Of Stigmatology: Punctuation as Experience PDF
Preview Of Stigmatology: Punctuation as Experience
Of Stigmatology verbal arts :: studies in poetics Lazar Fleishman and Haun Saussy, series editors Of Stigmatology Punctuation as Experience Peter Szendy Translated by Jan Plug Fordham University Press New York 2018 Funding for this book was provided in part by the Helen Tartar Memorial Fund. Copyright © 2018 Fordham University Press 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, photocopy, recording, or any other—except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher. Th is book was fi rst published in French as À Coups de points: La Ponctuation comme expérience, by Peter Szendy © Les Éditions de Minuit, 2013. Cet ouvrage, publié dans le cadre d’un programme d’aide à la publication, bénéfi cie de la participation de la Mission Culturelle et Universitaire Française aux Etats-Unis, service de l’Ambassade de France aux EU. Th is work, published as part of a program of aid for publication, received support from the Mission Culturelle et Universitaire Française aux Etats-Unis, a department of the French Embassy in the United States. Olga Ryahovskaya’s illustrations of Chekhov’s “Th e Exclamation Mark,” appearing in Chapters 1, 5, 6, and 7, are reproduced by courtesy of the artist. Fordham University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party Internet websites referred to in this publication and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. Fordham University Press also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books. Visit us online at www.fordhampress.com. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available online at https://catalog.loc.gov. Printed in the United States of America 20 19 18 5 4 3 2 1 First edition . . . in the Atom’s tomb . . . —Emily Dickinson in memoriam Kató Bäck Contents Translator’s Note ix Stigmatology 1 From the Rubrica to the Smiley: A Portable History 10 Th e Point of (No) Monument, or Tristram’s Cut 17 (Un)pointings 23 P.S.: On Restitching (Lacan vs. Derrida) 30 Phrasing, or Th e Holes in Meaning 36 Th e Dotted Lines of Auscultation 44 Monauralisms, or Th e Bubble of Quotation Marks 51 Punctum Saliens, or Th e Pulsating Point 59 Th e Point of the Overcast Stitch 65 Ekphrasis 73 General Chatter 82 Punctuation and Politics, or Th e Dot above the i 94 Final Survey 99 Notes 105 Index 131 Translator’s Note Th e title of Peter Szendy’s book on punctuation, À Coups de points: La Ponctuation comme expérience, plays on the idiomatic phrase coup de po- ing, a strike of the fi st, a punch. Szendy seemingly pulls that punch, substi- tuting poing for the near homophone points. No less striking, À Coups de points delivers other blows—the points, dots, periods, and other punctua- tion marks (point d’exclamation [exclamation point], point d’interrogation [question mark], deux points [colon], point virgule [semicolon]) that punchuate experience with a punctuation that is at once a strike, a blow, a punch. Th e point of Szendy’s title reverberates through the many other points in the book, from the pointillés of auscultation, to Hegel’s punctum saliens, to Lacan’s point de capiton, and beyond. Szendy’s text thus formu- lates a general theory of punctuation in which each of these punctuating points resonates with all the others. If we have chosen to give the book the title Of Stigmatology, it is not only because punctuation is also regis- tered in the subtitle, but in order to give the book the proper name of that general theory. I thank Th omas Szwedska for his meticulous work hunting down ref- erences and quotations for this translation. And I owe the author a debt I cannot adequately register—for his careful reading of the translation, for his many suggestions, and for his good-natured responses to my countless questions. Perhaps the best way to begin to repay that debt is by quoting perhaps my favorite of his many messages to me in the attempt to return his wit and unfailing generosity: :-)))) !!!! Jan Plug
The list of books you might like
