Dubuffet: The Nutcracker
Author(s): Michel Thévoz and Laura Harwood Wittman
Reviewed work(s):
Source: Yale French Studies, No. 84, Boundaries: Writing & Drawing (1994), pp. 198-221
Published by: Yale University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2930187 .
Accessed: 19/07/2012 21:01
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
.
Yale University Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Yale French
Studies.
http://www.jstor.org
MICHEL THEVOZ
Dubuffet:The Nutcracker*
Casserune noixn'estvraiment
pas un art,aussi personnen'osera-t-il
jamais convoquerun publicpourle distraire
en cassantdes noix.S'il
le faitcependant,
et que son intentionse voie couronn6ede succes,
c'est qu'il s'agitau fondd'autrechoseque d'unsimplecassementde
noix.Ou biens'il ne s'agitque d'uncassementde noix,c'estqu'il est
apparuque nous n'avionsjamaispens6a cet artparceque nousle
possedionsa fond,et que le nouveaucasseurde noixnous en a rev616
la v6ritableessence,et pourcela il peutetren6cessairequ'il soitun
peu moinsadroitque nous.
-Kafka, Josephinela Cantatrice, ou le Peuple des Souris
Thereprobablyis at thesourceofanyliterary
vocationa problematic
relationshipto one's maternallanguage,or rather,to one's paternal
he tells us in his
language,in the case of JeanDubuffet.His father,
Biographieau pas de course(unpublished),
man
was an authoritarian
wouldlapseintoterrifying
fitsofanger.He
who,givenanyopportunity,
had a passionforbooksandconstantly
boughtthemandpiledthemup
everywhere.
He had a chauvinist'sexclusiveand puristreverencefor
Frenchclassicallanguage.In his salon,he lovedto bringtogether
brilliantconversationalists,
Parisianones ifpossible.This was so nearto
his heart,notes JeanDubuffet,that"l'existenceaupresde lui d'une
epouse et d'un filsavaitpeu de consistance.Ma meren'avaitguerela
parole,il lui etaitenjointde se tairecomminatoirement,
j'en ressentais
indignation.
De moi,on exigeaitque je sois au lyceele premierde ma
classe en toutesmatiereset si j'y manquaiseclataientles effrayantes
coleres" [theexistenceof a wifeand a son at his side had littlesubstanceforhim. My motherwas neverallowedto speak; she was told
to be silent;I feltindignant.As forme, it was reunceremoniously
quiredthatin school I be thefirstin myclass in all subjects,and ifI
failedto do so, frightening
fitsofangerfollowed].
In brief,everything
was done to correct*both the child and the
le casseurdenoix,"Detournement d'ecriture(EditionsdeMinuit,1989).
*"Dubuffet
All illustrations
Foundation.
courtesyoftheDubuffet
*chatier:To correct,
is usedinFrenchforboththechildandthelanguage.orpurify
Translator's
note.
& Drawing,ed.M. Reid,? 1994byYaleUniversity.
YFS 84, Boundaries:Writing
198
MICHEL
THEVOZ
199
language at the same time, and to assimilate the latter to paternal
tyranny.It is thus understandable that painting became feminine,or
maternal:
Au coursd'un sejourau Mont-Dore,je rencontrai
dansla campagne
une femmedevantun chevaletet qui peignaitle paysageavec des
pastels,dontelle avaitune boitepleineaupresd'elle. Les colorisde
cetteboiteme frapperent
fortement
et son tableauaussi. On n'y
distinguait
pas grandchoseque des tachesde differents
verts,
justementce que les moqueursnomment"un platd'epinards."Ce
m'incitadans la suitea fairede petitespeinturessemblablement
absconses.Jeles thesaurisaisdansun porte-document
que je me
plaisaisvivementa compulser.J'eprouvais
vifdesir,mais aussi
grandehesitation,a les montrer
a une fillettede monage que
j'affectionnais
(j'avais septou huitans) dansla craintede me leurrer
surle bien-fonde
de l'emerveillement
que je leurportais.Jen'ai,pour
finir,
pas ose le faire,je les ai cacheespuis detruites.
in thefieldsa woman
Duringa stayat theMont-Dore,I encountered
in frontofan easel who was paintingthecountryside
withpastels,of
whichshe had a fullbox nextto her.The colorsofthisbox struck
me and herpaintingtoo. In it one couldnotmake out muchmore
thanspotsofdifferent
called "a
greens,exactlywhatis mockingly
me to make some small,
plateofspinach."Laterthisprompted
similarlyabstrusepaintings.I collectedthemin a briefcasewhichI
tookvividpleasurein consulting.I had a greatdesire,butan equally
greathesitation,to showthemto a littlegirlmyage whomI liked(I
was sevenor eight)forfearthatI was deludingmyselfas to the
justifiedwonderthatI derivedfromthem.I didnot,in theend,dare
do it; I hid themand thendestroyed
them.
Thus the Oedipal triangulation is determined in this case with
referenceto language: the man proffers
the arrogantdiscourse ofpower,
and the woman paints silently,in spinach style, the real, in other
words,the unnameable.' JeanDubuffet,the child, also paints secretly,
and with guilt. But come the time, the time ofadolescence and revolt,
painting would take the upper hand, conceived of as a weapon against
words,against culture,and against the enslavement of the mind (they
are all one):
Mon dispositif(la peinture)fonctionne
commeune machinea abolir
les nomsdes choses,a fairetomberles cloisonsque l'espritdresse
1. Cf.MichelTh6voz,Dubuffet
(Geneva:Skira,1986).
200
YaleFrenchStudies
entreles diversobjets,entreles diverssystemesd'objets,entreles
differents
registres
de faitset de choseset les differents
plansde la
pensee,une machinea brouillertoutl'ordreinstitu6parl'espritdans
le murdes phenomeneset effacer
d'un coup tousles cheminsqu'il y
a tracees,une machinea mettreen echectouteraisonet a replacer
toutesles chosesdansl'equivoqueet la confusion.2
My weapon(painting)functionsas a machineto abolishthe
namesofthings,to knockdownthepartitionsthattheminderects
betweendifferent
objects,betweendifferent
systemsofobjects,
offactsand objectsand different
betweendifferent
registers
levelsof
thought,a machineto blurtheentireorderinstitutedbythemindin
thewall ofphenomenaand to erasewithone fellswoopall thepaths
thatit had mappedout,a machineto foilall reasonandreturnall
and confusion.2
thingsto ambiguity
But a child cannot settle his Oedipal relationships by fallingback
on the maternal registerand leaving the fatherto occupy centerstage.
Painting, as offensiveas it may be to cultural stereotypes,could not
exempt the budding artist from having to take on verbal language.
After meals that were endured like sessions of sempiternal reprimands, Jeanwould rush to the gardento execute Indian ceremonies in
a redskin language of his own invention,whose lexicon he had carefully established in a school notebook, a childish way of signifying
through linguistic aberration that he was not duped by paternal
loutishness-the "non-dupe erre,"* wrote Lacan, taking apart precisely that forbiddenname ...
At the originofDubuffet'sliteraryactivitythereis thereforea utopia, or "uglossia" as the linguistscall it, orin otherwordsthe beliefin a
firstlanguage, pre-Babel,phylogeneticallyanteriorto the law of the
Father,and consequently untouched by any sollicitation of power,a
primitivelanguage, childish in the etymological sense of the word, a
language, if we can risk this paradox, hallucinated at times by paranoiacs or mediums. The logophobia manifestedtowardthe languages
so improperlycalled "natural" is always the otherface of a passionate
logophilia, polarized byan intrauterinefantasyofinterpersonalfusion,
ofimmediacy,ofunity,oftotality,ofineffablecommunion. During his
*Playon wordsbetweennom du pare,thatis, "thename ofthefather,"
and the
homophonousnon-dupeerre,meaning"the one who is not a dupe wanders"
Translator's
note.
2. "Empreintes,"
in Prospectuset tous 6critssuivants(Paris:Gallimard,1967),
vol. 2, 148-49.
MICHEL
THEVOZ
201
entire life Dubuffet will remain fascinated by the inventors of languages who take on the tyrannyofthe institutedwordand who radicalize in their adult strengthhis own childish rebellions. Certainly,the
freedom is illusory,and the possibilities delirious. In the end, they
enclose these authors to anotherprison,that ofincommunicability.It
remains that the acceptance of the socially necessary "idols of the
tribe" [mots de la tribu],constitutes forDubuffeta capitulation and a
mutilation of the mind:
Communiquerc'est une bonnechose,pas si grave.Mais il y a que
nos mots,nos langues,ne serventpas seulementa communiquer
la pensee;elles la font.... Le monderegorgede gensdevenus
inaptesa touteapprehension
directedes choses.Ils ne peuventles
apprehender
qu'au traversde la grilledes mots.Rienne leurest
perceptiblequ'aprestranscription
surla grille.Ils ne sontplus
branchessurles faitset les choses,mais surleurformulation.
Ce
n'estplus de vin qu'ils sontgourmands,
c'est maintenantseulement
d'etiquettes.3
To communicateis a goodthing,notso serious.Buttheissue is that
ourwords,ourlanguages,do not servesimplyto communicate
thought;theymake it.... The worldis overrunwithpeoplewho
ofthings.Theycan
havebecomeineptat all directapprehension
onlyperceivethemthroughthegridoflanguage.Nothingis
on thegrid.Theyare
perceptibleto themexceptaftertranscription
no longertunedintofactsand objects,butintotheformulation
of
these.It is no longerwine thattheyhavea tastefor,onlylabels (Fig.
1).
As a result,an individual in love with the livingwordis confronted
with the dilemma of autism and stereotypy,between which there is
certainlyno middle course. Dubuffetshareswith Nietzsche thefeeling
that all roads lead to Rome, except that ofcompromise. He chooses on
all occasions that of inflationand parody.Thus, ifverbalization petrifies thought,and if we must use it nonetheless, we might as well go
directlyto the ultimate stage offossilization,as the onlyway to bypass
the logos and to confront,once again, the concrete. In his period of
Parisian dilettantism,Dubuffetapplied himself to learninglanguages
that are preferablydead ones, frozen in clay, marble, parchment,or
papyrus,sedimented in theirown epigraphy,and ifpossible enigmatic
in MichelThevoz,
3. "Un grandsaluttresdeferent
au Martelandre,"
reproduced
Ecrits Bruts (Paris:P. U. F. "Perspectives
critiques,"1979),230-235.
202
Yale FrenchStudies
,
,
LAB.QTW
A~~~~~~~~~~~~~~U~d IAesk~
4
.
t 9drlL
t , fko~~ot~ozep1oJen
ea
S
S~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~IL
"La Bottea Nique," pages2 and3 ofthemanuscript.
1. JeanDubuffet,
Ultimatelyhe undertooka
in meaning,like Egyptianhieroglyphs.
that
hieroglyphs
and
hyperindividualistic
searchforthoseultrasecret
institutesandwhichhe
areexhumedfromthearchivesofpsychiatric
will call "Partbrutdans l'ecrire"4[rawartin writing](Fig.2).
knowswellthat,onceinitiatedintotheculture
However,Dubuffet
language,and
immersedin instituted
oftheeducated,he is inexorably
that"on ne sortpas de l'arbreparles moyensde l'arbre"[onedoes not
FrancisPongeput
getout ofthetreebymeansofthetree],as hisfriend
it.5He does not evenmake theparanoiacpretenceofcircumventing
the logosphereor of dominatingit fromabove. As forhim he will
aimed at a disruptionofthe
proceedby a sortofinternalswaggering
functionof language,seekingto stressits articularepresentational
as a writer,
He will therefore,
tions,its mechanisms,its constraints.
of
extremes
attempta balancebetweenthegenealogicalandstructural
of
turn
and
the
learned
betweenprimitivevociferation
verbalization,
betweenthe graphicinphrase,betweenglossolalia and literature,
stinctandthealphabeticalcode,betweenthesubstanceofthesignand
the idealityof the meaning.Fromone pole to the otherwe findthe
4. "Projetpourunpetittexteliminaireintroduisant
les publications
de L'artdans
'ecrire,"ibid.,229-30.
5. FrancisPonge,Le Partiprisdes choses(Paris:Gallimard,1942),25.
MICHEL
U&CatCC
G{UW45AW5 p4o
nc
5e' di Vletxow'e
iP'V44
tk;ut-boact~~~~~
~
ft
S-2
tbwSC
On-
fo4X Cch&t
o
elt*S
141
203
THEVOZ
L5ott
tOAq4v
s
o
&
tst'fl
Far~A
"La Bottea Nique," pages4 and5 ofthemanuscript.
2. JeanDubuffet,
essayson aestheticand philosophicalthemes,thecalligraphicessays
relatif"
(La Fleurde Barbe,Oriflammes)(Fig.3), thetextsin "jargon
rendition
ofpopular
[relative jargon], in otherwordsa freephonetic
(An vouaiaje, Oukiva tfrn6sehot, etc.),
speechwhichdefiesspelling
by
in otherwordsformed
thetextsin "jargonabsolu" [absolutejargon],
inventedwordswhich cannot be foundin any lexicon (Couinque,
l'Hourloupe,
inwhich
calligraphies
orlithographed
etc.),theengraved
the substanceof the sign tendsto overcomethe meaning(Ler Wla
inscripwhich(re~present
canpane, La bonfam abeber), thepaintings
tions(theseriesofMessages,ofMurs,ofParis Circus,ofTablesPaythe
andthefinalseriesofMires andofNon-Lieux whichcipher
sagees),
real accordingto an unpublishedscript.One comes to realize that
Dubuffethas spreadout,so to speak,the spectrumwhichgoes from
fromchildish
legibilityto visibility.He evolvesin all its registers,
babbleto thepreciousnessoferuditelanguage,likean insanelinguist
who has cast offall mooringsand allows be borneby the trialsof
oscillating
variationandcommutation,
andsyntactical
morphological
fromside to side in theverbalfield.
a Dubuffet
"style"?This
Giventhis,wouldit be possibletoidentify
verifiesby defaultthe Lacafading* of expressiveness
extraordinary
note.
*InEnglishin theoriginal.-Translator's
3. JeanDubuffet,
Paysagejaseur.
204
MICHEL
THEVOZ
205
nian assertionthatthe subjectconstitutesitselfonlyas a linguistic
as a jubilantdiseffect.
Dubuffet
uses,orrathermisusesverbalization
integration
ofselfthatshouldcause an earthquaketo spreadthroughdeniedthathe was a
outtheentireliterary
field.He alwaysobstinately
writer,againsttheprotestations
ofhis criticswho tookthisformodesty,whereasin factit was a challenge:"Qu'ai-je 'afaireavec ces colonels des Lettres,hauts dignitairesdu Bel-ecrire,commissairesaux
Syntaxes,moi qui ne hissede pavillonque noir,noircommedu cirage,
votreechotierne le sait-ilpas?" [WhathaveI todo withthecolonelsof
Letters,the highdignitariesofBeautifulProse,the commissariesof
Syntax,I whoraiseonlya blackflag,blackas shoepolish,doesn'tyour
hackknowthat?],he writesin a letterto theFigarolitteraire(Prospecwithregardto languagethat
tus,vol. 2, 513). Farfromexperiencing
or ofproperty
feltby officially
sentimentof mastery,of familiarity,
patentedwriters,Dubuffethas insteadthe impressionthathe is an
undesirableaddresseeortenant.He therefore
mightas wellprecipitate
theconflict,make theworstofthesituation,hoisttheblackflag,and
instigatelinguisticcatastrophesthat would disqualifythe distinguishedidiomsand tics ofexpressionthataresupposedto qualifythe
estune piece capitalede la
styleofan author:"Le mythedu Bel-ecrire
au coeurde la caste sevisdefensebourgeoise.Si vous voulez frapper
a son ceremonialde beau langage
sante,frappez-laa ses subjonctifs,
creux,a ses minauderiesd'esthete"[ThemythofBeautifulProseis an
essentialpieceofbourgeoisdefense.Ifyouwanta directhitat thecaste
in power,hit it in the subjunctives,in the ceremonialof beautiful
he writesofCeline (Proshallowlanguage,in its effetemannerisms],
spectus,vol. 2, 52).
To be sure,themajorityofDubuffet's
writingsdeferto lexicaland
grammaticalrules,and evenshowwhatone mustcall quirksofstyle,
the
whichRaymondQueneau takesperversepleasurein recording:6
shiftof the adverbto the end of the sentence,the suppressionof
thearticle,theinversionofthenounand its attributive
adjective,the
ofthesentence,certainarchaisms
positionoftheverbat thebeginning
ofthesubjuncorneologisms,andeven,occasionally,theproscription
mood.Is thereanyreasonotherthan
tive,deemedto be a superfluous
the customaryinfatuationof an authorforthesepeculiarities?Unuse of
doubtedly,
as Queneau notes,onereasonmightbe thepragmatic
6. "Quelquescitationschoisiesdansle corpusdesecritsdeJeanDubuffet,"
inJean
Dubuffet,
specialissue ofL'Herne,(1973):372-76.
206
Yale FrenchStudies
language,a determinationto go directlyto the essential without
niceties,evenifit is at theexpenseofsyntax.ButDubuffet
also seems
maliciouslyto searchoutwithMachiavellianmalicemomentsoffrictionbetweentheorderofideasand theorderofwords.Andit is all the
betterif he gives the impressionof struggling
with an excessively
heavyapparatusof language,too-rigidconceptsand excessivelyproceduralgrammaticalrules!Iftheexpressionseemslaboriousand languageis strainedat theseams,itis preciselyso thatwe mayunderstand
that thereare seams, that is, a linguisticconditioningof thought.
Dubuffetthewritercan be comparedin thisrespectto thenutcracker
in Kafka'sshortstory,
who,through
a heuristicclumsiness,informs
us
abouthis artmuchbetterthanwoulda virtuoso.
Considerthe antecedenceoftheadjective,evenwhenit has more
syllablesthan the noun, transgressing
the rule called "du second
lourd"[oftheheaviersecond](forexample,"la fallacieuseimage"[the
imagefallacious],"une frappante
marque"[a signstriking]).*
It is certainlyan expressiveturnofphrase,whichindicatesthequalitybefore
thething,andconsequently
tothesynthetic
movementof
corresponds
sensation,whereasthesuccessionofthenounanditsattribute
follows
the analytical-rational
orderof intellection.The same can be said
aboutthepositionoftheverbat thebeginning
ofthesentence,which
givesthe movementbeforethe identification
of the agent("cessera
"
alorsla refraction
. . . [thuswillendrefraction
... ],"Frappedansces
dessins. . . " [Strikesin these designs... ]). Thereis thusan inversion,butwithrespectto whatnorm?Is therean orderofwordsthatis
naturallyrelatedto objects?Perhapslogic commandsus to say: "le
sangest rouge"[bloodis red]and sensation:"rougeestle sang"[redis
theblood].In anycase, theexperienceis all-encompassing,
sensation
and intellectionintermingle,
and it wouldnotbe possibleto prescribe
an orderof successionlimitingverbalexpression.In fact,Dubuffet
theless canonicalorder,notbecause it is morefaithful
prefers
to the
realorto thesequenceofideas,butbecauseit betraystheideolinguistic double bindtfromwhichverbalization
proceeds.(Thevoz,Le Langagede la rupture,
op.cit.)Ifit is truethatthoughtis notindependent
ofthewordswhichformulate
it,theirregularity
will at leasthavethe
effect
ofemphasizingthissubjugation.Generally,
theorderofwordsis
neverinnocent,and it is whenit is themost"natural,"in otherwords
*Unlikein English,in Frenchthe adjectivegenerallycomes afterthenoun.The
reversal
ofnormalorderis as noticeablein Frenchas itis in English.-Translator's
note.
tInEnglishin theoriginal.-Translator's
note.
MICHEL
THEVOZ
207
themosttransparent
to meaning,thatit is themostideological,since
it naturalizespreciselythesignifications
whichit induces.The naturalinwritinghas no ontologicalvalue,butis onlya lubricantofwhich,
speakingofthemovementofthepenandthelinkingofthealphabetical characters,the encyclopedistPaillasson gives the composition:
"Sans recourira des observations
d'accord
anatomiques,l'experience,
avecla raison,mefaitreconnailtre
uneliqueuronctueuseappeleeparles
anatomistessynovialequi, se filtrant
parles glandesqui portentson
nom,arrose,penetre,humecteles ligamentsdes nerfset leurdonnele
jeu, le ressortque demandel'articulationla plus facileet la plus complete"7[Withoutrecourseto anatomicalobservations,
experience,in
tunewithreason,makesme recognizean unctuousliquidcalled"synovial" by anatomiststhat,filtering
thoughthe glandsthathave its
name,waters,penetrates,and moistensthe ligamentsof the nerves
andgivesthemtheplay,thetensilestrength
requiredbytheeasiestand
mostcompletearticulation].
Dubuffet
doesnotlikediscoursesthatarebathedinsynovialliquid.
He prefersthe machineryoflanguageto grate,like Ratier'scranks,8
betraying
itsinertia,itsbonestructure,
anditsfriction.
He takespleasurein stressing
thelimitsofthespeakable,in otherwords,he likesto
"friserle code" [brushup againstthecode].The neologismswhichhe
fashionsout ofsuffixes,
prefixes,
derivationand analogystillproceed
fromlinguisticrules,certainly,
butin an applicationat onceextensive
and excessive(Oedipal, one would be temptedto say,recallinghis
authoritarian
father)which demonstratively
acceleratesthatwhich
could be an imperceptible
processofevolutionofthe language("notionneuseest capitalementla culture. . . " [notionousis culturecapitally . .. ], "il faitmemement de l'inutilitaire son site . . . " [he does
likewisewiththeuselessitarianhis site . .. .). These singularities
are
at once motivatedand striking,
theyunderlinethe workingsof language,theypropagatetheirown opacityin wordsthathave already
theiretymology,
passedintocommonusagebyreactivating
theyconsequentlyeludetheoppositionbetweenlexicallegalityandinfraction
byshowingthatall oflanguageis a neologism-even though,as they
age,wordsassume theaffectation
of"naturalness".
7. Paillasson,in the article"L'Artd'ecrire"of theEncyclop6dieofDiderotand
d'Alembert,
quotedin Jer6me
Peignot,"De La Calligraphielatine,"in Signeset Ecritures,catalogoftheexhibitionat the Centred'artcontemporain,
Brussels(1984):25.
8. Cf.A. Wolff,
"Les Manivellesd'EmileRatier,"in L'ArtBrut,fascicule9 (1973):
69-78.
208
Yale French Studies
The same can be said of the syntacticalinitiatives,such as the
proscriptionof the subjunctiveor the famous"une personneria si
volontiers"[a personlaughedso willingly]thatso amused Paulhan
vol.2, 500).Dubuffet
knowsfullwellthathe willnotstart
(Prospectus,
a school. One cannotmake languageevolvevoluntarily.
The will in
language,whichproceedsfromconsciousness,thusfromlanguageitself,is tautological,and thusis incapableofinnovation.Justlike the
If
geneticcode,thecodeoflanguageresistspremeditated
intervention.
it is neverthelessmodified,it is unbeknownstto the agentsof that
change.The paradoxrequiresthat it is enoughmerelyto question
languageforlanguageto reinforce
itssystem,and,conversely,
thatone
mustlose oneselfin languageto thepointoflosingconsciousnessin
doesnotclaimto
ordertohavea chanceofmodifying
it.ThusDubuffet
be eitheran inventorora reformer.
He merelywantsto experiencethe
bodyof signswhichhe inhabitsand in whichhe thinksas a living,
autonomousorganism,with its chance conversions,its own initiatives,and especiallyits assertivecharacter,
properto ourlogocentric
nordo theyrepreculture.Wordsdo not adjustthemselvesto reality,
sentit; theyfashionit and orderit accordingto theirown devices.In
otherwords,thereal thattheypretendto describeis apocryphal.
Dubuffet
doesnotintendtostoplanguagefromreinventing
theworld,but
it fromdisappearing
onlyto expose this constructionby preventing
intotheobjectiveevidencewhichit creates.Thus he will readilyproceed byoutbidding
orprovoking,
speculatingon thereferential
power
of discourse,in orderto accreditthe mostparadoxicaland the most
contradictory
opinions.Whenitis pointedouttohimthathiswritings
containcontradictions,
he answersthathe reproaches
himselffornot
havingbeen contradictory
enough,giventhefactthatanyaffirmation
maintainedfortoo longa timeturnsintoabsurdity.9
The greatestcontradiction
is alreadyevidentin thedisparity
ofhis
ofthepainteron his ownworkaim
writings:whilethecommentaries
towardelucidationand intelligibility,
and thus towardthe transparencyoflanguage,thejargonsand thefatrasieswordplaydismissreasoned meaningand deliberatelyobfuscatelinguisticsign. In other
as a virtuosoand as
words,Dubuffetthewriterbehavesalternatively
an agitator.He is evenbothsimultaneously,
and thusmorecontradictorythanever,in thetextssaidtobe in "jargonrelatif"[relativejargon],
whichexpresslyemergeout ofa desireforreform,
and yetprecipitate
9. JeanDubuffet,
Batonsrompus(Paris:Minuit,1986),66.
MICHEL
THEVOZ
209
Duthecatastrophe.
FortheOedipalreasonsthatwe havementioned,
buffetis sensitivemore than anyoneelse to the disparitybetween
current
Frenchandtheclassicallanguagesuchas itis taughtin school,
a disparityfurther
aggravatedby writing,which preservesonly the
ofelocuwords,nottheintonations,
theaccentsandtheidiosyncrasies
tionwhichplaya majorrolein verbalmessages:"Une certainemanierede prononcer
un motou de soulignerunesyllabe,ou d'eleverla voix
un toutpetitpeu autrementqu'il n'estd'usage,donnesubtilementle
sensexact,commele donneaussi a l'ecriturele traced'unjambage,au
dessincelui d'une hachure"(Prospectus,
vol. 1, 82) [A certainwayof
pronouncing
a wordorstressinga syllable,ofraisingone'svoicejusta
littledifferently
thanthenorm,subtlygivestheexactmeaning,justas
inhandwriting
thetracingofthedownstrokes
anda streakin drawing].
Evidently,
Dubuffettakestheside oforalityagainstwhathe calls the
"langue-eteinte"[burnt-out
language]and its sedimentedspelling:
"C'est inconcevableque les gensfaisantprofession
de poesie-Breton
ou autres-fassentusagede la memelangueecriteque les secretariats
commerciauxou les journaux-qui est a peu de chose presla meme
langue que celle des actes notariesou traitesde m6decine.Ils n'ont
aucune chance de nous emouvoirdans cettelangue-la"(Prospectus,
vol 1, 480) [It is inconceivablethat people makinga professionof
poetry-Bretonorothers-use thesamewrittenlanguageas commercial establishments
ornewspapers-whichis withfewexceptionsthat
samelanguagefoundin notaryactsormedicaltreatises.Theystandno
chanceofmovingus in thatlanguage].
In 1937already-althoughDubuffet
wasnotawareofit-Raymond
Queneauhadproposedandputintopracticea formofwritingthatwas
"photographically"
tracedfromcurrentspokenlanguage.10
Nonetheless, at the conclusionofthe experiment,
Queneau agreedthatonce
the firstmomentofsurpriseand amusementwas past,the phonetic
a new orthodoxy
withrespectto
transcription
endedup substituting
thespellingthatit was rejecting.Dubuffet's
proposaldiffers
markedly
in its inspiration.Duringa stayin the Saharain 1947,seekinginitiationtoan ArabdialectspokenbytheBedouins,he hadbeenledtowrite
thislanguagephoneticallyin Latincharacters.
The unusualaspectof
thesetranscriptions
had givenhim the idea ofdoingthe same thing
withspokenFrench,as ifhe werea foreigner
ignorantofall theterms
10. RaymondQueneau, Batons, chiffreset lettres(Paris: Gallimard,"Iddes,"
1965),22.
210
Yale FrenchStudies
and theirseparationfromone another:(Prospectus(vol. 1, 481-82)
" SQON NAPELE LEPE ISAJE SAVEDIR LA CANPANE IARIIN QI MANBETE
COMSA LACANPANE LACAMPANE SEPLIN DLEGUME ONDIRE UNE SOUPE
MINESTRON, etc." [WATSCALD AVIU MEEN SDH QUNTRY NUHTHINGBA
THERSME MORTHANDHE QUNRTY ITSFULO VEGTA BLE SLAIKA MINESTRONEE, etc.].Dubuffetironicallypresentshis littlebook entitled
LER DLA CANPANE [QUNTRY EYER] as "le premiertextepublieen langue
francaisevivantedepuis les Sermentsde Strasbourg"[thefirsttext
publishedin Frenchas a livinglanguagesincetheOathsofStrasbourg].
In the end,it was certainlynot a questionofrejuvenating
orreviving
thelanguage,butofupsettingits functions.
Certainlytherecourseto integralphoneticscan lead to confusion,
especiallyafterthe precedentset by Queneau, by appearingto be a
reform
ofspellinganda renewedfidelity
tothespokenword.The latter
is supposedto be a preludeto writing.All themoresincewe currently
in otherwordsalphabeticalwriting,
definethephonogram,
byits oppositionto theideogram,byassigningto thelatterthedirectrepresenoftheword.
tationofmeaning,and to theformertherepresentation
Butthisis a simplisticopposition.As phoneticas itmightclaimtobe,
alphabeticalwritingis neverproperly
speaking,a graphicrepresentation ofvoice: it does not reproducethephysicalsoundsas theywere
but onlytheirintelligiblearticulations.As JacquesDerrida
proffered,
notes,"s'il n'y a pas d'ecriturepurementphonetique,c'est qu'il n'y a
pas de phone purement phonetique"1l [ifthere is no purelyphonetic
writing,it is because there is no purelyphonetic phone]. Supposedly
phonetic writing aims, within the phone, only at what pertains to
writingin a wide sense, in otherwordsat a combination ofdiscriminative units. This does not mean that forall that one should invertthe
In thephonoorderofprecessionand considerwritingto be originary.
centristsystem,spellingfunctionsas theauxiliaryofmeaning,in the
mannerofa well-groomed
and self-effacing
at
valet,bothefficacious
ofneverallowinghimselfto be distinonce,wornout fromthe effort
guishedas the objectofattention.To make a fetishofvoice orhandwritingand to investthesecondwiththerepressive
instinctofWestern metaphysics,would constitutetwo symmetricalerrors.One
shouldconsiderinsteadthatgraphemesand phonemesmutuallycorrespond to one another,forma systemand stand against each otheras
11. JacquesDerrida,"La Differance,"in Theoried'ensemble(Paris: Le Seuil,
1968),43.
MICHEL
THEVOZ
211
representative
idealities,throughreciprocalalibis,as it were:oralexpressionrefers
towritingas toitsnorm,andwritingpresentsitselfas a
oftheword,like twomirrors
whichface
phonographic
representation
one another.In otherwords,thewrittenandtheoralaredisincarnated
ofan objective
througha speculareffect
thatbouncesthepresumption
referent
back and forth.As brashas it mightappear,the livingword
in a freedomon probation.As a corolevolvesat thelimitsofwriting,
lary,thewrittenmessagetendsto claimitsinnocenceagainstitsspellingbyputtingon thefluidity
oforalexpression:"Il y a lieu d'observer
au passageque cetteconceptionde l'ecrirereduita une simplenotation de l'oral,outrequ'elle a poureffetde faireoubliertoutesles ressourcesvisuellesdes graphies,a parailleursaussi celui de faireoublier
de memetoutesles ressourcesdu parlerqui ne peuventetretranscrites
vol. 1,293) [Oneshouldobservein
dansle sytemeadopte"(Prospectus,
passingthatthisconceptionofwritingreducedto a simplenotationof
theoral,beyondthefactthatithas theeffect
ofmakingus forget
all the
visual resourcesofcalligraphy,
also makes us forgettheresourcesof
in theadoptedsystem].One must
speechwhichcannotbe transcribed
have recourseto irregular
writingin orderto elude themirageeffect,
thatis, the idealityofdiscourse,and to redirectour attentionto the
on the vocal aspectas an
substanceofthe sign,thatis, respectively,
inscriptionofsound,and on writtenspeechas a trace.
This is whytheattemptto createa phonetictranscription
faithful
to empiricaldiscourse,orthe"textualisation
de la diglossie"[textualization of diglossia]as linguistscall it, resultsnot in a transparent
writingthatultimatelyvanishesin its representative
function,but
insteadand paradoxicallyin a disintegration
ofthe oral-written
systemand in a blurring
ofthe signified.The oraland graphicsignifiers
in a
becomeopaqueandconsubstantially
meeteachotheras fragments
is dislocated.This is why Dubuffet,
play of mirrorsthat thereafter
initiallythinkingperhaps,like Queneau,thathe wouldreadjustwritten languageto oral languagetherebyregenerating
writing,realizes
offa
thathe has behavedlike a sorcerer'sapprenticeand has triggered
chainofsemanticcatastrophes
whicheventually
takehimundertheir
spell.
functionofwritHavingsetoutto reestablishtherepresentational
ingwithrespectto the spokenword,he endsup withtherealization
thathe has unhingedthe overallsystemoflinguisticrepresentation.
Wild phonetictranscription
does not restorenaturalnessto language,sincefortheliterate,its onlyusers,it is preciselycorrectspell-
212
Yale FrenchStudies
ingthatconstituteslanguage'snaturalness.One wouldobviouslylose
theessentialin thejargontextsbylisteningto thembeingread,since
therewouldbe nothingleftbutthedrivelofMonsieur-Tout-le-monde
orthewildimaginingsofa senilegardener.
Dubuffet's
populismis not
sociallyvindictive,
ratherit is anarchistornihilist;itis nota question
of reestablishing
populargenius againstthe jargonof intellectuals.
Rather,thesillinessofthediscourseshouldmakeus turnourattention
towarda contre-ecriture
thatdoesnotrespectthephono[anti-writing]
centristgameand thwartsthespecularrecourseofwritingand voice.
The factis thatreadingthetextsin relativejargonis initiallydisconcerting:theyhaveto be readaloud to be understood,
as was apparently
done untiltheRenaissance.Variousaccounts,includingAugustine's,
indicatethatreading,evensolitary,
was oral: one readbymumbling.
The printedbookhas sinceimposedsilencebysustainingsightexclusively.In otherwordstypography
has provideda powerful
contribution
to spiritualizing
one's relationto the book by inhibitingthe pulmonary,glottal,and lingualelementsofreading.Withhis uncannyphonetic transcription,
Dubuffetcompelsmeaningto pass throughutteranceonce again,in otherwordsthrough
thebody.Bythwarting
and
delayingtheintelligibility
ofthetext,byforcing
thereadertotakethis
somaticdetour,thewriterofjargonreactivatesthelibidinalgenealogy
ofverbalexpressionand the excremental
originofconcepts.
Childishbabble is not originallydeterminedby an intentionto
communicate,but,as psychoanalysts
ofthe
say,by the convergence
firstundifferentiated
instinctstowardsthebuccalarea.12The pulmonarycontractions,
theocclusionoftheglottalsphincter,
thefriction
of
theair againstthepalate,salivarylubrication,cranialvibrations,
the
touchesofthe tongue,the suctionofthelips,theanal investment
of
soundsubstances,represent
thevariouselementsofthisprimitive
oral
eroticism.It is onlyin a secondphase thatan articulatedwordhurls
forthin thislibidinalsoundmagma,andgraduallyconvertsphonatory
elementsto signification.
(Wefindthesame phenomenaoffortuitous
semanticmeaningfulness
inthegraphicregister
whentheinitialscribble suddenlyturnsinto figuration.)
By delayingthe precipitationof
meaning,Dubuffetawakensfora suspendedmomentthisprimitive
oftheword.
erogeneity
Thereis no regression
in this.Wordsarenevercompletelyobjects,
eveniftheyrecovertheirbody-indeed, especiallyiftheyrecoverit.
thewordofits meaningifit
Whatpointwould therebe in depriving
12. Cf.Fonagy,
La Vivevoix.Essai de psycho-phonetique
(Paris:Payot,1983).
MICHEL
THEVOZ
213
thensimplytookup thevacantplaceofthereferent
andproposeditself
as a substitutesubstantialbeing?Thus one must converselyavoid
an ontologicalvalorizationof the vocal or graphicsubstancewhich,
followingBachelard'spsychoanalysisof the materialsof painting,
wouldsendus backto an intuitivewholeness.Eventheinfantwho is
not initiatedto lexical signification
of wordssenses theirsymbolic
value,as Freudshowedregarding
thegamewiththespinningtop.Conversely,in theadult,althoughlatent,themuscularand tactilesensationsrelatedto articulatedlanguagewill remaina sourceofpleasure
evenand especiallyin themostsophisticateddiscourse.Syllabicmastication,wetorliquid sounds,erectile,fricative,
constrictive
ornasal
consonants:thetechnicalmetaphorsofphoneticsalreadyindicatethe
subconscioussexualizationofthegesturesofphonation.Eruditelanguageneverfreesitselfin fullfromprimitivemagic;meaningis not
able to steal awaysoundcompletely.
The university
chair,thebar,or
the politicalpulpitopen the way foran honorablederivationof the
initialoral sadism.
In short,languagealwaysevolvesbetweenthepolesofthesonorous
bodyand ofideality.Dubuffet
takesa perverse
pleasurein accelerating
this oscillation,in orderto preventthe resolutionof the harmony
betweensoundand meaning.The vocalorgraphicmateriality
thatwe
wouldbe temptedtosavorforitselfnonethelesscontinuestobe articulated in phonemesand lettersand to call fora meaninguponwhich,
we cannotconcentrate
conversely,
withoutbecomingdistracted
byits
unusualincarnation-hencethedeliberateineptitudeofspeech.The
same game of mirrorswhich in the practiceof writingwithproper
spellingfunctionedin an illusionistmannerreversesitselfto robus
indefinitely
oftheidea thatwouldresolvethereading.
Thereis more:wordsin generalhavemultiplemeanings,at times
proceedingfromdifferent
or froma semanticevolution
etymologies,
that allows the coexistenceof successivemeanings,or frommetaphoricalusages that do not exclude the primarymeaning,or from
aggravated
byoral expressionand its ambiguitiesregardhomonymy,
ing the separationofwords(once again thenon-dupeerrein all the
ofpaternal
meaningsauthorizedbyoralityawaitingtheintervention
spelling-orthographe-a noun that Frenchalas puts in the feminine ... ).* Farfromhindering
theuse oflanguage,polysemycontributes to itsgenerativepotential:it entailssemanticslippages,associationsofideas,metonymical
displacements,
metaphorical
conversions,
or spelling,is a femininenounin French-Translator's
*Orthographe,
note.
214
Yale FrenchStudies
in brief,an opennesstowardinvention.If languagewerea code rigorouslysystematizedbybi-univocalrelationshipsbetweensignifiers
from
andsignifieds,
as in computerscience,itwouldremainprotected
theoriginalandsubjecttothefieldthatwas alreadyverbalized.Itis the
theirinternal
indecisionof the signs,theirconstitutiveambiguity,
ofvirtualsignifieds
in search
play,thatexposesthemto theattraction
to
which
allows
This passagefromlatency expression
offormulation.
an unconsciousor potentialthoughtsuddenlyto take overhomolothemto an unexpectedusagefollowswhat
converting
gous signifiers,
in thewitz
call theprimaryprocess;it is manifested
psychoanalysts
[pun],theslip ofthetongue,orpoeticinvention;it makesus laughor
feel anguish,and in any case disruptsthe workingof the code in a
processsimilarto geneticmutationin theanimalrealm.13
wordsrestricttheirsemanOf course,in normalcommunication,
determitic spectrumto a preciseacceptationbyjointinterdependent
nation.It is saidthatcontextreducesmeaning.This takesplacejustas
motifs
in thosegraphicgamesthattheoretically
allow us to interpret
thatare in relieforhollowedout,butthatin factforceus to choosea
to escape.The clarperceptiveoptionfromwhichit becomesdifficult
thusconbyredundancy,
reinforced
ityrequiredby communication,
strainswordsto a univocal meaning.And spelling,we have noted,
oral
contributes
to thereductionofpolysemy,
bythwarting
powerfully
ambiguities,by makingthe syntaxprecise,by rootingwordsin etymology,in grammaticallegality,etc. Anydiscourse-and especially
as to its
the discourseofpower-refersto its potentialtranscription
canonicalversionand its guaranteeofideality.Hence theideological
ofspellingin thespecularrelationshipofwriting
over-determination
and speech: the masteris one who speaksthewaywe write.Claude
Hagegegivesthe exampleoftheliaison withoutlinking("il avaitun
plan" [he had a plan]pronounced"il avete ... un plan,")*the orally
of one forwhom spellingis self-evident
inadequatehypercorrection
paraand who wantsto makethisfactknown.14 The flightsoforatory
justlikethe
doxicallyhaveas theirconditionthismooringtowriting,
a
kitethatwouldrushdownwards
withoutitsstring.Thisis illustrated
precision
contrariobytheintellectualcoquetryofgivingorthographic
because
*Although
theconsonantat theendofavait is notnormallypronounced,
as
thenextwordbeginswitha voweltheliaisoncausesthisconsonanttobe pronounced
iffollowedbythatvowelin thesameword.-Translator'snote.
13. Cf.OctaveMannoni,Clefspourl'imaginaire,ou L'AutreScene (Paris:Le Seuil,
1969),34 ff.
14. ClaudeHagege,L'Hommede paroles(Paris:Fayard,1985),282.
MICHEL
THEVOZ
215
in orderto dispel ambiguity,
whereasthe purposeis reallyto bring
attentionto its existence(thusas it happensI would say thatI am
analyzing-with a y-the writingsof Dubuffet,even when we are
dealingwiththe excrementalnatureofconcepts).As a generalrule,
spellinginterveneslike a censor,by imposinga despoticmeaning
thatit
and exacerbating
the libidinalcharacterof the significations
represses-and inevitablytake on a sexual or obscenecoloring.The
corrected
writingdoes notopposeitselfto speechas itsantithesisbut
as its superego.
Hence the reasonwhyDubuffet's
practiceofdesecriture[unwriting]has theeffectoffreeing
us fromthatsortofsemanticcrampthat
subjugatesus to a despoticmeaning;thusit makesus moresensitive
to uncontrolledtransverse
significations.
Withinobvious(andpointless) speech,it awakensa latentpolysemywhichis ofconcernto psychoanalysts,particularly
whentheyattemptto breaktheintentional
to
sequenceoftheirpatients'discoursein ordertosubmititsfragments
the playoffreeassociation.Like them,Dubuffetcuts the "pointsof
andreesanchorage"thatsecurethesignifier
to an exclusivesignified,
tablishesthe indefiniteand uncontrollable
movementofa universal
"logology."Ifit is truethattheorderofwordsis theorderoftheworld,
ofthe
theaccruedfragility
ofthesystemoflanguageis a prefiguration
ofsignsand a redismentalcataclysminitiatedbya different
ordering
tributionoftheirelements.
The textsin "jargonabsolu" [absolutejargon],which is characterizedbythedisappearanceofanyexplicitmeaningandbyan integral
are presentedas a radicalizationoftheexperienceofphoformalism,
neticization.This does indeedprovethat the latterdid not aim to
rewardthefaultofwritingnorto reinforce
its ties to thelivingword,
but on the contrary
to focusthesubstanceofthe signto thepointof
abandoninganynarrativealibi: "Qualle pesse! Qualle pesse d'argule!
Amin d'inganderl'anquet rijoubea l'argule!Podissonsl'anctuaire!
J'ombileau jude. Les merisseauxfasculent!Anjandes!Rambochent!
J'enduquaisl'omboque,j'arduchaisgravant-bovantla turluqueen
rabellantcrovocheun dermid'entourle.L'ouve aux racharles!Bancarles!Pas d'avermisd'ongularl'anque! J'ardonnais
canutla pinousse.
Fripaillaisle richotdans tous les cachardsdu magrole:a sige,a sonagre"("Couinque,"in Prospectus,vol. 1, 145).*
*The wordsused are all nonsensewordsthatdo not existin French,exceptfor
articlesand pronouns;thegrammatical
prepositions,
forms(likeconjugation)
are derivedfromFrench-Translator's
note.
216
Yale FrenchStudies
Absolutejargonis certainlynot a phoneticor grammatological
creationex nihilo. It remainsdependenton the Frenchlanguage,of
whichit respectsthegeneralmorphology,
thegrammatical
forms,
and
thepunctuation.It would evenappearto followtherulesofspelling
morethantherelativejargon.Butthemeaningemphatically
refusesto
surrender.
Languageis functioning
butforno purpose,a little
correctly,
likethemachinesofTinguelythathaveno otherpurposethantomove
on theirownthrough
thenonsensicalortautologicalmultiplication
of
theirmechanism.The phonemesfollowupon one anotheranarchically,as ifthelanguage,struckwitha generalizedcancer,hadexhausted
itselfin interminablemetastasesthat emptiedit of meaning-this
couldbe academicconfinement
andlogorrhoea
in theirparodicdegree.
Itwouldtherefore
be an errorto equateDubuffet
withtheinventors
of languageslike Helene Smithand her ultramartian
idiom,15like
Louis Wolfsonandhis systemofconversionofthematernalword,16
or
likeso manyotherauthorsofrawwritings
whowithdraw
intoinaccessibleidiolects.Wehavesaid thattherepudiationofmaternallanguage
is alwaysillusory;in wantingto encodelanguageormakeit crypticat
his pleasure,the speakerrarelyheightenswith a simulacrumthe
prisonofsignsin whichhe is condemnedto think.In his analysisof
Helene Smith'sultramartian
language,Ferdinandde Saussurenoted
thatitwas conceivedin ordertoappearas exoticas possible,andthatit
thusemergedfromthemostfantasticmorphological
with
principles,
only one constraint,but a sizeable one: not to resembleFrenchwhichevidently
putit in counterdependency
withtherepudiated
language,thusin a dependency
aggravated
byitssemioticconditioning.17
Saussurealso stressesthe infantileoriginof this cryptographic
im"Les
enfants
souvent
sont
chez
les
matres
pulse:
onomatopoioiet,
lades,les nevroses,cettefacultepersistedans l'age adulte.Mon frere,
dans sa premiereenfance,s'etaitcomposeainsi toutun langagea lui.
Ma grand-mere,
qui etaitremarquablement
intelligente,
pouvaitencore reciterverbotenusdans son extremevieillesseun petitjargon
d'unedizainede lignesqu'elle s'etaitcomposedanssonenfance"(ibid.,
182)[Childrenareveryoftenonomatopoioiand,in thecase ofthesick,
the neurotic,thisfacultypersistsinto adulthood.My brother,
in his
15. TheodoreFlournoy,
Des Indes a la plankteMars (Paris:Le Seuil,1983).
16. Cf.Louis Wolfson,
Le Schizoetles langues(Paris:Gallimard,1970).
17. Cf. OlivierFlournoy,
Theodore et Leopold (Neuchatel,a la Baconniere,
1986),
193-94.The authorhasreproduced
thecorrespondence
betweenSaussureandhisgrandTheodoreFlournoy,
father,
theproblemofinventedlanguages.
concerning
MICHEL
THEVOZ
217
earlychildhood,had thusinventeda languagethatwas all hisown.My
grandmother,
who was remarkably
intelligent,
couldstillreciteverbo
tenusinherextremeoldagea littlejargonoftenlinesorso thatshehad
composedin herchildhood].We shouldnotethatTheodoreFlournoy
hadalreadyquotedthisobservation
bySaussurein hisbookon Helene
Smith,butthathe had omittedthereference
to thesickandtheneurotic (a reference
whichwouldprobablyhavefrustrated
therelationship
of transference. . . and countertransferencewith his seductive pa-
tientbeforeitstime)[TheodoreFlournoy,
op.cit.,269].Weshouldalso
notethatwe cannotholdSaussure,whowas writingin 1896,responsible forspeakingofneurosisinsteadofperversion,
whereasin factit
was a case ofregressionto an infantileposition-in this case, ludic
glossolaliaand the practiceofan idiolectas a resistanceto parental
discourse.
Ofcourse,itis truethatDubuffet's
inventedredskinlanguageillustrateswhat Saussure says about infantileonomatopoiesis.Yet,the
jargonsandthedeliriumcannotsimplybe attributed
tothepersistence
of this obsession-and we need not take the same precautionswith
Dubuffetas Flournoytook with his medium.Certainly,by semanticallyunmooringFrenchwordsand communicating
withthereader
onlywithblankmorphemes,
Dubuffet
bringsintoplaywhatcouldbe
considereda psychoticpotentiality.
RomanJakobsonnotes cases of
"semanticaphasia,"in otherwordstheincapacityofcertainpatients
to communicateanythingat all eventhoughtheyexpressthemselves
withapparentease byrespectingthemorpho-syntactical
rulesofthe
language.18
Theirdiscoursestillhas an architecture,
butthemeaning
is lost.ButDubuffetremainsbilingual,and he playsparodicallywith
the alternativeswithoutbecomingtheirtool. Ifwe wereto speak of
in his case, it wouldnotbe in thepathologicalorinfantile
perversion
but
in
a subversiveornihilistone: his textsin absolutejargon,
sense,
whichpresentall thesuperficial
formsofFrench(as opposedtothoseof
HeleneSmith)announcea conceptualmeaningthattheydonothonor,
since thewordsfinallydo not expressanythingthattranscendstheir
own linguisticsubstance.The movementofreadingsuddenlycomes
to an impasseand flowsbackuponitselflike thethrustofa battering
ramthatdislocatesthewholesystem.Thisis a mannerofsemiological
epoche?
whichleads us to experiencelanguageas the-moldofthought
and to sense its infusedinnateideology.
18. RomanJakobson,
Langageenfantinet aphasie(Paris:Minuit,1969).
218
Yale FrenchStudies
As opposedto the paranoidcryptographies
whichstill guarantee
the signsofa semanticrecuperation,
be it hidden,Dubuffet's
jargons
lead to a heuristicdisappointment.
The vacuousnessthatis produced
is unstable,like certainchemicalcompounds:at anymomentan uncertainsignifiedcan stabilize and turnthe graphicsubstanceinto a
message.Writingresistssemanticvoid and,ratherthanremaininga
dead letter,it will lend itselfto any and all conjectures(preferably
sexual or obscene)withoutconfirming
any ofthem.Absolutejargon
exacerbatespolysemy,and with it, our need formeaning,identity,
univocity,
security,
objectivity,
beingor en-soi[being-in-oneself].
Or,
to saythesame thingin a different
way,theablationofmeaningfunctions like zero in numbers,multiplying
its effects.
We feelin it the
vertigoof a limitlesslanguage,which effectively
findsits pictorial
equivalent,especiallyin the cycle of the Hourloupe,and evenmore
in theaptlynamedCabinetlogologique.
spectacularly
Concerningthis,we can affirm
thatthehiatusbetweenwritingand
figuralmotifhas neverbeen so close to beingstitchedup. Wordsthat
followupon one anotherindependent
fromanyintelligiblesignificationcan constituteonlya simulacrumofwriting,
ora textin a figural
representation,
likewrittenpagesdepictedin painting,
forexampleon
thetableofthefigure,
forinstance,pageswhichthepainterhaswanted
to make identifiable
as writing,butat thesame timeindecipherable,
forfearofconverting
thevisibleto thelegible.Wecan understand
why
Dubuffet
wouldhavefelttheneedtoconsignhisjargonstoa scriptthat
was as laboriousas possible,byengraving
themin linoleumforexample, in wood planks,or evenin the bottomsofCamembertboxes,all
materialsappropriate
to renderthesignopaque and createa meaning
as in thedead languagesthat
decipherableonlythroughpaleography,
he had been so passionatelyinterested
in deciphering:
LER DLA CANPANE futtir6parmoia l'aidede mafemme,
pageapres
d6barrass6e
page,surla tabledela sallea manger
apreslesrepas,a
unnombre
dontje nemesouviens
d'exemplaires
pasau juste,deux
sansautre
desoir6es),
centsje crois(celanousoccupabonnombre
machine
quele platdela mainpourlesgravures,
et,pourlespages
detexte,
unrudimentaire
stencil(finegrillede soietenduedansun
avecunepointe.D'ouiune
petitcadre)surlequelj'6crivais
assezbarbare,
etquevenait
impression,
commeonpeutpenser,
le verso
aggraver
l'emploid'unpapiermincequilaissetransparaitre
dutexte.Mais
etbrouille
parla quelquepeulescaracteres
maigres
la
j'aimaisl'effet
quienresultait.
J'aimais
quefuitdifficultueuse
MICHEL
THEVOZ
219
lecturedes motscommel'est le d6chiffrement
des vieilles
inscriptions
en languesmal connueset a demieffac6es
parles
intemp6ries.
C'est dansle mcmeespritque j'avais omis de mettreles
accentsaux e, ce qui cause,je le sais bien,un surcroitde couci a la
lecture,les e accentu6sne se distinguant
pas des muets.Obscurcir
un peu est parfoisefficace.
Encorel'6ditioncomporta-t-elle
une
dizained'exemplaires
favorises,
sp6cialementt6n6breux,
toutesles
pagesadorn6esde maculatures,
imprim6esau rouleau,qui rendaient
le textea peinevisible
[Prospectus,
vol. 1,477-78]
was printedbyme withthehelpofmywife,page
afterpage,on thediningroomtable,quicklyclearedaftermeals; it
was printedin a numberofcopiesthatI do notremember
exactly,
twohundredI think(thisoccupiedus forquitea numberof
evenings),
withoutanyinstrument
buttheflatpartofourhandsfor
theengravings,
and,forthepagesoftext,a rudimentary
stencil(a
in a littleframe)whichI wroteon witha
finesilkgridstretched
as one mightexpect,thatwas rather
spike.Hence an impression,
and was aggravated
barbarous,
bytheuse ofthinpaperthatlet the
otherside ofthepageshowthrough,
themeagercharacters
blurring
ofthetext.ButI likedtheeffect
thatresulted.ButI likedthe
resultanteffectthatthereadingofthewordswas difficult
like the
in languagesthatarelittleknownand
ofold inscriptions
deciphering
half-erased
bybad weather.It was in thesame spiritthatI had
omittedtheaccentson thee, whichcauses,I am well aware,a
further
in reading,sincetheaccentede becomeconfused
difficulty
withthesilentones. To darkenis sometimeseffective.
Furthermore
theeditionincludedtenfavoredcopies,particularly
dark,all the
pagesbeingdecoratedwithstains,printedwitha roller,which
renderedthetextbarelyvisible(Fig.4).
LER DLA CANPANE
Dubuffetthe writerlikes to fightfiercelywith a resistantmaterial,
using a tool that he is unfamiliarwith, once again like the nutcracker.
Typographicalcharacters?The term,forhim, is contradictory:he is
fond of characters that earn their name, resisting normalization, at
once threateningthe authorityof voice, in other words, of breath,of
meaning, of spirit,and reactivatingits corporal premises, its physiological machinery,its work ofvociferation.The phonetism ofjargons
is the polar opposite of phonology,obstinatelyrestoringthe repressed
element ofthe chain ofequations thatoppose phoneme to word,meaning to sound, typographyto tracing,intelligibilityto the graphic instinct, semantic value to the work of writing,etc. All things considered, Dubuffet'scontre-ecritures do not dismiss meaning but instead
~ ~
.-,rv
~
~
~
~
~
-
~~~~~~~
'?4
4
'
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~.
lip
lroe~~~~~~~~~~
4 JeanDubuffet,
Le Courrier.~~~~~~~~~~~iPll
220
..
MICHEL
THEVOZ
221
only frustrateits functioning,
reactivateits genesis througha set
of perturbations,
spatialize sound,temporalizethe letter,visualize
meaning,spiritualizethegraphicevidence;theyinvertthepolesofthe
legibleandthevisible,ungluetheirrelations,andprovokeoscillations
thatcarrythemindto thelimitsoftheGutenberg
galaxy.
-Translated byLauraHarwoodWittman