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Liberationof Difference:
Toward a TheoryofAntiliterature
MarkD. Seem
I. Discursive
Constraints
andRepresentation
CCW
HAT IS 'WRITING'
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120
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LIBERATION
OF DIFFERENCE
12I
(p.220).
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I22
the rationalityin the world" (p. 228). This is a subtle denial of the
realityof discoursesince,insteadof puttingdiscourseitselfin the center
of analyticalactivity,one findstherelogos, as a discoursealready,and
forever,pronounced: "Discourse is no longer more than the shimmeringof a truthabout to be bornin itsown eyes.. ." (p. 228).
in each case philosophydoes
As Foucault himselfstressesrigorously,
nothingbut suppressthe realityof discourseby means of a gamea game of signs: "Discourse thus nullifiesitself,in reality,
specifically,
in placing itselfat the disposalof the signifier"(p. 228). He adds that
at the presenttime thereis not only a simple venerationof discourse
which pretendsto liberateit but also a logophilia. But, as he hastensto
add, underneaththis apparentlogophilia a sortof fear hides furtively,
a veryreal logophobia! Specifically,it is a fear of ". .. everything
that could possibly be violent, discontinuous,querelous, disordered
even and perilousin it,of theincessant,disorderly
buzzingof discourse"
(p. 229).
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LIBERATION
OF DIFFERENCE
123
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124
ANTI-LOGOS.6
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LIBERATION
OF DIFFERENCE
125
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I26
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LIBERATION
OF DIFFERENCE
127
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I28
intensive
In orderto examinetheseelementsof chance, multiplicity,
series,difference,and repetition,I have chosen a scene fromProust
which seemsto me centralto the whole Proustiandiscourse: the scene
of the group of younggirlsat Balbec-beach.15
I2 L'Anti-Oedipe, p. 325-"Introduction & la schize-analyse."
13 For a discussion of this concept of "6criture," see the works of Jacques
Derrida, especially Ecriture et la difference,ed. de Seuil (Paris, 1972).
14 Foucault, L'Archdologie du savoir (Paris, I969), pp. 172-73, my translation.
All quotations from Proust will be from the Scott Moncriefftranslation,ReI5
membrance of Things Past (New York, I934), I. All furtherreferenceswill indicate page within parentheses in the text.
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LIBERATION
OF DIFFERENCE
129
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130
Ibid., "Anti-Logos."
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LIBERATION
OF DIFFERENCE
131
tion, he focuseson those green eyes, and says of the girl whose eyes
are so green: "I knew that I should never possess this young
cyclistif I did not possess also what there was in her eyes" (p.
6oo). This selection,this choice, is the pure chance, but the difference of this new series is, at the same time, a necessity. Real
thought,Proustnevertiresof tellingus, is notthecalm,voluntarymovementof rationality,
but ratheralwaysa resultof a violencewhichforces
us to think-a thoughtwhich graspsthe true movementof repetition
and the displacementof differences.The girl with the green eyes
is Albertine,and the seriesAlbertine/Marcel,therefore,grows out of
thisoverthrowof totalitarianauthority.
thisviolence,thistransgression,
As Deleuze shows,each seriesis vertical,extratemporal,and intensive.
Such is obviouslythe case in this serieswhich explodes in the worlds
of Sodom and Gomorrah and the mysteryof transexuality.From
the singularityof Albertineand the secret behind these green eyes,
which remainsinaccessiblethroughout,we travelthroughotherseries,
but notin a transcendental
way directedultimatelytowardsunification,
synthesis,or totalization,but rather,as Deleuze shows in Proust and
from one series to another,without
Signs: we travel transversally,
is
them:
evertotalizing
"Jealously the transversalof love's multiplicity;
of places; sleep,the transversal
travel,the transversalof the multiplicity
of
moments."
of the multiplicity
19
moveWe travel (if we accept to followProust's own transgressive
onto
of
an
illusion
than
rather
it) transversally,
totality
imposing
ment,
fromthe seriesof Albertineto all the otherlove-series(joined together
by the bond of jealousy), to the seriesof the sonata, and, finally,to the
seriesof profanationat Montjouvain.
Tired of Albertineand convincedof the need to break up withher,
Marcel is terriblybored with her duringa train ride back to Balbec.
To pass the time,he speaksof music,deliberatelyscornfulof Albertine's
musical tastes. She inadvertentlyasks him the name of the piece in
question, and he respondsmockingly,"Vinteuil's sonata." Suddenly
everythingchanges. All the Proustianelementsare forcedback into
motionwhen she says that not only does she know the sonata, but she
knows Mlle. Vinteuil somewhat,and knows Lea very well-the one
Vinteuil'smusic. Immediately,the visions
responsibleforrediscovering
of that nightat Montjouvain (where L6a and Mlle. Vinteuil sexually
transgressedthe "law of the father") reappear in his mind, and the
images of the act of profanationhaunt him again. Thus, Albertine
stumbles,totallyby chance, into this otherseries (of profanationand
19
Ibid., p. I37-
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132
NEWLITERARY
HISTORY
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LIBERATION
OF DIFFERENCE
133
OF NEW YORK,
20 For a fascinating description of what Beckett might be saying in L'Innommable, see L'Anti-Oedipe where Deleuze and Guattari referto the notion of "corps
sans organes" as the voice-egg,and production.
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