of a dis
tance between languages has been annulled; the burning and the
grilling begin as soon as one steps beyond a language and toward
language itself.
75 . "For the defense and illustration of the French language" is an
expression ofL'Academie Fra<aise.
75 . "Tendre," like the English "tender" or "to tender," means
something delicate or fragile that is extended or tendered within
language; it rhymes with "cendre." Tinder and the neologism, "to
tinder," make these motifs explicit and rhyme with "cinder. "
75. Sans = without, sens = sense, sang = blood, and cent = one hun
dred, are all homonyms of cen-dre. "Scin-der" may suggest "scin
tilla," the slightest trace or spark, and te Latin "scindere," to cut
or separate, and leads readily to "prescinding" (separation) and
"rescinding" ( annulent) .
types
types
The English text Animadversions is set in Eri c Gill' s Joanna
The French texts ani madversi ones and feu la cendre are set in Max Mei di nger' s Hel veti ca
tpes
The English text Cinders is set in Matthew Carter's Galliard
Composito.-: M_ Meile
Desiner: R. Ecke.-sley
at the Universit of
Nebraska Press, 1991
50 year ofpttblishif