Signed Proust
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Signed Proust: Derrida, Deleuze, and the remains of textual becoming[ ] James Dutton A thesis in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of the Arts and Media Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences June 2018 1 2 3 4 Contents Abstract 6 Acknowledgements 7 Abbreviations 8 Introduction: Text 11 Chapter One: Voice 25 “Marcel” 26 Present-ing Derrida 33 Restance and the sumplokē 36 The abyss en abyme 41 Chapter Two: Sense 51 “Real without being actual, ideal without being abstract” 51 Dividual multiplicity 58 Phenomenology, Phantasievorstellung and Deleuze’s noēteon 60 Post-Phenomenology 67 Forgetting, the aiôn, and the hollow 71 Sleeping, dreaming, and the aiôn 81 Conclusion, or, “Nothing, sorry, I’m half asleep.” 89 Chapter Three: Desire 93 Desiring the Bois, foreign to itself 94 Desiring (without) itself 101 Placing desire – desiring place 105 Tracing desire 113 Chapter Four: Love 124 Albertines 126 Grouping love, loving groups 132 Albertine’s face and the “black hole/white wall system” 139 Shattering the face 143 Straightening the line 149 Chapter Five: Jealousy 153 Seeing jealousy 154 Seing jealousy 161 Jealous writing 165 Jealous dream-writing 170 Conclusion 179 Chapter Six: Grief 181 5 Absenting love – absenting absence 181 The spectre 187 Writing mourning writing 194 Le plus d’Albertine 197 Conclusion: Sign 207 Signing the text(,) as is 207 Bibliography 217 6 Abstract This thesis investigates the deferral of presence in Marcel Proust’s À la recherche du temps perdu. Drawing on the philosophy of Jacques Derrida and Gilles Deleuze, it explores the possibilities of viewing the literary text as an event – a work that is in the constant process of becoming – and proposes that Proust’s text, which remained unfinished at its author’s death, constitutes a uniquely powerful instance of this interminably re-interpretive quality of literature. Reading the works of Derrida and Deleuze as animated by a common concern with the deconstruction of “presence” in Western philosophy, the thesis uses a range of Derridean and Deleuzian concepts to position Proust’s novel as challenging conceptions of the literary work as a simulacrum of reality, and also problematises any stable distinction between the fictive and the real. The thesis begins with a reassessment of the Recherche’s unlocatable, present-absent narrating voice, in order to claim that the novel’s dissemination of discrete, singular selfhood across time also makes it impossible to identify any defined or self-identical narrator. It then offers a reading of temporality in the novel as what Deleuze calls a “dividual multiplicity,” weaving together memory and forgetting, presentable chronology and the timeless time of the aiôn. The novel’s operative time-scheme is based on abyssal intensity, as opposed to presentational causality. After establishing these theoretical coordinates, the thesis turns to Proust’s portrayal of desire, love, jealousy and grief, respectively – themes which are all reimagined in the novel as instances of this abyssal non-logic. Using close reading and theoretical tools derived from Deleuze and Derrida, the thesis aims to show that each of these tropes displays a deferring, self-differing character, which makes them more resistant to the conventional categories of criticism and philosophy than is often supposed. In this way, the thesis situates philosophical and metaphysical questions of difference and presence in relation to Proust’s portrayal of thick lived experience, as exemplified by the novel’s “affective arc”. Rather than the “philosophical novel” that it is sometimes thought to be, the Recherche emerges in this analysis as a work that unravels the distinction between literary and philosophical discourse – and between defined, signifying signatories. 7 Acknowledgements Above all, this thesis has been a great pleasure to compile; that fact is due to numerous people whose vivifying company allowed it to take form in such an amicable environment. First thanks must go to my tireless supervisor, John Attridge. His professionalism, boundless expertise, good nature and infectious personality provided such reliable and confidence-instilling stewardship to the entire project – and to my growth as a scholar and person across it. Throughout the candidature and our many meetings I’d contemplated how it might ever be possible to adequately thank him for all of the extra encouragement and self-belief his always positive attitude and deeds have instilled in me – simply put, I can’t: but my admiration for his work, persona, and approach will always remain with me. Appreciation is also due to my co-supervisor, Sean Pryor, whose steadying influence, enthusiasm and depth of knowledge provided me with belief and perspective throughout the project. Thanks too, to the readers of my germinating thesis, Sigi Jöttkandt and Paul Dawson; their attention to detail and positivity throughout its various stages was always a great benefit. I’d also like to signal thanks to my colleague and friend Jasmin Kelaita. Her rigorous, creative intellectual approach throughout our many illuminating conversations has provided me with bountiful inspiration. Tremendous thanks, and great love, goes to my dear friends Mitchell Unger and Elliott Plank, whose perspective, excellent humour, and reliability allowed me to constantly move the thesis in new directions. Their support has been truly immeasurable; it’s a moving honour to hold such rich and rewarding friendships. In that regard, this thesis could never have materialized if not for the wit, integrity and supreme confidence of my brother, Rhys Dutton. It’s seldom one has the fortune to be gifted such an extraordinary person to call a brother, and moreover, a great friend. Finally, and with all of the inordinate gratitude I can muster, I’d like to acknowledge the infinite support of my parents, Robin and Clive Dutton, whose commitment, outlook, many sacrifices and love are undoubtedly to be credited for anything I’ve ever done. It’s a rare testament to their powers of reflection that many of the ideas across these pages have emerged through my conversations and relationship with them both, in Maitland and elsewhere: I’m more grateful to you than I can ever hope to describe. This thesis, and whatever I may have the good fortune to accomplish, is dedicated to you. 8 Abbreviations Works by Marcel Proust FT Finding Time Again. 1927. Trans. Ian Patterson. London: Penguin Modern Classics, 2003. Le Temps retrouvé. Paris: Éditions Gallimard, 1990. GW The Guermantes Way. 1920/1921. Trans. Mark Treharne. London: Penguin Modern Classics, 2003. Le Côté de Guermantes. Paris: Éditions Gallimard, 1988. PF The Prisoner and The Fugitive. 1923/1925. Trans. Carol Clark; Peter Collier. London: Penguin Modern Classics, 2003. La Prisonnière. Paris: Éditions Gallimard, 1989. Albertine disparue. Paris: Éditions Gallimard, 1989. S The Way by Swann’s. 1913. Trans. Lydia Davis. London: Penguin Modern Classics, 2003. Du côté de chez Swann. Paris: Éditions Gallimard, 1988. SG Sodom and Gomorrah. 1921/1922. Trans. John Sturrock. London: Penguin Modern Classics, 2003. Sodome et Gomorrhe. Paris: Éditions Gallimard, 1989. YG In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower. 1919. Trans. James Grieve. London: Penguin Modern Classics, 2003. À l’ombre des jeunes filles en fleur. Paris: Éditions Gallimard, 1988. Pages numbers for the French text refer to the corresponding volume, except for La Prisonnière and Albertine disparue, which both refer to single, translated volume The Prisoner and The Fugitive. In this case, I have marked each with either P or A, respectively. 9 Works by Gilles Deleuze (and Félix Guattari) AO (with Félix Guattari). Anti-Oedipus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia. 1972. Trans. Robert Hurley, Mark Seem, and Helen R. Lane. Minneapolis: University of Minneapolis Press, 1983. B Bergsonism. 1966. Trans. Hugh Tomlinson and Barbara Habberjam. New York: Zone Books, 1988. DR Difference and Repetition. 1968. Trans. Paul Patton. London: Athlone Press, 1994. LS The Logic of Sense. 1969. Trans. Mark Lester with Charles Stivale. New York: Columbia University Press, 1990. PS Proust and Signs. 1964. Trans. Richard Howard. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2000. TP (with Félix Guattari). A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia. 1980. Trans. Brian Massumi. Minneapolis and London: University of Minneapolis Press, 1987. TR Two Regimes of Madness: Texts and Interviews 1975–1995. Trans. Ames Hodges and Mike Taorima. Ed. David Lapoujade. London and Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2006. WP (with Félix Guattari). What is Philosophy? 1991. Trans. Hugh Tomlinson and Graham Burchill. London and New York: Verso, 1994. Works by Jacques Derrida D Dissemination. 1972. Trans. Barbara Johnson. London: Athlone Press, 1981. G Glas. 1974. Trans. John P. Leavey Jr. and Richard Rand. Lincoln, NE and London: University of Nebraska Press, 1986. OG Of Grammatology. 1967. Trans. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2016. 10 LI Limited Inc. Trans. Samuel Weber and Jeffrey Mehlman. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1988. M Margins of Philosophy. 1972. Trans. Alan Bass. Brighton: Harvester Press, 1982. PC The Post Card: From Socrates to Freud and Beyond. 1980. Trans. Alan Bass. Chicago and London: Chicago University Press, 1987. SS Signéponge/Signsponge. 1976. Trans. Richard Rand. New York: Columbia University Press, 1984. SM Specters of Marx: The State of the Debt, The Work of Mourning, and the New International. 1993.