Now I shall turn to another
distinction put in question by the
fourth function of the La vie mode
d’emploi’s index. This time, that
which is contested is no longer, in
the encyclopedic universe, the
distinction between true and false
but, in the concrete space of the
volume, the limit between the text
and its surroundings, such as the
following entries found in the first
edition of the Livre de poche:
“Album d’images de la villa Harris, Emmanuel
Hocquard, 703”
“BELLETTO (Rene], 703”
“Histoire cent, by Jacques Establet, 703”
“/ournal,I, by Charles Juliet, 703”
“Livre d’histoire (extraits), by Rene Belletto, 703”
“Monument a F.B.,by Roger-Jean Segalat, 703”
“PEREC (Georges),. . . ,703.”
“Travers, by Renaud Camus and Tony Duparc, 703”
These entries loyally reproduce those
of the original edition by HachettePOL. But the conscientious reader of
the first edition from Livre de poche
must surrender to the evidence: in
the volume he has before his eyes,
page 703 (unnumbered) contains one
sole note at the bottom of the page:
p. 86
with remarkable efficacy, they
underscored the ultimate Perecquian
maneuver allowed by the index: the
surrounding and eventual capturing of the peritext by the authorial
text.”—Bernard Magné