The task of the critic : poetics, philosophy, and religion

306 Pages·2005·8.55 MB·English

by  Sussman

The Task of the Critic
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The Task of the Critic
Poetics, Philosophy, and Religion
Henry Sussman
fordham university press
new york 2005
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Copyright(cid:2)2005FordhamUniversityPress
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,
storedinaretrievalsystem,ortransmittedinanyformorbyany
means—electronic,mechanical,photocopy,recording,orany
other—exceptforbriefquotationsinprintedreviews,withoutthe
priorpermissionofthepublisher.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Sussman,Henry.
Thetaskofthecritic:poetics,philosophy,andreligion/Henry
Sussman.—1sted.
p. cm.
Includesbibiliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN0-8232-2465-1(hardcover)—ISBN0-8232-2466-X(pbk.)
1. Criticism—History—20thcentury. 2. Criticism.
3. Criticism(Philosophy) I. Title.
PN94.S87 2005
801(cid:2).95(cid:2)0904—dc22 20050066433
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
07 06 05 5 4 3 2 1
Firstedition
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ForCarolJacobsandtothememoryofJacquesDerrida
(1930–2004).
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contents
Acknowledgments ix
1. TheTaskoftheCritic:AGameofRegisters 1
2. ProlegomenatoAnyPresentandFutureLanguagePoetry 37
3. Walter,theCritic 56
4. BetweentheRegisters:TheArcadesProject,TheTalmud,and
Glas 101
5. DeterritorializingtheText:FlowTheoryandDeconstruction 129
6. DerridaasCritic:AJoyceanOdyssey 152
7. TheFourthAbrahamicReligion? 176
Afterword:FragmentaryScriptastheEnablingLegislationfor
ModernCriticism 242
Notes 261
Index 287
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acknowledgments
Howevermyrunningcriticalcommentaryultimatelyfares intheexchange
houseofacademicopinion,ithasalreadyachieveddistinctionandnotoriety
in at least this one respect: in the select corps of humanities editors who
have served as my knowing and consensual coconspirators. These include
not only the groundbreaking Helen Tartar, whom I follow with gratitude
and devotion from Stanford to Fordham University Press and who, to my
mind, epitomizes intellectual engagement in the art of producing books. I
have also benefited in many ways from collaborative work with William
Sisler, currently director at Harvard University Press, and with Eric Hal-
pern,directorattheUniversityofPennsylvaniaPress.Ihavehadthegreat
pleasure to produce edited volumes with William Germano of Routledge.
Itisadelight,bothprofessionallyandcreatively,tocoordinateabookseries
atSUNYPresswithJamesPeltz,whotookoverfromasplendidpredeces-
sor,CarolaSautter. Mr.Peltzwasrecentlyappointedto theinterimdirec-
torship at SUNY Press. During his days at the University of Minnesota
Press, the redoubtable Lindsay Waters and I worked together on a serial
publication.
ThepublicationofThe Taskofthe Criticmakesmeparticularlyattentive
to the partnership between author and editor. It is a fundamental working
rapportbetweendifferentstagesandfunctionsofculturalproductioninthe
maintenance of whose integrity all cultural programmers—authors, critics,
journalists, archivists, scholars—have a vital stake. The relation between
authorandeditorisprivilegedinthesensethatanyculturalprogrammeris
privileged to have the good offices, resources, advice, and technical exper-
tise of an editor at his or her disposal. Given how the editor’s job is sand-
wiched between the negotiation of often unforgiving budgetary and
ix
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x Acknowledgments
technical constraints and a service, often involving self-effacement, to the
author’svision,itisfortunateandinmanysensesmiraculousthathumanists
in the United States can contemplate professional collaboration with such
gifted and engaged members of an impossible profession as Helen Tartar,
BillSisler,EricHalpern,LindsayWaters,DougArmato,BillGermano,Bill
Regier, James Peltz, and so many others. We have an interest in making
sureoureditorsaretreatedfairly,whethertheypublishourproductionsor
not, in the same sense in which we have an interest in making sure that
there are outlets for our work, in whichever form publication transpires,
andthatoursubmissionsarereviewedobjectivelyandinviewofappropriate
criteria.
Since a book focusing on the theoretical conditions and pretexts of my
predominantlyliterarycommentaryisnotaneverydayoccurrence,thisisa
time when I think of other long-term commitments that have contributed
materially to my work and its possibility. With great joy and longing, I
recall the three occasions during which a respite from teaching and some
long-standing administrative overcommitments at the Camargo Founda-
tion,inCassis,Francemeanttheresumptionofwritingandthecompletion
ofprojects.MichaelPretinahasbeenagiftedadministratorofthatfocused,
butgraciousinstitution,andwithouthissupport,thewritingwouldn’thave
gone nearly as well. The last time I was there, in spring 2002, I benefited
both from an NEH Humanities grant, my second, and from supplemental
fundingfrommyongoinguniversity,theUniversityatBuffalo.Igratefully
acknowledge my career debt to the NEH and wish it the best, under all
political conditions, in fulfilling its mission: sustaining work conducive to
authenticthinking,situatedatthethresholdsoftheevolvingfieldofknowl-
edge.
I am most grateful to Yale University for the opportunity it affords me
to teach there, to share in the stimulating and uplifting responsibility of
instructing its amazing students, and to maintain coherence in my family
life. Yet the occasion of a theoretical retrospective on the writing I have
done as a critic makes me deliberate more on the effect registered by my
affiliation, for twenty-seven years, with the comprehensive arm of a large
anddiffusestateuniversity.Ihaveindeeddrawnheavilyovertheseyearson
the vitality and freewheeling approach to learning and research character-
izedbytheDepartmentsofComparativeLiterature,English,Classics,and
the Arts at Buffalo. I’ve received remarkable creative work and affirmation
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