'Pataphysics: The Poetics of an Imaginary Science (Avant-Garde & Modernism Studies) [1 ed.] 0810118777, 9780810118775

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.. 1I ,i 11.11

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loll

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1"~I"dl

11.,,,, I 1I"'II,dol ,- "ill OIl/Oil:

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ell risli

"" Froula

'Pataphysics

Fran~oise Lionnet

The Poetics of an

Robert von Hallberg

Imaginary Science CHRISTIAN

~~~.~~

Norrhwcstern

1111/10

H'.

BO&-

Contents

N(!llhwntt"lIlJlljVl'I~lly 1':V,1I11-IOII,

Acknowledgments,

1'11'\\

11I;lIoi~ (,O,IOX

vii

'11Iil

Prologue, 3 Copyright

Published

cD 2002 2002.

hy

Nllldl\vnH~111

LJn;vcr~;ly Press.

Science and Poetry: The Differend of the Ur in 'Pataphysics,

7

All ribhL~ rCM.:rvcd.

Millennial 'Pataphysics: The Poetics of an Imaginary Primed in rhe United Sr:nes of AIJ'll;rica

Italian Futurism: A 'Pataphysics

Science, 27

of Machinic Exception,

47

10987654321

French Oulipianism: ISBN 0-8101-1876-9

(cloth)

ISBN 0-8101-1877-7

(paper)

Canadian

"Pataphysics: A 'Pataphysics of Mnemonic

Epilogue, 99 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication

Data

Notes,

10)

BDk, Christian, 1966-

I)ibliography, II9

'Pataphysics : the poetics of an imaginary scienc~ / Christian B6k. p.em. Includes

bibliographical

references.

ISBN

0-8101-1876-9 (cloth: alk. paper)-

ISBN

0-8101-1877-7 (paper: alk. paper)

I.

Philosophy in literature.

PN49.B62

2. Literature and science.

1. Tide.

2001

809'·93384-dc2!

2001001964

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum reguirements of the American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials,

ANSI

Z39.48-1984.

A 'Pataphysics of Marhetic Exception,

64

Exception,

81

Acknowledgments

This book would nOt have been possible without the gracious support of many academic mentOrs, including Charles Bernstein, Claudio Duran, Ray ""enwood, Barbara Godard, Kim Maltman, Marjorie Perloff, and Robert Wallace. I also wish to thank friends and family for their encouragement over the years during the writing of this text: George Book, Sandra Book, Slephen Cain, Natalee Caple, Craig Dworkin, Kenneth Goldsmith, Lori 1Cllsesupon

and the Canadian

theories of textual poetics rather

111\1 II\, ll~i·11(,('Iying I1pOll Ihe kind of Nietzschean

1111\\'111111

III

\

II,. \ IllIi

I Itt'

IItIHHH'll/('

I), It lilt', I )1'llId~l, ~('II-= ,

-=

~

-;

c: ...r:.

~

.. >

< < "-

schizoid on behalf of revolt. Whar Swift berares in the science of Boyle and

riven with holes, irs nerwork able to rest upon the superficies of reality but

Hooke (eclecticism), Jarry admires in the science of Boys and Kelvin. Whar

unable to hold its substance.

Carroll debates on the surface with Humpty

Dumpty

extends to the extreme with Bosse-de-Nage.

WhaLfJic~ulliver

to become (,>;chizonoiac),.£~stroll Faustroll is a 'pataphysical

(amphilogism),

fear

who has gone beyond good and

of Zara-

evil to invoke the reverie of a schizoid superman - a parodic version thustra, the kind of exceptional

personality

film or a crystal skin-whatever

constitutes

a superficial experience, whose

solipsism requires a mathesis singufaris in order ro accommodate

already is.

philosopher

Faustroll regards this reality as the surface tension of either an elastic

Jarry

that Sengle might describe as

one of the "superior intelligences. who arc few," but who are often mistaken

ficity of each perspective, ence, according

Regular science must standardize

to the substantive

metaphysics

that each viewpoint can be replicated and substituted

for every other view-

point. Units of scale function like rates of value in a monetary standard so that to measure is to judge the whole by one piece-to

study the body and the scientist is roo learned ... ro study rhe spirir" (Jarry

exception the basis for all other conceprions.

[1897] 1989,106). The Ubermensch defies all such Manicheanism,

however, expresses amazement

soul of a supernal "Faust" with the body of an infernal "Troll," ing the telic myths of Darwinian deiry into an apostate "tetragon"

(Jarry [1911] 1965, 254)-the

phclian image of an hermaphroditic or humanity-"man

3

parody-

evolution by collating beast, human, and

make one case of

The science of 'pataphysics,

at the very arbitrariness

of such measure-

ment, arguing that rhe generaliry of such standards must always efface the speciality of any anomalies. Fausrroll defies this demand for uniform metrics by acting out a spec-

Mephisto-

satyr. for whom God is JUStan artifice

sllch experi-

of a capital economy, so

for the infirm or the insane since "the bourgeois is not learned enough to fusing the

the speci-

tacle of hyperbolic exactitude,

forcing each unique standard to an extreme

beyond all srandards (hence his absurd use of decimal exponents and q uan-

to an improper degree" ([1911] 1965,,83).'

tum diameters as units of scale), He suggests that, if science must pretend

FauSlroIl is quite literally a literary creation, his body becoming a book,I p;lpyrns cadaver that can unscroll to divulge the secrets of a poetic vision,

that its measure is no caprice, then the act of defining a unit of nondensity

hi., eyes, like ", wo capsules of ordinary writing-ink"

according to a quantity of vacuum seems far less arbitrary

111.~1,I:'

(Jarry [19U] 1965, 183).

1:IITymakes a spectacle of himself. adopting the mannerisms

el""·,,un,

Ubu), so also does the Ubermensch embody 'pata-

(parlicularly

pllysi",." Itlt;CIItC-r·' (J:JrI} 1I~I I 1 1965,228). Not simply ''A juxtaposed La /I," but "/I = /I," the syzygy or such" guffaw is paradoxically both different and equivalent: "Ip]ronouoced slowly, it is the idea of duality," but "[p]ronounced quickly ... it is the idea of unity" (228). Bosse-de-Nage responds to the absurdity of ambiguiry, dramarizing the syzygia of physics in a universe of undecidable uncertainty.11 Quantum theories of symmetricalityand

reversibility almost seem to suggest that sllch

a reaJity tests our mundane wits with its quantum

puns, Each photon mighl

be a point or a field, Each electron traveling forward through

rime might

also be a positron traveling backward through time, Does nor Fausrrol1 propose a theory of gravity in which "the fall of a body towards same as "the ascension of a vacuum towards;l periphery"

:l

Cellll:r" is tilt'

(J:lrry 11\-)111 l\)(l~,

193)? Does nOt Senglc slIggcst' rh;1I :111 inlillill'l~1 "1110011,,~III{lll' i.. ill(li .. tinguislubk

from

;\11

such a principle of deviance also pro;~es

a prete~t f.QL.Rostmodern

philosophy ~bout.tl;e t~eme.~~isp~i~~p'~!~,g,) dJG~ournem~n Derrida or the declination in Serres)-vagaries that diverge from whar directs them, escaping the evenrs of the system that controls them, The clinamen no fate, Not unlike the spiral of Ubu or the vortex of Pound, such a swerve

1)111111111 WI 11('" I h.tI "'lplaraphysicallaughter

111"p.L~l'.

classical context (the clinamen in Lucretius or even the parenklisis in Epicu~llt

~lIldwaveform). For Daumal, the absurdity of such

1111'"111,, IItHdl~1l1,!lId :dlirrns syzygy. like a joyful wisdom,lO

kl

around every other thing in a system dut values the fate of con-

trivance, it serves the will to digress, Jarry may borrow this notion from a

is simply the unimpeded part of a flow which ensures that such a flow has

.1114.1lhcil (.:tjuarioll

HI tltjjrllllJlU"

Detouring

for the

II,LUliill.,llip hi..:lwcen yin and yang now offers all Asian metaphor IUIII !lVltlt'llll'"

Cfinamen is the third declension of exception: the decline of the swerve,

syzygia repeats an Eastern intuition, insofar

:ISI he equation of this and not-this resembles what Hindus call AdvaitaI he neg:lted duality, in which "To know X = to know (Everything - X)" (1'9701 1995, 31). While "[g]~ this idea into )'our head will hell' you ger ,I lin" looting in [']Pataphysi~~ ..(31» Sl!ch anA,-" has often evoked only till' lilY" ical v-;;rgarismof the~n which the likes of Capra and

between reality and illusion.

infinilcly \(111/',11 \III

I.H I'

(1,1I1\' IIHIU!IIJI-:'J, I/I'd~

IIII'

is the atomic glitch of a microcosmic

incertitude-the

symbol for a vital

poencs. gone awry. Lucretius writes that, "while the first bodies are being carried down-

wards by rheir own weight in a straight line through the void ... , they swerve a little from rheir course" ([50 B.~ '2Zb-lll), for...wrbollt this .!!!,'certain swerve in space and tiITIC"(111certqtempore forme incertisque locis; "all would fall downwards like raindrops through the profound void, no collision would take place. .: thus nature would never have produced anything" (lf3), The dinamen involves a Brownian kinetics, whose decline defies inertia since such a swerve must imply a change in vec(Qr without a change in force, The clinamen represents the minimal obliquity within a laminar trajectory. TIse curve is a tang~l!t to a d~scellt, but ~E:g~nt

that

dc:.fiesall calculus since rhe curve is irself a tangent composed of nothing but tangenfs ad infinitum - the volute rhythm of a fractal contour. Lucretius resorts to such a swerve in order to posit a choice between what Sl:tTCSregards as two genres of physics: "Venus, that is to say. nature; or

M:lrs, that is ro say, nature" (Serres [1977] 19820, 98). Venus denotes the iciSiriof a nomad paralogy, the voluptas of a fluid dynamics (fold and How), whercas Mars denotes the necrotism of a royal paradigm. the vo/un-

C·IOI

Itll

nf':\ solid mechanics (rank and file),!2 Science has usua.lly adopted the

1.1tll'l

physics,1 \ ill,\41Elr:IS it I11t11'dcr.s(Q dissect, declaring

II('h.dI (d WII,lIl'VI'1i.. 1('I'{'.ll.dIk :\lId I hcrdorc til .II

,I .\'111111·

Un

I',

....

It.-Ii

predictable-

marciaJ law on the foederi

foti

1111111"'\"I )I'llid,1 iU'lllirs, howcver, rhat the clinamen

rIll', III 111.1lit 11\ d+"illil\'

IIIH I

,III ,.11',11111)' 1'1"1.1~y:"I r Ihe: dillffllJen of

the elementary

principle ... would be the pleasure principle"

(1984, 8)-a

ence and become anomalous.

"[he study of Poetic InRuence is necessarily a

libidinal rebellion: artfulness disrupting lawfulness. Serres argues rhat, for such modern physics, "[t]he c1inamen is a principal

branch of 'Pataphysics"

clement of homeorrhesis,"

dent norms no longer inhibit subsequent

nor of homeostasis

([1977] 1982a, 119)· AtOmic

events do not be so much as become: their equilibriurn

does not repeat so

but an interference,

(1973, 42). Influence is no longer an interreference

in which divertissement

replaces ressenrimenr,

always from a 'paraphysieaJ sense of rhe arbitrary" - the "equal haphazard-

much as change, Even though "the time of the clinamen is not necessarily

ness" of cause and effect: "'[pJataphysics

simultaneous

world of poets all irregularicies are indeed 'regular exceptions';

with leaving the dead

to

bury the dead" (99), such a swerve

Prece-

forms since "the clirlmnen stems proves to be truly accurate; in the the recur-

docs provide a nomad cognate to the royal concept of entropy, be it in a

rence of vision is itself a law governing exceptions" (42), What repeats is not

flow of hear (as defined by Boltzmann)

a rule of repetition and imitation but a game of competition

or in a flow of data (as defined by

Sh:lIl1lon), Just as Lucretius draws an analogy between atoms and words.

in which the cfinamen is the smallest possible aberration

nrgllillg lhat both substance and utterance result from a random complex of

greatest possible difference.

l.-ollIbi Il:tt ions and permutations

thcrmionics

h,'\wt'('11

(175), so also does Serres draw an analogy

and cybernetics,

arguing that both sciences theorize

The Imaginary

11\(' (lillllJIII'II as c.:i the!' decay or noise, rhat, for Lucretius,

('xpbins

,'Will'''

any compound,

be it chemical or

,*yll.1i )I~ , Iv~1111"" 1'1'0111 an aleatory act that in turn mistakes itself ex post facto

"',,,11 "I "

," ,lit'

1IIIItll'\ Wit

I

111111 ill

hIlt\!

l1ul1darory law: for example, "[t]he alphabetical

I:.w

:llld

I

II

I)

~p;1\ ~', ,1.. l.lIlg11:lge;hut' as soon as a text or speech appears, the laws of

Ih,

L"vlld

i

flllllllJlI'N

..{'IV,,'''!O

Y' h'\ III til ill'l

It

I h Illd,l 1111[111('\, "Ill II (II}~'I, 411

ion, and conjugation

1(1),

It ..

1

interject turbulence

how-

'Pataphysics

Solution

misreads metaphysics

deflect it, transposing

in order to disrupt it, confuse it. or

the relationship

between

a royal paradigm

and a

nomad paralogy until such a philosophy of exceptions goes even so far as to misread itself. Subsequent 'pataphysicians Oulipians,

(the Iralian Futurists, the French

and rhe Canadian Jarryites) reinterpret

[ioners, misreading normalities,

their antecedent

them in order to avoid the normalization

Each predecessor is (mis)interpreted

practi-

of such ab-

as a problem requiring a

into the reprise of such

solution, As Bloom observes, "[t]his sense is not reductive, for it is the con-

di~rupl Ihe/low of influence from cause to effect, As

tinuum, the stationing context, that is reseen, and shaped into the visionary;

wnv(; evokes the very "atomystique of the letter"

it is brought up to the intensity of the crucial objects, which then 'fade' into

,I ..

PllIIIILIIIIt.:.IUoi'll"J.IHLlm pulsion and lingual turmoiL both

wi IIIII ,III.' 1,1111 ilinl by poel ry. if not unified by science, MLC:dll.:ry dr:ttn:1I izes such an fltomystique

:1

also appear ([1977) 1982a,

I.lwlllllll' ....4,,ILLl'xisl without such repetition of compounds;

I I NIl

I VI I,

prow-

he letters are scattered at random, always there as

p,1II II 11111111111.1111111, \ Olllhil1:11

and agitation.

that can make the

by deploying the clinamen as

semantic strategy in his essay on the 'l2.ataphysics of Zar~hustra,

Just as

it" (1973, 42). In essence, each solution is itself the catalyst for a phantasm rhat in turn becomes a problem. 'Pataphysics may be a science of imaginary solutions, but this imaginariness does nOt entail its insignificance

because, as McCaffery argues, "[tJhar

Lucretius argues that only the clinamen of a minimal errancy divides the

I he

fire (ignes) from the firs (ligna), so also does McCaffery

(or the pursuit in itself will evince the problematic nature of both 'problem'

transpose letters,

inserting them or replacing them, doing so in order to divert the flow of his

problem is a pseudo-problem

:ond 'solution'

in no way nullifies the pursuit of a solurion

(1986, 189). Oeleuze argues that a problem does not simply

text with each typo, The increasing frequency of such miscreance eventu-

Inean the failure of a theorem, whose ineptitude

ally results in a display of cacophasia so that, for example, the word "clina-

i~hIhrol.lgh cumulative knowledge; instead, "[s]olutions are engendered

. IIt become "c h·mamen ""or C1l1namen . " (1997. 16) . F~or J any, rIlL' men " mig

plccisdy the same time thar rhe problem determines

wordplay of such deviance often takes the form of the portmanteau

Ill), QlleSlicJlIS a.IW~lyS define in advance the regime of their answers, The

cornegidottiffe or palcontentes) -words two meanings so much as complicate

(e.g.,

that do not abbreviate or congn.':h:IIC their sequencing

rhrollgh :111:Ill 01

misprision that parodies their linguisric pn.:ccdl·IlIS. Bloom argues t h:\I , \)(:y reconciles

om pl("l'>tlll' 41r ll'I\:hr:.J

swerve away from the influence

so also does

longer provide a Standard fot the paradigm of the real; however, Oulipo ar-

(,XP(,IIIII('II1.ll inl1 ,'>l'l'II, /()r c,;X:llllplc, in the abstract (Wilt'H' ..nhl'l'

Oulipianism

of Symbolism,

concept of blind chance mistakelllyJ)lLttresses

that if the double cuc-

are,

away from the influence

realists and the Oulipians

logic is used to prove that logic itself cannot

(OllVinccd

swerves

writing; however, the Oulipians

1'1 IIIL ..\5111"5 or Unreason deny that they undervalue

II(' 111',lllill,\ly dc(hu.:cd ... ,the double currency [must] cease

~write;s

from their affectivity"

might invent new charts (for the sake of a future dteam). Just

as Futurism

all fout aesthetics oppose the metaphysics

between syllo-

t

\' I dllllHI

a quorum

of such a sur-

II .111I11111111111

is to furnish

ins iration

dreams (fot the sake of a futute study), Oulipo provides a workshop where

its opposite,

Hili

literature

can dismiss

While the buteau provides a facility where the public might tecord its

in order to expedite what is

")70, 'R7)2 The "double cunency"

"jllll('

IlllIVI')

what is specious

\11\ .111 ....1il)' tlll·nligh

sinl1 d:Kr:ll prc-

:1

cession. I;,Auence becomes an act ~ "plagiarism by anticiJ2,i!lli>u" (['973J

an updated

1986, 31) in which, by someswerve, a past style 'l1etely rel'licates wlcat a ruture style ha;-;;Jreacly originated.·What Lionnais calls "an~ulipism" (the

achieve marvelous

analysis of a past constraint)

doubting

may inspire what Lionnais calls "synrhoulip-

ism!) (the sxnthe.§is2f ~ fU!ll!C potential) - but (his subsequent revises its precedent con~;int

lUi'll

porenriai in

through a kind of'PJraphysical

retro-

calculus,

in which

syntheses"

"[t]he

mathematical

signs + - x serve to

([1914] 1.991, III). When

Marineni

inugines

poetry of lyrical numbers, he argues that, "[wJith the mathematical suspension

suddenly

of words-in-freedom,"

thereby

spreads

a

x, the

itself over the emire agglomeration

eliminating

any qucstion

which localizes

its

doubt upon only one point of awareness (IIO); instead, every potentiality

vtrsion. Such a reversal is not surreal in its nostalgia so much as oneiric in its

is considered

pl'Ogllosis. As Lionnais suggests, "[iJr is possible to compose texts that have

suggest that, "by (addressing themselves phonically and optically to the nu-

. , , ,'lIIITt,;:disr ...

merical sensibility)"

qualities

without having qualities of potential"

(Lescure

chiasm

1"1111 IQH6, 38).'

in its simultaneity,

between

Roubaud

.11'11\1111',1111 H'dll\ till ,Id ,Ihsllrdllm ~lIflll ·111 illllldll'll

IIluoll IHt ~llIdl!

Oulipo attempts

to propose a

to the rational axiology of mathematics.

lUll! ttl t 11d11'0) 11,lv{' ILlced the spirals

and Arnaud

of their own cognitive

gidouille,

hypothesis:

just as

(1950, 21), so also does

(1955, 48), What

II' ilil 1111111;IJiI('lll,lIiu. uf' umbrellas

Some

(who are also mem-

of an impossible

till' ,1('IUdYI1:llnics of equations

d 1I1111.111!!1tll 1I1l' '/11I(1/11('11 has in turn influenced

the College the studies

I lid II III 111 .. 11 (I'IH til ttl.llly IIll lit-

that societies through

(1985, [2]), Such a mnemonic

more than a geographic

Wurstwagen, K(;

"the theory

their .. \' biological

of their languages" as nothing

itself'

cipher for an imaginary landscape (believing (he "[r(le"

to be a myth). Whar Truhlar calls "psychopaleontology" mantic

memory

.. , unconsciollsly rcg:lrd ....t lIllll

I ('

sil1l1lbcl'HIl1.

ililltd!',l"\ ill 'p.ll.l[lll)/\il.tI

Wursrwagen

.. of telluric rhyme.

argues that the absence

peuoglyphic

of writing

"the strict injullcture

upon the stone-(har-is-already

10

. ::tnd cIH.:rgil.

civilization,

written"

on this ancien! that no

(1980-81,14-9).

this bizarre culture

does nor w,.i/('

tion of an aboriginal iUiteracyonlyas

a kind of occluded

ating from the writing

physics

Jarryites

vagr::lIlcY-:l

in the granite. suggest

past in effect provides;\

1:11)00:

at first", [he culture

;1

IHI rcidcr ..... hip-blll,

I'E~V I...n:u.V

W,ililll;"

(II)XO

XI,I1.).

IH'\\ 01

It,llldtill.lId

wiLli

,lldl.llillll',III,lhH

III III

P,)t'(

I

..~lldl,1 1.1111,' ..11\ 111,111,1111111 f\\",11 1111111111

ils OWII ,lh,\lllll \.('1'011111011111'dlliH

IlWIl

IHlld ..

IlWIl

1',11

II'\I,I\~. Willi II III 1II111

or

~ugge,'I~, "(willell

V"I

Ilwn II

\1.1111\

;,jltllllr/I{('

I

1111111< I'" Ip·,I.I,

.11 ..

,III

,I(

II

111,.1

I! ( :,111." 1.1 111l'I It III I

I

kit pi ,.tIl 1111111. , ,til

1111" (! ""/111

1'f1'tlI1111',iIIJ',I,lldlillit"lill'dlfll,"11111l

Id

,II 1'.11'1)'.11111.1 "111111'oil"

.Ii\''1II!("lf,III1I',

1111',1',

11H'

:lI1d WIi11('1111111 \Ide

Idil'''; 111l'n:ol i,

IIlil,,111cdl tile ,I!

1

It

rahuo (hi:-. regioll,tI III~rtllllllll',\' I!'IH'III'·~ l1;lIiol1:11n:llT:Hive. 'I·hl' V,I(II~llllll In,q' 11.1\'1

IIH' 1,,111.111 .... ~'nlll 11., Idl,dllll""

vi

II',. 11111

~(Ill1li\lll\ ~lld(' tlllil 11\\'11111'111III

ll.'n:x2l11l~lgillcd

Lldi:1I1"]>:lI,lplly,\i( \

,11111t',II,lIll('

,I "'V,I'

only re~lds illiteI' hOllk ... ""llIlt' II"

as McC:tflt:ry

111~

Ilnlllll(",

V:I\..II\ll illl ~nit I! 1111" \\' 1111 I I

and [hen Iatcr, the culLure wrilL's il\

hn.olllo

lit 11I.t!

11'111'1"(I, \)

s:lIiriL·:tI ,tllq',III\' II" 1\11/',111t

that has also practiced

go lInrcJd, ThL: "p:lt:lphysical Ihe melaphysical dream ofa

i

111111

Ii I

so much a:':1 Wlilllll·. 01,111"( IIII

that such

itself, insofar as its imaginary

culture

"lollOgLlpllli

All wrilillg

inm the form of their own nonexistence lire-a

"/,011

Ill,)!, Ill(' t'vI.III

the wri!illµ' ill I Ill' I',I.IIIIH' wlldl til

mimicking

an absence of writing

Canadian

/)/(,wl.f!,1"

(>11"'1

from a reading otlt lire (I iLl! i:. ,q',1.lpilH )

settlement

that acts as a palimpsest, (J53)-not

''''y

(that is dyslexic). All writing (;m(;rgL'~ (min Illi,

a writing culture

oht'li,k

~h:dl wrill'

Illall

Unlike

the rock, but reads messagesinto the rock. The archaeol()gisl

1.11111". ''1w. ,H~11.1l'1~11I1'.\' l'~1 1111',

aesthetic,

stems from a stone taboo,

( ',11

the procrc:1l iv(,: ((H"le

paradignl

only

knowledge. '1'1",

knowledge is bastardized

clinamen" (t45).

Il1lwrinen;

itself. Whereas a thematic pedagogue

as a 'pataphysical

the ziggurat: "a dominant

American

"Pataphysics suggests that rational geomancy deploys the ex-

of the clinamen in order

ception

view of

(TRG 1992, 153).

as any system of alignment"

uses 'pataphysics

rate reason from unreason, a terrain

geo-

apply this model of reading not only to the land (the as is of

the Dillie) bu[ also to a text (the as if of the semic): "the geomantic

imply that all such standardized

clinamen in the form of his argument parallels the clinamen in the f'orlll III a

and "[b]y energy pattern we mean that configuration

ceive in literature," Geomancy

that can oppose

"[w]e mean by Rational Geomancy

of means..

discharges ...

geomancy

history has occulH..:d i, ..

history. The very "mythob:ISI:lld

izarion" (144) that he vilifies in others, he practices himself-but

ways" (1994, 68). "Pata-

physics swerves away from the royal science of geology wward the nomad science

for the occulting of Canadian

"i'l

iii,

I

I'))

11,111

1.1'01\\1111111111

1',

-~.r

.;:..

=-..:....=:-:: ..j

c _

=

, ,

< = :::

=

.

.,..Ii~q!, I~ 5,~'/

moreover, that even this historical

lid

,I

of exception must itself undergo its own form of revision, disrupt in!!.lilt·

Science

"Pataphysics

comprises a manifold

} ')

those whonl we

at the infinite disposal of an insatiable curiosity, in which every imagined

p

(

('994,66),

sous rtlture, since the map for the College of 'Pataphysics

nOt include slich a country in its sphere of influence-

does

even though the map

appears, ironically enough, in an issue of the Dossiers that discllsses the very 'pataphysics

of the arctic (Fassio 1961, 30-31).

Wershler-Henry

suggests that, despite the inrent ofJarry to address the

paralogy of all such eccentricity,

search Group,

(he J nstitute

~~ware

Com~y:.-Canadian

despite the paradox of this oversight, Canadian

suggests that,

Jarryites have done little

to unveil their obscured presence so that, for Canada,

"[tlhe "pataphysical

from European Canadian

'pataphysics

through

"Pataphysics

a change

adds another

in diacritical

!Ill'

vestigial

orrhogrilplly,

apostrophe

ro its nal11(' in bY:l 1':111 ()

bur also the ironic speech proposed by Canadians

pean avan(~garde

;lg;lillSI ,I

European avant-garde. McCaffery and Nichol suggest that Canadian "1'" I.' physics

at philosophical

on elision-"the

(1994, 67). Canadian "Pataphysics marks its

a~d the "Pataphysi

does indeedmirnic

order to mark not only the excess silence imposed upon Canadians

field remains perpetually open, [a] 'smooth space' that baffles State a[[empts containment"

QJllQgrutti91

"Pataphysics

'pataphysics of such European institutes as Ie college de 'pataphysiqlll' '" l'ouvroir de litthature potentie!le; however, such a science marks its d iITen':ll( ('

the legacy of Jarry may have served only

to install the ubiquity of his own centrality. Wershler-Henry

of Linguistic

moves from elision (') to quotation

(") through

dOLlbling of the elide, a doubled

a superinciucCl11c.:IH

inversion and I"nl i"

difference from irs imperial cousin CPataphysics) through a swerve (clina-

verted doubling"

(TRG 1992, 301). A parody of parody irself, such '1'''1.,

men) (67), resorting to European 'paraphysics in order to parody European

physics

a clinamen upon

'paraphysics,

quotation)

granting Canada its own autonomy

tOnomy itself by porrraying these paradoxical solution to mnemonic problems.

from the question of auendeavors as an imagined

misinformation,

Canadian

"Pataphysics

suggests

Rather than indulge

jarryires resort to the tropes of the anoma/os, the syzygia,

para (beside),

situating

and the clinamen in order to create their own forms of satirical criticism (be it rhe probable systems of Nichol, the perseus 'projects of McCaffery,

interzone

or

if" (I hrOllgh

The unknown

orit~ill,~

but wil h ClllClld.1I I(111~

of Ethernity.

that its dual bur 0PCIl quoll'

is defined

"d,,·

(301-2).

(TRG 1992, 301) of rhe

itself within

place that, like Canada,

;l

deviation).

our explanation"

confluence"

expenditures.

it (through

simulating

.. of the given that we do not understand

that serve to constiwte

reducing such a mne-

its own history,

ate explained by the unknown science of'pa,,,physics:

"portmanteau

monic paradigm to a set of 'pataphysical in mythomania,

while disrupting

of'paraphysics quotation,

Canadian larryites make a spectacle of thematic banality by presenting their own brand of archaeological

performs

1111'111

a place borh eXlern:d

.,,,.1

for slIch :1stit'lIU'

til('

,1I1l1~lql('III,d

hy il~ p1.l( rll'\\IH"""

paradoxically

The open quote

1>igllilil",.1

(hey"".l)

illi

111.11 k~! II( I1I1III

liS .~p,lll' dlll'~ 1101 It II tI ..

rhe natural histories of Dewdney). This kind of nomadic science does not

ness of a site that must cite its own openness.!

attempt

whole truth because it never has the last word.' Ii) I[lh)(l' I1II111III ',II! I••1"11111 I

to portray

the essence

strives 52-.I?.rese!!.LE!"t~~ might

call "a universe

of its own culture;

of wonder

over wisd~,

where what we consider

ten times as frequently" (1982, JO) -a be none other than our own.

instead, evoking

uncanny

universe

such criticism what Dewdney

...

occurs

almost

that in the end turns out to

is to engage :1 fixed ground

Quotidian Quotation McCaffery tion superbly physics

eludes

the affinjty

as yet, has no archive,"

parallels

[hereafterTRG]

IIH,: mythic

and Nichol write that "Canadian that,

its absence

"Pataphysics

and "[iJrs absence

of thought"

definition

because

"many

and American

quite clearly

of inscrip-

(Toronto Research

1992, 303). Wershler-Henryobserves

of the European

process

of eruptive

never-commencing for generalization,

Canadi:lll colblgllcS

thar em:"li:", "P:l[:lphysiL'i~IS (()I'

CrouI) "1'"", dl.IIC

Lli,~~illlltl.tli(1II"

(1994,68), with indiviclu:ds COc.:xi:-'lillJ; lll1der v;lritHI~ Il~l'II\lilll~'III\ ,11111.1 vJriolis collcuivc.:s. he Ihql ,lllll.t1 01 11111(".[:!III ('X,IIIII"I', tilt' '11111111111 I{(

I)'pl'

"P;]taphysicsquotcs desire in C~uucb

or rn IH,:1ll0nie idUlli

:lfK'rIIl11', ".tH'

discourse"

(\O/)

1',1. II

III

UII

,I ~\ 1('111(- \VIIIIIIIII

only:1 fluid lield fnl ~IW\ l.ill/,(111111 "lllll

wltole can only be our part. This is ( 1°3) Canadian

is a literature

in an endless

Ihe never-ending,

thi,,;

stalcd

0pt:IIIL(:~~ 11111111qlIHI.IIIIIII"

FUroPClI1 'P:II:ll'hy,~iL ...ill 01.1('1 ("II,IIIIII\, Cor;1I1 :llIlOnOnltlll~,

ly, hc i ( 1he I hCIlH.:

il' Ihlt iIUllgl'llIlll'"

or P:1SIOI,d i~rII, ,I~ 111Ill('

,III

I

III

,1',1 I d

IIIyt· (It)71, VII) or t hc I hClllc 0/'S1I rviv;1ii:-llll, :1:-'ill Illl' l.I~(, III /\1 \VI)pd (1'1 \I). Slidl crilicislll

tlllOllgll

I

"

sceks (0 CSI:lhlisll :1 1l111t'1l1011i(1',ll.llliJ~11I III 1l1l1',III,dll~'

,Ill :1(1 (11:11i.

.,..Ii~q!, I~ 5,~'/

moreover, that even this historical

lid

,I

of exception must itself undergo its own form of revision, disrupt in!!.lilt·

Science

"Pataphysics

comprises a manifold

} ')

those whonl we

at the infinite disposal of an insatiable curiosity, in which every imagined

p

(

Epilogue

Scientific innovation in the era of posrmodernity has become the august

quorum of ideological controversy, particularly since rhe fiscal edicts of capitalism have threatened to reduce scientists

to

little more than court sor-

cerers in the royal entourage of military industry. Science has incubated

a porenrial onslaught of planerary disasrers (be they thermonuclear, environmenral, erc.), osrensibly justifying these risks for the sake of an insistent curiosity, wagering the future of all humanity against the verity of a paradigm. Science at its logical extreme appears to conduct a capricious experiment that facilitates the extinction of the species, doing so as

if to

facilitate rhe extinction of science itself.The fear of such a suicidal tendency in science has in turn spawned an array of vitally urgent but largely futile etc,.), tc~ -Iot..r.l,,*,,_ countermeasures (such~as neo-Ludditism, -,_.ecoterrorisffi, --.-

-.

'~

'Pataphysics confronts the dangers of science not with an antonymic

wager (that counteracts the threat) but with a hyperbolic wager (that exacerbates the threar), accenring the grotesque absurdity of such epistemic extremism. 'Pataphysics even goes so far as to entertain a prohibited

pothesis, asking itself: What

be this epistemic extremism - this impulse to revolutionize

if such

species, even

hy-

if the most radical gesture in science may in fact

a transformation

the condition of the

entails the abolition of the species itself?

'Pataphysics suggests that any attempt to subvert the imperial paradigm of metaphysics may nevertheless requite a met"morp_ho~s O(t!lOug~no less dis,:,::!,tivethan the havoc already-wreaked.!2y..>.cience on \!ehalf of the du~ous project called "progress." What are the sociopolitical implications of stich an enterprise? Is :p.ataph.y",ics,ap,o.calt£tid'""_ 'Pataphysics has inspired an anarchic politics of social revolt among much of the avant-garde, but the pedigree of this revolt has undergone many t\¥ists and many shifts in the clinamen of its evolution. How are we

supposed to interpret the political integrity of an aesthetic whose dispute with science finds itself adapted to the demands of any political franchise, he.;it h·lscist (as in the case of Italian Futurism) or Leftist (as in the case of [ZlIssian Futurism)? How are we supposed ~iSI1l Or:111

to

J

social :l.genda

in

/

,11 III

the political solip-

'011111 ,I 11I1111.111i\

'j,il'l1ll.:

wryly nonpanisan (ac(~Iccording to Sandomir)? The

order to become

(ol.di ••!" III Sh:lIlll(k) nr wryly q.',:liitari:ln 11111.'11.';1

interpret

aesthetic whose colleges or ouvroirs must supposedly forfeit any

tOllllntlHH':11l

(,lllIi\('"

to

:1I1110.'i1

appear

Ie)

pn.:cliidc

il:S

invested

1".11111 ~ 1110/,,411111

'1'1

)

d,rL [1," . "]

Vaneigem complains that, historically, the nihilistic philosophy of 'pata-

delirium of every social system has reached an Ollter limit of inenia-I

physics has lent itself too easily to an aestherics of social apathy even though

indifferent

such nihilism

nanspolitical

has the inherent

potential

lypse ([r967] 1994, 178),1 The nihilism

to

foment

a rebellious

that Vaneigem

"active" (179), because it foreshadows revolution,

apoca-

has described

as

might aptly characterize

zan of meaning"

([1983]1990a,

rational

of political

tion on political "hyperrely"

revolu-

ends,3 Ideology

tion, might aptly characterize the later 'pataphysics of the Jarryite

college in

philosophy

beyond

volves into a game of nihilistic conformity

radi-

f

for the technoc-

our social system

excess growth

sociopolitics must

agitation

Revolutions

26)-an

so much as accent

in such an era derive

OUf

hyperbole

(Steigerung): "[tLhe only revolution

that even the revolutionaries must find threatening. Might we nOt speculate then that 'pataphysics represents a form of epistemic extremism, whose

Potential

perils may pose so great a threat to any system of values that such a force

cal contradictions

must be, aggtessively tamed before it is inadvertently

have taken

a 'pataphysical

bu~thelwise

Ideology

freed" speculation

(41) - the hypcndiL forbidden

can no longer because,

29). They have become

an imaginary

\hc lunatic

exception

or the amputee

:ll1d

real conciliation

~o long as rhey arc exposed

Ideology is thus

(differing from the bizarre science of Jarry only ill

ideology:- ~ilisavpw

it~ovyn imaginariness, ,forbidding

liberate suspension of disbelief), While the ruses of 'pataphysics

enable ideology, slich nihilistic stratagems and controlled

CIII

.d~t,

expose ideology, revealing it for the illusion ,hat ir is,

transpolitics-the 100

'PATAPI.fYSICS

arena

or pOSIlllodl'nl

:m,;n:l Flot

ul

'otilt

/

I(f('jo/m/,/II

j, '11,11

,I

\ hili ld

...illn!!,II;"11 (in wl.il II IIH' 1,\"oIt II!

(through

analysis "dH.:

Orlr:lIlspolilicd Ilcidc.:ggcr

ill tllinl','" i...,

1111111'11lit

(...... l ,d,1l il.11 Iii ,I 111111i III 1I I

(0

B:tlJlll ill.ll II,

fonn

or..

It ill

~IH

11I11I.l1I!

';01

I. ''t HIIII .lIlh lit Iii',

11\,11\1\'11\}''' ([ 11/1l1[1'Illt

can no Illllger he "'lir,IILlllfCd jll\J .I~ til{'

and kgitinlizl'd, prosrheses).

and Ill;m:tgcd;

dcprivl:s

Slidl

coni

(.U)

lilt,

ll!

soci:d looks ill whal ;1 ,"n::-. .1.... Icgililll:tcy"

1 III

til '01'111111 ~~I.J I,d 1111/,,111 III

',!II

I,ILlil I 14111\,lit'

howl'vl'l,

till: sot:i:d .... y~tc.:lll

III

It,

(11111111),,11 (,lIlllllll1l'oIl'~) I I .It

lllll\l,lIll

0

1,111I I

',11111111\'

,IllY idl'IIIII/"H ,d (11'dl

II. ... IJ\VII

,

\V,I"'!I fill

.I

)0).

rCIl1:trb Ih:l(, whilc.: M:il.·!li.L·Ill.ty lllllll

,I lnlllll'[U!"h,d

d,lIl

PI('IOII...I1I.:........ , slIell :\ ri.lik 111:1Ylll.·vert hck',~.., L'll.d lil' 111l' 11,111"'1 ('lldI'1I1 (' 01 ,III',

I;,,' "[wjIH:IC till'

d'"lgl'IOII~lll'''''''

Baudrillard suggests that, under these nih ilisl ic cOlld iI iOIl ..., wl1.11 enacted in rhe

critjcal

hililY. and lhus

may well

bya royal power, because the ruses of'pat:tphysic!>

physical finds its mandate

t)f'sllch

any de

must nevenheless b