Rogues: Two Essays on Reason (Meridian: Crossing Aesthetics)

94 Pages·2005·7.63 MB·English

by  Jacques Derrida

ROGUES
Two Essays on Reason
Translated by Pascale-Anne Brault
and Michael Naas
Jacques Derrida
Stanford
University
Press
Stanford
California
2005
--
StanfordUniversityPress
Contents
Stanford,California
Englishtranslation©2005bytheBoardofTrusteesofthe
LelandStanfordJuniorUniversity.Allrightsreserved.
Thisbookhasbeenpublishedwiththeassistanceofthe
FrenchMinistryofCulture-NationalCenterfor theBook.
"The'World'ofthe EnlightenmenttoCome(Exception,
Calculation, Sovereignty)"waspublishedin Researchin
Phenomenology33 (2003): 9-52.Reprintedherewith
permissionofthepublisher,KoninklijkeBrill
NY; Leiden,theNetherlands.
Nopartofthisbookmaybereproducedortran~mitt.edin:ny
formorbyanymeans,electronicormechamcal, mcludmg
photocopyingandrecording, orina~yinfo.rmationst~r~geor Acknowledgments ix
retrievalsystemwithoutthepnorwnttenpermiSSionof
Preface: veni
StanfordUniversityPress. Xl
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
PART I: THE REASON OF THE STRONGEST
onacid-free,archival-qualitypaper
(ARE THERE ROGUE STATES?)
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
§ The FreeWheel
6
Derrida,Jacques.
[Voyous.English] § 2 License and Freedom: The Roue 19
Rogues: twoessaysonreasonIJacquesDerrida;
§ 3 The Other ofDemocracy, the "ByTurns":
translatedbyPascale-AnneBraultandMichaelNaas.
p. em.- (Meridian) Alternative andAlternation 28
Includesbibliographical references.
§ 4 Masteryand Measure
ISBN0-8047-4950-7(hardcover:alk. paper) 42
ISBN0-8°47-4951-5 (pbk.:alk. paper) § 5 Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, or,
1. Legitimacyofgovernments. 2. Sovereignty. How Not to Speakin Mottos
3. Nationalstate. 4. Ruleoflaw. I. Title. 56
II. Series:Meridian(Stanford, Calif.) § 6 The RogueThat IAm
63
JC497·D472005 § 7 God, What More Do I Have to Say?
32o.I-DC22
2004016072 In What Language to Come? 71
§ 8 The Last ofthe Rogue States: The "Democracy
OriginalPrinting2005
to Come," Opening inTwoTurns 78
Lastfigure belowindicatesyearofthisprinting:
§ 9 (No) More Rogue States
14 13 12 II 10 09 08 07 06 05 95
§10 Sending
TypesetbyTimRobertsin10.9/13AdobeGaramond 108
andLithosDisplay
Rogu~s
. wasoriginallypublishedin Frenchin 2003 underthe
~ssais
title Voyous:Deux surfaraison© 2003.EditionsGalilee.
-
Vll1
PART 11: THE "WORLD" OF THE ENLIGHTENMENT TO COME Acknowledgments
(EXCEPTION, CALCULATION, AND SOVEREIGNTY)
§ I Teleology andArchitectonic:
lI8
The Neutralization ofthe Event
§ 2 To Arrive-At the Ends ofthe State
(andofWar, and ofWorldWar) 141
Notes I6I
We would like to thank the College ofLiberalArts and Sciences and
the University Research Council at DePaul Universityfor their generous
supportofthiswork. Ourthanks also to GinetteMichaud, SteveMichel
man, andthe membersofthewinter2004graduateseminar"Sovereignty
andDemocracy"atDePaulUniversityfor theirmanyhelpfulsuggestions.
Finally, we must express our deepest gratitude-yet once again-to
Jacques Derrida, for his patience, guidance, and friendship. Although he
does notalways make atranslator'sworkeasy-roguethatheis-hedoes
always make it enrichingand enlivening. Once again, he will have given
us this gift.
IX
--
TheWolfandtheLamb Preface: Veni
Thestrongatealwaysbestat provingthey're tight.
Thestrongarealwaysbestatprovingthey'reright.
Witness thecasewe'renowgoingto cite.
Witnessthecasewe'renowgoingtocite.
ALambwasdrinking, serene,
-LaFontaine, TheCompleteFablesofJeandefaFontaine
Atabrookrunningdearall theway.
AravenousWolfhappenedby, onthelookoutfor prey,
Whosesharphungerdrewhim to thescene.
"Whatmakesyouso boldas to muckup mybeverage.,"
This creature snarled in rage.
"Youwillpayforyourtemerity!"
"Sire," repliedtheLamb, "letnotYourMajesty
Nowgive in to unjustire,
What political narrative, in the same tradition, might today illustrate
Butratherdo consider,Sire:
this fabulous morality?l Does this moralityteach us, as is often believed,
I'mdrinking-justlook
that force "trumps" law? Orelse, somethingquite different, that the very
In thebrook
conceptoflaw, that juridical reason itself, includes a priori apossible re
Twentyfeet farther down, ifnot more,
courseto constraintorcoercionand, thus, to acertainviolence?This sec
Andthereforein nowayatall, Ithink,
ondinterpretationwas, for example, Kant's, anditdidnotnecessarilyrep
Can Ibe muddyingwhatyou drink."
resentthepointofviewofthewolf. Nor, for that matter, thatofthelamb.
"You'remuddyingit!" insistedthe cruelcarnivore.
Firstofall, with regard to the coupleforce and law, from where do we
"AndIknowthat, lastyear,youspokeillofme."
get this formidable tradition that long preceded and long followed La
"HowcouldIdo that?WhyI'dnotyetevencometo be,"
Fontaine, along with Bodin, Hobbes, Grotius, Pascal, Rousseau, and so
Saidthe Lamb. "Atmydam's teat Istillnurse."
manyothers, atradition thatruns, say,from Platoto CarlSchmitt?Dowe
"Ifnotyou, thenyourbrother.All theworse."
still belong to this ever-changing yet imperturbable genealogy? Before
"Idon'thaveone." "Thenit'ssomeoneelseinyourclan,
evenspeakingofforce, wouldjusticebe reducible to law [droi~?2
Forto meyou'reallofyouacurse:
Whataboutlaw [Quoidu droit]? Andwhatabolltwho [qui]? Onesays
You, yourdogs,yourshepherdsto aman.
in French qui de droit to designate a subject who has rights [droits]
So I'vebeentold; Ihaveto payyou allback."
over who has theabilityorrightto ... whohas thepowerofdeciding
Withthat, deep into thewood
on Butjust who has the right to give or to take some right, to give
TheWolfdraggedandate his middaysnack.
him- or herselfsome right [droit] or the law [droit], to attribute or to
Sotrialandjudgmentstood.
make thelawin asovereignfashion? Orthe rightto suspendlawin asov
-LaFontaine ereign way? Schmitt defines the sovereign in precisely this way: the one
who has the right to suspend law.
Twolectures hereseem to echo oneanother.3Theyperhapsanswerone
another, justas Echo mighthavefeigned to repeatthe lastsyllableofNar
cissusinordertosaysomethingelseor, really, inordertosign at thatvery
instant in her own name, andso take back the initiative ofansweringor
XI
-
xu rrt:jun:; ¥UH
responding in a responsible way, thus disobeying a sovereign injunction science, in international law, in ethico-juridical reason, in political prac
andoutsmartingthe tyrannyofajealousgoddess. Echo thus lets beheard ticesand rhetoricalstrategies?Whathappenswhenweputtoworkwithin
bywhoeverwants tohearit, bywhoever mightlovehearingit, something them the concept and the name ofsovereignty, especiallywhen this con
other than what she seems to be saying. Although she repeats, without cept and this name, in the power oftheir heritage andoftheirontotheo
simulacrum,whatshehasjustheard, anothersimulacrumslips in to make logical fiction, appear less legitimate thanever?
her response something more than a mere reiteration. She says in an in What is happening to the notions of the "political" and of "war"
augural fashion, she declares her love, and calls for the first time, all the (whetherworldwar, warberween nation-states, civilwar, orevenso-called
while repeatingthe "Come!" ofNarcissus, all thewhile echoingnarcissis partisan war)? What happens to the notion of"terrorism" (whether na
ticwords. She overflowswith love; herlove overflows the calls ofNarcis tional or international) when the old phantom ofsovereignty loses its
sus, whose fall or whose sending she seems simply to reproduce. A dis credibility? Forthis has been happeningfor longer than is often believed,
symmetrical, unequalcorrespondence, unequal, as always, to theequality although it is happening today in anewwayand atadifferent pace.
ofthe one to the other: the origin ofpolitics, the question ofdemocracy. This situation was certainly not created, and was not even really re
IfI seem to be insisting abit too much on these Metamorphoses, it is be vealed, bythatsupposedly"majorevent" dated"SeptemberII, 2001," even
causeeverythinginthisfamous sceneturns aroundacall to come[it venir]. ifthose murders and those suicides (though manyothers as well) media
And because, at the intersection ofrepetition and the unforeseeable, in theatricalizedthepreconditions andsomeofthe ineluctableconsequences
this place where, each time anew, by turns [tour it tour] and each time ofthis situation; and even ifthe structure and possibilityofthe so-called
once and for all, one does not see comingwhat remains to come, the to eventwere constitutedbythis media-theatricalization.
cometurns out to be the most insistent theme ofthis book. "Venit" says Theword voyouhasahistoryin theFrenchlanguage, anditis necessary
Narcissus; "Come!" "Come!" answers Echo. Ofherselfand on her own. to recallit.Thenotionofan Etatvoyoufirst appearsas therecentand am
We all knowwhatcomes next.4 biguous translation ofwhat the American administration has been de
Unless these rwo addresses, here coupled together, leave, as ifaban ~ouncingfor acoupleofdecades now under the name "roguestate," that
doned, an open correspondence. A correspondence to come and left IS, astate that respects neither its obligations as a state before the law of
hanging, open, unsettledand unsettling [en souffrance]. the world community nor the requirements ofinternational law, a state
Deliveredjustacouple ofweeks apart, close in their themes and in the thatflouts thelawandscoffsattheconstitutionalstateorstateoflaw [hat
problems they treat but destined for rwo very different audiences, these dedroit].5
lectures seemto invokeacertain reason to come, as democracy to come--in Th~s la~guage thus retains a certain privilegewhenwe are questioning
the age ofso-calledglobalizationor mondialisation. what IS bemg madeofmondialisation--aquestionable and itselfvery re
The concepts of"reason" (practicalortheoretical, ethicalandjuridical, centtranslation ofglobalization. The experience oftranslation orients us
as well as technical), the concepts of"democracy," of"world" and espe here, a~d preciselythrough the English language, toward what might be
cially of "event" (the arrival or coming of "what comes" and of "who called, m afewwords, the"questionoftheUnitedStates," thequestionof
comes") belong here to awhole skein ofproblems that could hardly be their "rightofthestrongest,"their "lawofthejungle [droitduplusfort]."6
undone in a preface. But without forming a "system," a certain inter Hegemony? Supremacy?A new figure ofEmpire or imperialism? Should
weavingremains an unyieldingnecessityanditsanalysisatask.Thatis, at webesatisfiedwith thisvocabulary, orshouldwe, withno compassto ori
least, the hypothesis beingputtoworkhere. Oneofthe mostvisibleguid ent us, seeksomething else?
ing threads for such an analysis would be the huge, urgent, and so very As in another recentwork, "The UniversityWithout Condition," this
difficult question, the old-new enigma, ofsovereignty, most notably na text ultimately proposes a difficult or fragile distinction.? I consider it
tion-statesovereignty-whetheritbecalleddemocraticor not. scarcely possible yet essential, indispensable even-an ultimate lever.
What is "coming to pass" or "happening" [arrive] today in techno- When itcomes to reason and democracy, when it comes to ademocratic
--
reason, itwouldbenecessaryto distinguish"sovereignty" (whichisalways
Khora: before the "world," before creation, before the gift and being
inprinciple indivisible) from "unconditionality." Bothoftheseescapeab kh6ra that thereisperhaps "before" any"thereis" as esgibt.
solutely, like the absolute itself, all relativism. That is their affinity. But
No politics, no ethics, and no lawcan be, as itwere, deducedfrom this
through certain experiences that will be central to this book, and, more
thought.To besure, nothingcan bedone ffaire] with it.Andsoonewould
generally, through the experience that lets itselfbe affected by what or
havenothingtodowithit. Butshouldwethen concludethatthis thought
who comes [(ce)quivient],bywhathappensorbywho happens by, bythe
leaves no trace on what is to be done-for example in the politics, the
other to come, a certain unconditional renunciation ofsovereignty is re ethics, orthe lawto corne?
quiredapriori. Even before the actofadecision. Onit, perhaps, onwhatherereceives the name khora, acall mightthus
Such a distribution or sharing also presupposes that we think at once
betaken up and take hold: the call for athinkingofthe event to come, of
the unforeseeability ofan event that is necessarily without horizon, the the democracy to come, ofthe reason to come. This call bears everyhope,
singular corning ofthe other, and, as a result, a weakforce. This vulnera
to be sure, although it remains, in itself, without hope. Not hopeless, in
ble force, this force without power, opens up unconditionally to what or despair, butforeign to the teleology, the hopefulness, and the salutofsal
who comesand comes to affect it. The corning ofthis event exceeds the vation. Not foreign to the salutas the greeting or salutation ofthe other,
conditionofmasteryandtheconventionallyacceptedauthorityofwhatis_ notforeign to the adieu ("corne" or "go" in peace), notforeign to justice,
calledthe"performative." It thus also exceeds,withoutcontestingits per
but nonetheless heterogeneous and rebellious, irreducible, to law, to
tinence, the useful distinction between "constative" and "performative." power, and to theeconomyofredemption.
Alongwithsomanyotherrelateddistinctions, beginningwith theoretical
versus practical reason, thescientificversus the technical, andso on.
The common affirmation ofthese two lectures resembles yet again an
actofmessianicfaith-irreligious andwithoutmessianism. Ratherthana
"religion within the limits ofreason alone" (still so Christian in its ulti
mate Kantian foundation), such an affirmation would resound through
another naming ofkhora.8 A certain reinterpretation ofPlato's Timaeus
had named khora (which means localityin general, spacing, interval) an
otherplacewithoutage, another "taking-place," the irreplaceableplaceor
placement ofa "desert in the desert," aspacing from "before" the world,
the cosmos, or the globe, from "before" any chronophenomenology, any
revelation, any"assuch" and any"as if," anyanthropotheologicaldogma
tism orhistoricity.
Butwhatwouldallowthese to takeplace,without, however, providing
any ground or foundation, wouldbe preciselykhora. Khorawould make
or giveplace; it wouldgive rise-without evergivinganything-to what
is called the corningofthe event. Khora receives rather than gives. Plato
infact presentsitas a"receptacle." Evenifitcomes"beforeeverything," it
does not exist for itself. Without belongingto that to which it gives way
or for which itmakes place [faitplace], without beingapart ffairepartie]
ofit, without beingofit, and without being something else or someone
other, giving nothing other, it would give rise or allow to take place.
-
PA RT I
The Reason ofthe Strongest
(Are There Rogue States?)
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
-
Foracertainsending [envoi] thatawaits us, Iimagineaneconomicfor
malizarion, averyellipticalphrase, in bothsenses oftheword ellipsis. For
ellipsisnames not onlylackbutacurvedfigurew.ith more than one focus.
Weare thus already between the "minus one" and the "more than one."
Betweenthe"minus one" and the"morethan one," democracyperhaps
hasanessentialaffinitywith this turn ortrope thatwecall theellipsis.The
ellipticalsendingwouldarrive bye-mail, andwewouldread: "Thedemoc
racyto come: itisnecessarythatitgivethe time thereisnot."
Itwould no doubt be on my part, dare I sayit, a bit voyou, a bit rogu
ish, ifnot rout, wereI not to begin here bydeclaring, yet one more time,
mygratitude.
Yetonemoretime, to besure, butfor me, yetonemoretimeeveranew,
inawaythat is each timewholly new, yet one more time for afirst time,
one more time and once and for all the first time. Not once and for all,
not onesingle time for all the others, but once and for all the first time.
Atmoments like this inCerisy, having to face arepetition that is never
repeated, I feel the urgent and ever more poignant necessityofthinking
what this enigmatic thing called "a time" might mean, as well as, each
time, the "re-turn," the turn [Ie tour], the turret or tower [fa tour], turns
andtowers, these things ofre-turn, this causeofaneternalreturn even in
the mortalityofaday, in the undeniable finitude oftheephemeral.
Perhaps I will do littlemore todaythan turn, and return, around these
turns, around the "byturns" and the "re-turn."
Iwould thus be, you might think, not onlyvoyou, or roguish, but a
voyou (a real rogue) were I not to declare at the outset my endless and
I
-
II
II
bottomless gratitude, a gratitude that can never measure up, I am fully
Nancywouldsay, or, atleast, more modestly,ofthemeaningofthewords
I. aware, towhat is beinggiven to me here. world[monde] and worldwide, of"globalization"or mondiafisationY
But in thinking that the debt has no limits, and that ifthanks thereare
All this should pass through the eye ofa needle; that is the hubrisor
Iwill neverbeableto give them, itwould reallybeon mypart, let mesay
mad wager ofthe metonymy to which I am entrusting the economy of
itagain, abit"roguish" tosilencemyemotion beforeyouall, aswellas be this discourse. This eye, this "eye ofthe needle," would thus be the nar
fore all thosewhowill havewelcomed me in this chateau in the courseof
row, tight passage, the straits, the tiny aperture through which the word
the lastfour decades [decennies], since1959, and already, yes, in the course voyou has recently come to translate, transpose, and transcribe the war
offour decades.9
strategydirected against the "axis ofevil" andso-called international ter
More thanfour decades, therefore, and four decades, without mention
rorism by means ofthe American denunciation ofrogue states, a phrase
ing the more than four others inwhich I have participated ("Genesisand
that has quite recently come to be translated by the Parisian syntagma
Structure" in1959, upon the invitation ofMauricede Gandillac, whom I
"Etatvoyou." That will be, later on, one ofmy references and points of
am so pleased to see here, "Nietzsche," "Ponge," "Lyotard," "Genet," departure.
"Cixous"-there's the sum total).
More than four decades and more than double four decades--that's an_
Hoping not to give in, out ofacerrain modesty, to the emotion ofthe
entire adult life. The wheel [roue] turns, the merry-go-round [fa ronde]
moment, Iwould first like to express myfervent thanks to myhosts here
and the revolution ofanniversaries and birthdays. Beyond gratitude or
atCerisy, to you, dear Edith Heurgon, to Catherine Peyrou, to your col
recognition, and thus beyond cognition and knowledge, Iwould be un
leagues and associates present here withyou, Catherinede Gandillac and
ableto explainthegoodfortune ofthis miracle, andespeciallyto translate
Philippe Kister, and to all those who are no longer here but still come
it here for our English-speaking friends, who have no word to mark the backtowelcome us in spirit.
difference between decennieand decade: theysay "decade" for decennieas
Ialsowantto recognizethosewho,whetherfrom nearbyorafar,directly
well as for decade. For me at Cerisy that would thus amount to ''four
orindirectly, havefor solonginspiredwhatwe mightriskcallingthepoli
decadesandmorethanfour decades." In Frenchtheword decadefor decen
tics orethics ofthis unique counterinstiturion. Forso long, Isay, because
nieis a bad turn, abad turn ofphrase, one that some ofourdictionaries
I wewillbecelebratinginafewweekseverythingthatCerisythroughoutits
denounceasan"anglicism" to beavoided.1oI imaginethatsomeacross the
halfcenturyofexistence will have meant for a century [sieele] ofintellec
ChannelortheAtlanticstillhesitate tosign up for adecadeatCerisy, fear
I tuallife,eachletterofthewordS.I.E.C.L.E. becomingfrom nowon, aswe
ingthattheywill have to stayhere, tospeakhere, and, especially, to listen havelearned, part ofthe acronym for an extraordinaryadventure: Socia
III here to some roguewho willgo on nonstop for ten years. Thatis because bifittsinteflectuefles:Echanges, Cooperations, Lieux, ExtensionsY
such a distinction is Greek to them and they are losing their Greek and
III Myheartfelt thanks also go to the participants, organizers, and initia
Latin: decade, letthembeassured, meantintheGreekcalendarsandright torsofthesefour decades, beginningwithMarie-LouiseMallet.AfterJean
up until the dayofthe French Revolution, onlyten days, not ten years.
LucNancyand Philippe Lacoue-Labarthein1980, Marie-Louise-in her
Nor, asyou might be fearing today, ten hours.
turn-will have doneso much for us, foryetathird time. With the keen
As for the itineraryoftheword voyou, which I justventuredin its risky
ingenuitywehaveallcometoknow, shewillhave usedyetonemore time
I.I,1
translation between English and French, it touches on some ofthe im
her art, her knowledge, and her tact, as we can all attest, to soften the
II portantpoliticalissuestowhichIwouldliketo devotethe endofthisses signs ofauthority, to erase them in such asovereign fashion thatnone of
sion. From "rogue state" to "Etatvoyou" it is a question ofnothing less
themshow, to renderthem through an impeccablevirtuosityallofasud
than the reason ofthe strongest, a question ofright and oflaw, ofthe
den invisible. Without anyorders ever being given, everythingis ordered
force oflaw, in short, oforder, world order, worldwide order, and its fu
bythe magicand magisterial wand ofa great conductorwho seems con
ture, ofthe meaningordirectionoftheworld [sensdu monde],asJean-Luc
tentto accompany, orindeedto follow, the interpretation orarrangement
thatshewillhave, intruth, asweallwellknow, secretlyandfor solongor This oath [serment] in fact risks lookinglike asnake [serpent]. At once
chestrated. threat and promise, a threat and achance not to be missed, for it is not
To all ofyou here I mustsaythat anywords ofwelcome or hospitality clearthat thesnakeissimply, as acertain readingofGenesis would try to
wouldbetoo modestto namean offeringthatgives me morethan Icould make us believe, afigure ofthe forces ofevil, alongtheaxisofevil. Only
13
everhave. Foryou give me here much more than I can have or make my a certain poetics can inflect differently a dominant interpretation
own. Ireceive more than I can oroughtto receive. whetherofthe Bibleorofanyother canonical text.
Howisthis possible? Howcanoneaccept-tosaynothingofgiveback, In the course of an extraordinary scene of hospitality in D. H.
know, acknowledge-somethingofwhich one is not even capable? How Lawrence's poem "Snake" thefigure ofthesnake is reinterpretedprecisely
can one accept something one will never be able to receive, something along these lines. Deep within the voice ofthe poet, it is no doubt a
that must thus remain unacceptable, unreceivable? woman who says "I" in order to call for its return: "And I wished he
This thought ofthe excessive gift, ofthe impossible thanks, or ofthe would come back, my snake."This return would resemble the returning
aneconomic transaction, is not so foreign, in the end, to the set ofques or revenanceofthe onewho had come as apeaceful guest ("he had come
tions thatbrings us togetherfor this decade. Yetyoushouldknowthatthis like a guest in quiet")-and it is in fact not only oflife but ofpeace or
giftgoes straight to my heart. Itgoes to the heart ofwhat I hold dear, to~ hospitalitythat I too would liketo speak.14This returnwouldalso be the
theheartofwhatmakes meholdon, therewheretheworkofthoughtand returningor revenanceofaguestofpeacewhowill havebeenakingwith
ofwriting still holds fast within me, still has aholdon me, still holds me outacrown, a king in exile ("Like aking in exile, uncrowned in the un
to life or keeps me alive, and it is why I holdso fast to speakingfrom the derworld ... ") and, especially, a lord oflife, an ultimate sovereigntyof
heart, from the bottom ofmyheart. life, whose chance will have been missed (''And so, I missed my chance
Iinsisthereon"holdsme to life[vie] orkeeps me alive' becausetheold withone ofthe lords / Oflife. /And Ihave somethingto expiate").15
word vieperhaps remains the enigma ofthe political around which we It is indeed on the side ofchance, that is, the side ofthe incalculable
endlesslyturn. What holds me here in life holds first ofall in friendship. perhaps, and towardthe incalculabilityofanotherthoughtoflife, ofwhat
By the grace of a friendship of thought, of a friendship itself to be islivinginlife, thatIwouldliketoventurehereundertheoldandyetstill
thought. In fidelity. And this fidelity, always trembling, risky, would be completelynewand perhaps unthought name democracy.
'Ii faithful not onlytowhatis calledthe past but, perhaps, ifsuch athing is
I'
I' possible, to what remains to come and has as yet neitherdate nor figure.
Iwouldliketo believethis, and I will even go so far as to dream that fi
I delity,contrarytowhatweoftentendtobelieve,isfirstofallafidelityto ...
to corne. Fidelity to come, to the to-come, to the future. Is this possible?
Let me thusventure here, andsign as asign ofgratitude, asortofoath
I
in the form ofan obscure aphorism-still unreadable because yet again
untranslatable, in thesilentdisplacementofitssyntaxand itsaccents.The
a
oathwould go like this: oui, ily ade l'amitie penser; yes, there isfriend
ship to (be) thought.
Ijustlikenedthis phraseto an oath. Ifyoutryto follow, within this un
translatable French, the regular displacement ofthe accents on this body
in motion, ontheanimatedoranimal bodyofthis phrase ("yes, therei.f
friendship to [be] thought"; "yes, there isfriendship-to bethought'; "yes,
there is-friendship to thoughl'), youwill perhaps see the meaning move
along the phraselikethe rings ofasnake.
•