Discourse, figure

574 Pages·2011·7.157 MB·English, French

by  Jean-Francois Lyotard & Antony Hudek & Mary Lydon & John Mowitt

discourse, figure
also by jean-françois lyotard
published by the university of minnesota press
The Differend: Phrases in Dispute
Heidegger and “the jews”
Just Gaming (with Jean-Loup Thébaud)
Political Writings
The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge
The Postmodern Explained
Postmodern Fables
Signed, Malraux
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Jean-François Lyotard
Translated by Antony Hudek and Mary Lydon
Introduction by John Mowitt
university of minnesota press minneapolis · london
cultural critique books
An occasional series of publications in association with the journal
Cultural Critique. www.upress.umn.edu/journals/culturalcritique
The University of Minnesota Press gratefully acknowledges financial
assistance provided by the French Ministry of Culture for the translation
of this book. Ouvrage publié avec le concours du Ministère français chargé
de la culture—Centre national du livre.
“ ‘The Dream-Work Does Not Think’ ” was originally published in
Oxford Literary Review 6, no. 1 (1983): 3–34; reprinted with permission
of Oxford Literary Review. “Fiscourse Digure: The Utopia behind the
Scenes of the Phantasy” was originally published in Theatre Journal 35,
no. 3 (1983): 333–57; copyright by The Johns Hopkins University Press;
reprinted with permission of The Johns Hopkins University Press.
“there is a here and” copyright 1940, 1968, 1991 by the Trustees for the
E. E. Cummings Trust, from E. E. Cummings, Complete Poems: 1904–1962,
ed. George J. Firmage (New York: Liveright Publishing Corporation, 1968);
reprinted by permission of Liveright Publishing Corporation.
Originally published in French as Discours, figure; copyright 1971
by Klincksieck.
Copyright 2011 by the Regents of the University of Minnesota
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Published by the University of Minnesota Press
111 Third Avenue South, Suite 290
Minneapolis, MN 55401-2520
http://www.upress.umn.edu
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Lyotard, Jean-François, 1924–1998.
[Discours, figure. English]
Discourse, figure / Jean-François Lyotard ; translated by Antony Hudek
and Mary Lydon ; introduction by John Mowitt.
p. cm. (Cultural critique books)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8166-4565-7 (hardcover : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-0-8166-4566-4 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. General semantics. 2. Form (Aesthetics). 3. Art Philosophy. I. Title.
B820.L913 2011
194 dc22
2011016410
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
The University of Minnesota is an equal-opportunity educator and employer.
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To whom is a book due? For the book itself is a
modern offspring of Greek tragedy, and, through it,
of expiatory sacrifice. Like these, the book is there-
fore already due to a debt whose insatiable creditor
is unnameable. One cannot entertain the hope of
extinguishing this debt with acknowledgments.
I hereby designate my immediate creditors:
S. Boucheron, L. Bovar, the members of the C.N.R.S.
Commission de Philosophie, P. Durning, C. Martin,
and M. May, without whom this book could not have
been realized; the students in the 1967–68 course and
1968–69 seminar at Nanterre, with whom it was
conceived; M. Dufrenne, who, without fail and with
unconditional generosity, believed in this project.
contents
introduction
The Gold-Bug john mowitt xi
DISCOURSE, FIGURE
The Bias of the Figural 3
signification and designation
Dialectics, Index, Form 23
Recessus and Hyper-Reflection 51
Linguistic Sign? 72
Effect of Thickness in the System 90
Thickness on the Margins of Discourse 103
The No and the Position of the Object 115
Opposition and Difference 129
veduta on a fragment of the “history” of desire 157
the other space
The Line and the Letter 205
“The Dream-Work Does Not Think” 233
Desire’s Complicity with the Figural 268
Desire in Discourse 277
Fiscourse Digure
The Utopia behind the Scenes of the Phantasy 327
Return, Auto-Illustration, Double Reversal 356
appendix
Jean-François Lyotard’s French Translation
of “Die Verneinung” by Sigmund Freud 391
notes to chapters 397
notes on figures and plates 481
bibliography 492
index of names 503
index of concepts and german expressions 509
Plate section follows page 480.