The Work of Literature PDF
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THE WORK OF LITERATURE D E R E K A T T R I D G E THE WORK OF LITERATURE 1 3 GreatClarendonStreet,Oxford,OXDP, UnitedKingdom OxfordUniversityPressisadepartmentoftheUniversityofOxford. ItfurtherstheUniversity’sobjectiveofexcellenceinresearch,scholarship, andeducationbypublishingworldwide.Oxfordisaregisteredtrademarkof OxfordUniversityPressintheUKandincertainothercountries #DerekAttridge Themoralrightsoftheauthorhavebeenasserted FirstEditionpublishedin Impression: Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,storedin aretrievalsystem,ortransmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans,withoutthe priorpermissioninwritingofOxfordUniversityPress,orasexpresslypermitted bylaw,bylicenceorundertermsagreedwiththeappropriatereprographics rightsorganization.Enquiriesconcerningreproductionoutsidethescopeofthe aboveshouldbesenttotheRightsDepartment,OxfordUniversityPress,atthe addressabove Youmustnotcirculatethisworkinanyotherform andyoumustimposethissameconditiononanyacquirer PublishedintheUnitedStatesofAmericabyOxfordUniversityPress MadisonAvenue,NewYork,NY,UnitedStatesofAmerica BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData Dataavailable LibraryofCongressControlNumber: ISBN –––– Printedandboundby CPIGroup(UK)Ltd,Croydon,CRYY LinkstothirdpartywebsitesareprovidedbyOxfordingoodfaithand forinformationonly.Oxforddisclaimsanyresponsibilityforthematerials containedinanythirdpartywebsitereferencedinthiswork. CONTENTS Acknowledgements viii Introduction Part I . The Singularity of Literature: A Cross-examination Whatis‘literature’? Theliteraryevent Literaryinvention Terminologicalquestions Media,periods,andgenres Othernessandethics Theaesthetictradition Sourcesandparallels Politicsandideology Andtoconclude... Part II . Justice Doingjustice Anexample:Dickinson’s‘AsimperceptiblyasGrief’ Signatureandcounter-signature v CONTENTS . Singularity Unpackingsingularity Singularityandethics Asingularinvention:Donoghue’sRoom . Criticism Criticalpower:thecritic Criticalpower:thepoet Muldoon’sTheLoafandthelimitsofcommentary . Context Thecontextofcreation Thecontextofreading Presentreadingandhistoricalcontext . Culture Inventivenessandculturaldistance ReadingTheYacoubianBuilding Responsiblereadingacrosscultures . Metaphor Performingliterature Metaphorandmetaphoricity Metaphorandthereader . Knowing Whatdoliteraryworksknow? Waysofknowingandthinking Literature’ssecrets . Affect Literaryaffect:McCarthy’sBloodMeridian Affectandform Pleasureinreading vi OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,28/2/2015,SPi CONTENTS . Hospitality Thedoublelawofhospitality Hospitalityasethics Invention,grace,andlife Hospitalityandliterarycriticism References Index vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Althoughthisbookpresentsitselfasaworkbyasingleauthor— theonlyovertconversationisonewithmyself—it’sinrealitythe outcomeofmanyconversations,andwill,Ihope,constituteaspurto further conversations. Among the considerable number who have contributed in this way over many years and in many countries Ican single outonlyafewto thank by name:MichaelBeaney,Peggy Kamuf, John Bowen, Kate Briggs, Jonathan Culler, Ziad Elmarsafy, TomFurniss,IanHacking,NicholasHarrison,MartinHägglund,Julián Heffernan, Peter Lamarque, Ju(cid:1)rate_ Levina, Paul Muldoon, Henry Sta- ten, Asja Szafraniec, and Aukje van Rooden. I’m grateful too to the colleagues who invited me to give talks that led to a large portion of this book, and the audiences whose questions forced me to sharpen mythinking.AsignificantnumberofthequestionsIputtomyselfin the ‘cross-examination’ of Part arose in these interchanges, both privateandpublic. The book benefited enormously from fellowships in two tranquil and supportive environments in South Africa and Italy, the Stellen- bosch Institute for Advanced Study and the Bogliasco Foundation, wherethestaff wereunfailingly efficientand helpful. Amonth atthe Maison Suger of the Fondation Maison des Sciences de l’Homme in Pariswasalsoimmenselyproductive.Asalways,mythreeclosefamily members, Suzanne Hall, Laura Attridge, and Eva Attridge, provided lovingsupport,welcomedistraction,andmuchlaughter. IwishtodedicatethisbooktothememoryofColinGardner(– ), academic, activist, and politician, whose ‘Poetics’ seminar in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, fifty years ago invited me into the never-endingconversationaboutthemeaningandvalueofliterature. viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS * * * Someofthematerialinthisbookhasbeenreprinted,inrevisedform,fromthe followingpublications: ‘CanWeDoJusticetoLiterature?’,PNReview(),–. ‘Signature/Countersignature:Derrida’sResponsetoUlysses’,inDerridaandJoyce: Texts andContexts, ed.AndrewJ.MitchellandSamSlote, SUNY Press,, –. ‘Context,Idioculture,Invention’,copyright#NewLiteraryHistory,TheUniversity ofVirginia.ThisarticlefirstappearedinNEWLITERARYHISTORYVolume ,Issue,Autumn,,–. ‘Afterword:ResponsibleReadingandCulturalDifference’,NewFormationsno. (),ReadingafterEmpire,–. ‘Performing Metaphors: The Singularity of Literary Figuration’, The Idea of the Literary, ed. Nicholas Harrison, Special Issue of Paragraph, . (July ), –. ‘OnKnowingWorksofArt’,inInsideKnowledge:(Un)doingWaysofKnowinginthe Humanities,ed.CarolynBirdsalletal.,CambridgeScholarsPress,,–. ‘OnceMorewithFeeling:Fiction,PerformanceandAffect’,‘AffectsandPerfor- mativity’,ed.AlexHouen,SpecialIssueofTextualPractice,.(),–. Iamgratefulforpermissiontoquotepoemsasfollows: Emily Dickinson, ‘As imperceptibly as Grief’, reprinted by permission of the publishersandtheTrusteesofAmherstCollegefromTHEPOEMSOFEMILY DICKINSON: VARIORUM EDITION, edited by Ralph W. Franklin, Cam- bridge,Mass:The BelknapPressofHarvardUniversityPress,Copyright# by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. Copyright # , ,,bythePresidentandFellowsofHarvardCollege. Paul Muldoon, ‘The Loaf’, in Moy Sand and Gravel (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, ),bykindpermissionofPaulMuldoon. John Wilkinson, ‘Mount Disk’, in Blackbox Manifold Issue (), by kind permissionofJohnWilkinson. ix
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