The Narcissistic Text: A Reading of Camus' Fiction 9781487595258

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BRIAN T. FITCH i s Geral d Larki n Professo r of Frenc h a t Trinit y College an d Associat e Chairma n o f Graduate Studie s i n th e Department o f French a t th e Universit y o f Toronto . Critics, theologians , philosophers , an d psychoanalyst s hav e written several thousan d books , theses , and article s about Camus ' fiction. His first published novel , L'Etranger, ha d a unique impac t o n a whole generatio n o f readers, an d hi s other fiction , althoug h no t a s well known, has als o been influential . However , Camus ' fictio n s o far ha s no t bee n judge d b y contemporary critica l methods, an d 'inter-textuality,' o r th e stud y of the interrelationshi p betwee n Camus' ow n texts, ha s not bee n examined . The Narcissistic Text: A Reading o f Camus ' Fiction i s the firs t boo k devoted t o th e whol e of Camus' fiction to adopt thi s approach . Brian Fitc h use s th e critica l tool s elaborated i n th e writing s of such French formalist s a s Barthes, Ricardou, an d Todoro v an d draw s upon th e hermeneuti c theor y o f literature develope d b y Gadame r and Ricceur . A s a result , th e self-generatin g word-play or linguistic narcissism o f 'Jonas' an d th e textua l narcissis m o f La Peste ar e see n to give way, in L'Etranger, t o a situation wher e th e hermeneuti c circle i s itself containe d withi n th e circularit y of autoreprésentation . As fo r th e narcissis m of L a Chute, it concern s th e reade r himself , since wha t th e tex t provide s i s a model o f the hermeneuti c process . Fitch thu s demonstrates tha t Camus ' fiction occupies a significant place i n moder n literature . This volum e wil l b e o f particular interes t t o thos e involve d in Camus studie s o r concerne d wit h contemporar y critica l methodo logy an d literar y theory .

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The Narcissistic TEXT A Reading of Camus' Fiction Brian T. Fitch

U N I V E R S I T Y O F TORONT O PRES S Toronto Buffal o Londo n

© University of Toronto Press 198 2 Toronto Buffal o Londo n Printed i n Canad a ISBN 0-8020-2426-2

Canadian Cataloguin g in Publication Dat a Fitch, Brian T., 1935The narcissistic text Includes index. ISBN 0-8020-2426-2 1. Camus, Albert, 1913-1960 - Criticis m and interpretation. I. Title . PQ2605.A3734Z64 848'.9140 9 C81-094732-

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This book has been published with the help of a grant from th e Canadian Federatio n fo r the Humanities , using funds provide d by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Counci l of Canada, and a grant from th e Subsidized Publication s Fun d of the University of Toronto Press .

Pour Michel J. Minar d sans qui cet ouvrage, comme ses précurseurs, n'aurait jamais vu le jour

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Contents

Acknowledgments i x Author's Not e x i Introduction xii i 1 / The Writing o n the Blackboard 3 2 / The Autoreferential Text: La Peste 1 5 3 / The Self-Generating Text: 'Jonas ' 3 5 4 / The Hermeneutic Paradigm : L 'Etranger 4 9 5 / The Interpreter Interpreted : L a Chute 6 9 6 /Just between Texts : Intra-Intertextualit y 8 9 Notes 10 9 Bibliography o f Works Cited 12 1 Author Inde x 12 7

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Acknowledgments

Much of the substance of Chapter 1 formed the second hal f of a paper given a t th e symposiu m o n 'Alber t Camus ' Literar y Milieu : Ari d Lands' at the Texas Tec h University, Lubbock, in January 1975, and entitled 'Camus ' Desert Hieroglyphics ' (cf . Proceedings of the Comparative Literature Symposium ed . Wolodmy r T . Zyl a an d Wendel l M . Aycock VIH [1976] 117-31) . A first version of Chapter 2 was published in French under the title 'La Peste comm e text e qu i s e désigne: analys e de s procédé s d'auto représentation' i n Albert Camus 8 , 'Camu s romancier : L a Peste' (1976) 53-71 . Chapter 3 was first published i n French under the title ' "Jonas" ou la productio n d'un e étoile ' i n Albert Camus 6 , 'Camu s nouvelliste : L'Exil e t l e royaume' (1973 ) 51-65 , an d give n a s a publi c lectur e entitled 'L'Approch e ricardolienne : "Jonas " d e Camus ' a t Victori a College, Universit y of Toronto, i n February 1975. Certain o f the ke y concepts of Chapters 4 and 5 were first evoked in a plenary session lecture on 'Camus' La Chute as a Paradigm o f the Hermeneutic Process' given at th e 19t h Australian Universitie s Language an d Literatur e Associatio n Congres s a t th e Universit y o f Queensland i n Brisban e i n Augus t 1978 , and wer e subsequentl y developed i n a pape r entitle d 'L e Paradigm e herméneutiqu e che z Camus' give n a t th e Secon d Internationa l Conference : 'Alber t Camus 1980 ' at th e Universit y o f Florida i n Gainesville i n Februar y 1980 (cf . Albert Camus 1980 ed. Raymon d Gay-Crosie r [Gainesville : University Presse s of Florida 1980 ] 32-44), and i n an articl e entitle d 'Narcisse interprète : L a Chute comm e modèl e herméneutique ' t o appear in Albert Camus 10 , 'Nouvelles Approches.'

x / Acknowledgment s

I wish to express m y sincere thanks to Linda Hutcheo n an d Janet Paterson for their carefu l readin g o f my manuscript and thei r invaluable suggestions . I hav e bee n singularl y fortunat e over th e las t few years i n havin g ha d th e opportunit y t o discus s with the m th e pro blems involved in the study of the narcissistic literary form . BTF

Author's Note

Within quotations , SMAL L CAPITALS indicate emphasi s b y mysel f an d italics emphasis by the author of the quotation, except in longer quotations set off by space above and below. In those cases, words in italic small capitals indicate emphasis b y myself and word s in roman typ e indicate emphasis by the author of the quotation . Except wher e indicate d otherwise , reference s t o quotation s fro m Camus' text s refer t o the paginatio n o f the followin g editions , designated b y the abbreviations below: i Alber t Camus, TTiéâtre, récits, nouvelles (Paris : Gallimard, 'Bibliothèque de la Pléiade' 1962 ; 1963 printing) H Alber t Camus, Essais (Paris : Gallimard, 'Bibliothèqu e de la Pléiade' 1965 ; 196 7 printing) MH Alber t Camus, L a Mort heureuse (Paris : Gallimard, 'Cahiers Albert Camus' 197l) Note tha t although , bibliographicall y an d commerciall y speaking , there ha s bee n onl y on e edition o f the abov e tw o 'Pléiade' volumes, the paginatio n varie s fro m on e printing t o th e next . I t is , moreover, likely that there exist variations in the actual texts between printings . However, t o date , n o systemati c stud y o f thi s proble m ha s bee n undertaken.

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Introduction

For some forty years now and since well before his premature death in an automobil e acciden t i n 1960 , Alber t Camus has been considere d one of the most significant an d influential writers of this century. Eloquent testimon y to thi s fact i s furnished b y the several thousands of articles and books that have been devoted to the man and his work in countless countries on all five continents and i n languages as diverse as Russian , Arabic , an d Japanese. 1 Tha t thi s statu s a s on e o f th e 'classics' of French literature would only be disputed precisely within the boundarie s of his native land is doubtless due to ideological considerations above all others. His work has attracted th e attention no t only o f literary critics but als o of theologians, psychiatrists , politica l scientists, an d philosophers , to name but a few. He is quoted in both the most erudite and the most popular publications. In short, his fame has spread in a manner unparalleled within the lifetime of any other French writer of this century. However, the concern of this book is not to give an account of and to account for the impact of Albert Camus on his contemporaries and their times , whic h woul d b e a sociologica l enterpris e no t withou t interest that will, it is to be hoped, be undertaken one day, but rathe r to re-examin e thos e text s tha t compris e Camus ' fiction : th e thre e novels, L'Etranger, La Peste, and La Chute, together with certain of the short stories gathered together in L'Exil et le royaume.11 The three novels have long engaged the interest of critics although to varying degrees, L'Etranger havin g been th e most actively and th e most continuously debated3 ever since its publication in 1942 (no less than eight books and monographs 4 have been exclusively given over

xiv / Introductio n

to it) and L a Peste having been subjected to the least critical scrutiny.5 As was no doubt inevitable in the case of a novelist who was also not only a dramatis t bu t a philosopher (i f we take this term in its more general sens e of thinker an d essayist) , the fiction was long seen as a reflection o f and a vehicle for th e mai n concept s expounded i n hi s philosophical essays Le Mythe d e Sisyphe6 an d L'Homme révolté. Where a less simplistic view of his fiction prevailed, Camus was seen to be a descendant of that venerable lineage of French writers generally categorized a s le s moralistes. Th e Candide-like 7 characteristic s o f tha t twentieth-century moralit y tal e L'Etranger, s o comparabl e i n thi s respect to Sartre's short story 'L'Enfance d'un chef,' 8 were recognized as readily a s L a Chute 9 coul d b e see n t o b e a pretext fo r a series of maxims tha t depicte d al l to o wel l twentieth-centur y civilization . Rieux's chronicl e o f the plagu e clearl y belonge d i n th e sam e company. Small wonder then that, to his dismay and consternation, their author sa w himself 'institutionalized,' as it were, as a 'classic' almost before th e ink had drie d o n his manuscripts. I t i s to his credit that, unlike certai n practitioner s o f th e Frenc h Ne w Nove l wh o hav e become permanent fixture s o f the Nort h American academic scene, he di d nothin g t o capitalize on thi s situation, although thi s did no t spare him the severe criticism he suffere d a t the hand s of Sartre and his associates 10 with th e publicatio n o f L'Homme révolté i n 1951 . Bu t then without the latter, Camus' mos t enigmatic and most fascinating work, La Chute, would never have seen the light of day. Although th e strikin g originality o f the styl e of Camus' first published novel was recognized from the very first reviews it received," its distinctiveness arisin g paradoxically fro m it s lack of salient features, its colourles s neutralit y an d bar e matter-of-factness , relativel y littl e interest was aroused by th e formal qualities of La Peste and L a Chute. Even in the case of L'Etranger, such considerations were soon subordinated to the more pressing problem of how to interpret the character of its narrator-protagonist, an d indee d th e enigma that is Meursault has not ceased to fascinate readers and professional critics alike and to send th e latte r scurryin g for thei r pens . Th e marke d concer n with narrative technique 12 was part an d parce l of the sam e problem. A n analogous if lesser concern was shown by the critics with the narrative structure of La Chute, which for all its theatrical overtones revealed a highly original blending of the monologue and th e dialogue. Bu t the

Introduction / xv

interpretation o f th e characte r o f the judge-penitent prove d n o les s problematic give n th e difficult y o f reconciling hi s gratin g cynicis m with th e publicl y applauded humanis m of his creator a s exemplified in L a Peste an d L'Homme révolté. Autobiographical resonance s were soon detected and gave rise to an almost exclusive preoccupation with the very particular relationship it appeared t o bear to the bitter quarrel between Camus an d Sartre. 13 As for La Peste, it was read solely on the leve l of its story as both an allegory of the Germa n occupation of France an d a rathe r obviou s vehicl e fo r th e Camusia n versio n of André Malraux's message of virile human fraternity, a kind of latterday rewrit e of La Condition humaine. The evolutio n o f Camus ' fictio n wa s see n abov e al l i n term s of thematics. The proponent o f the Absurd (L'Etranger) gav e way to the proponent o f Revolt (L a Peste) who , i n turn , wa s succeeded b y th e proponent of Duplicity (L a Chute). Or, in slightly different terms , one passed from th e innocent carefreeness of the noble savage to the moral concern o f the committed humanis t an d henc e to the moral anguis h of the guilt-ridden introspective. Throughout al l three novels ran th e insistent theme of judges and judgment: parodied an d condemned i n L'Etranger, sympathize d wit h i n L a Peste, and finall y depicte d fro m within in the person of Clamence. Thematics on the level of the writer's tota l fictive output, the character o f th e (anti-)heroe s o f L'Etranger an d L a Chute, th e all-too exemplary tale s of L'Etranger an d La Peste - thes e were the object of critical scrutiny. If it proved difficul t to conceive of a single Camusian fictive universe to which all his characters belonged, in the manner of the Balzacian, Bernanosian, or even the Makucia n universes , each of the novel s nonetheles s conjure d u p a worl d o f it s ow n eve n i f th e world in question was heavily dependent fo r its particular climat e on the characte r o f its narrato r and , mor e particularly , o n th e ton e of voice o f hi s narration. 14 I f thi s corpu s o f fictio n coul d no t begi n t o compete with th e grea t novelisti c creation s o f a Balzac or a Zola in their depiction of the multiple strata of contemporary society through the evocatio n o f a galax y o f motley characters, i t nonetheless intro duced us to characters as complex an d intriguing as any reader could wish for, few in number yet as distinctive and particula r a s any reallife acquaintance . I n short , Camus was , in the final analysis, a traditional novelist , classica l i n tha t ver y sam e understatemen t h e ha d

xvi / Introduction analysed i n hi s essa y o n Madam e d e l a Fayett e ('L'Intelligenc e e t Péchafaud,' I , 1187-94), even if his preferre d novelistic form wa s tha t of th e traditiona l Frenc h récit o f a Benjami n Constan t o r a n Andr é Gide, certainl y close r t o th e latter , moreover , tha n t o hi s contemporary Jean-Paul Sartre . However, something more remained to be said about Camus' art as a novelist. The ver y particular tone of voice of each of the three narrators, referred t o above, an d th e distinctiv e climate it suggested could easily alert the reader to the marked degree of stylization15 in the texts that wa s responsibl e fo r thes e effects , a stylizatio n Camu s ha d als o attributed t o th e classica l French nove l of the seventeent h century. 16 The worl d o f the fictio n wa s perceive d b y th e reade r a s through a glass darkly, a glass that, in the case of L'Etranger, Sartre had likene d to th e glas s doo r o f a telephon e booth. 17 Th e reader' s visio n of that world wa s someho w blurred , hi s angl e o f vision oblique . Th e lan guage of the text, through its high degree of stylization, was no longer transparent, an unequivocal pointer toward s the fictive reality beyond. It had take n on a certain opacity, the opacity of its own material existence as language. Wit h thi s relative opacificatio n o f the language of the text , languag e dre w attention t o itself an d awa y from th e fiction that provide d its ostensible raiso n d'être. It reveale d a preoccupation with self, a certain narcissism. It i s precisely this self-consciousness of the Camusian tex t that this book explores. Formal narcissism of this kind, together with the process of autorepresentation tha t is at the same time its symptom and its vehicle, has come to the for e in the intens e debate tha t ha s been taking plac e i n Franc e ove r th e las t twent y years or s o around literar y theory. I t i s indeed on e o f th e essentia l feature s of our present-da y conception o f the literar y text and it s functioning. Hence , on e of the main objectives of the following pages is to reveal these fictive texts of Camus a s being o f more tha n passin g interes t t o the contemporar y literary theoreticia n an d criti c and as properly belonging to what the French cal l la. modernité i n spit e o f thei r reputatio n a s traditiona l works i n which, t o us e Jean Ricardou's distinction, l'euphorie d u récit clearly prevails over an y incipien t contestation du récit.™ It would, however, be difficult t o conceive of any adequate account of Camus ' novel s tha t di d no t recogniz e th e particula r rôl e o f th e reader.'9 Th e experienc e o f th e reade r o f Camus ' fictio n i s by n o

Introduction / xvii means a comfortable, reassuring one : th e demand s mad e upo n hi m by thes e text s ar e insisten t an d ever-changing , disconcertin g an d unsettling, t o th e poin t tha t I hav e claime d elsewher e tha t i t i s the reader wh o i s the tru e occupan t o f Clamence's malconfort. x Thi s is, incidentally, one of the main justifications for considering Camus as a precursor o f the Frenc h new novelists. One coul d well maintain tha t his art a s a novelist lies as much in the skilful and continual manipulation o f his reader a s in th e numerou s and subtl e variations he effect s in th e narrative perspective of his works. It shoul d therefore come as no surprise to learn that the reading process and th e activity of interpretation tha t i t necessaril y give s ris e t o ar e themselve s take n u p within the mechanis m of autorepresentation i n th e cas e of L'Etranger and L a Chute. I n th e forme r text , th e hermeneuti c circl e i s itself encompassed within the circula r process of the text's reflection upo n itself. In th e latter, the reader is, or becomes, in a very real sense one of the protagonist s o f a wor k tha t i s an enactmen t o f the hermeneutic experience. It i s for this reason that my analysis of the texts draws not only on th e writings of the Frenc h formalists such as Jean Ricardou , Tzvetan Todorov, an d Rolan d Barthes but als o on the theories of the present-day practitioners of the hermeneutic tradition, notably HansGeorg Gadame r an d Pau l Ricceur. This boo k thus represents a coming togethe r o f formalis m an d hermeneutic s necessitate d b y th e specific characteristic s of Camus' fiction .

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The Narcissistic Text

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1 The Writing on the Blackboar d

One finds in Camus' fiction a curious and unremarked predilectio n for blackboard s an d analogou s objects that fulfil th e same function as circumscribed surface s t o b e written upon . Ther e i s the blackboar d on which th e rebel Arab s leave Daru's deat h sentenc e at th e end of the shor t stor y 'L'Hôte. ' Th e lon g proces s durin g whic h Josep h Grand labour s painstakingly over the single sentence he seeks to perfect i s also worked ou t o n a blackboard , hi s roo m bein g describe d thus: 'On remarquait seulement un rayon de bois blanc garni de deux ou troi s dictionnaires , e t u n tablea u noi r su r leque l on pouvai t lir e encore, à dem i effacés , le s mot s "allée s fleuries". ' (i , 1240 ) A littl e later i n L a Peste, the sam e blackboard reappear s serving a differen t function: 'I I écrivait donc des mots latins sur son tableau. Il recopiait à la craie bleue la partie des mots qui changeait suivan t les déclinaisons e t le s conjugaisons, et , à la crai e rouge, celle qui n e changeai t pas.' (l , 1241 ) Bu t thi s i s not th e onl y blackboar d t o figur e i n thi s novel, for the presence of another on e is remarked upon in the evocation o f the forme r class-roo m that ha s bee n converte d t o serv e as a hospital: 'i l fi t asse z jour, enfin , pou r qu'a u fon d d e l a salle , su r l e tableau noi r demeur é e n place , o n pû t distingue r le s traces d'an ciennes formules d'équatio n ... " (i , 139l ) Eve n th e doo r t o Cottard's apartment take s on th e functio n o f this traditional class-roo m accessory: 'sur la porte de gauche, Rieux lut , trac é à la craie: "Entrez, je suis pendu."' (i , 1229 ) More curiously, at th e en d o f another o f the short stories, 'Jonas ou l'artiste a u travail,' we find the artist's canvas being pu t t o th e sam e purpose , on e wor d takin g th e plac e o f the painting i t was intended for : 'Râteau regardai t l a toile, entièremen t

4 / The Narcissistic Text blanche, a u centr e d e laquell e Jonas avai t seulemen t écrit , e n trè s petits caractères , u n mo t qu'o n pouvai t déchiffrer , mai s don t o n n e savait s'il fallait y lire solitaire o u solidaire? (i , 1652) Blackboards have a definite affinity with both the printed page and the sheet s of the writer's manuscript: they have an analogous rectangular shap e an d ar e intende d t o bea r th e trace s o f the writte n lan guage. Moreover , contrar y t o th e actua l blackboard s referre d t o above, Jonas's canvas also has in common with the sheet of paper it s whiteness. It i s significant tha t non e of this family o f objects remains blank i n these texts. Each bears an inscription, mor e or less clear an d decipherable accordin g t o th e circumstance s o f th e fiction . On e i s tempted to see in this phenomenon a reflection of the very page of the text tha t form s part o f the book in which it figures. Both Daru's and Grand's blackboard s are exemplary in this respect. (I shall leave aside Jonas's canvas for a later chapte r sinc e it has added implications. ) Daru's blackboard is evoked, interestingly enough, both (an d only) at th e beginning an d th e end of 'L'Hôte.' Immediately following th e first introductor y paragrap h o f the shor t story , w e come upon thi s evocation: 'I I [Daru ] travers a l a salle de class e vide et glacée . Su r l e tableau noi r le s quatre fleuves de France , dessiné s avec quatre craies de couleur s différentes , coulaien t ver s leu r estuair e depui s troi s jours.' (l , 1609 ) It i s not unti l the very last paragraph o f the text tha t actual writin g appear s o n th e blackboard : 'Derrièr e lui , su r l e tableau noir , entr e le s méandre s d e fleuve s françai s s'étalait , tracée à l a crai e pa r un e mai n malhabile , l'inscriptio n qu'i l venai t de lire : "T u a s livr é notr e frère . T u paieras." ' (i , 162l ) I t i s a s though th e sol e function o f the intervening twelv e pages of text were to produc e th e writing o n th e blackboard . I n othe r words , th e substance o f th e short story , th e tal e o f Daru' s treatmen t o f the Ara b prisoner, ca n b e viewe d a s a mer e pretext i n th e tw o sense s of th e word: a pretext fo r the productio n o f a text tha t is none othe r tha n the writin g o n th e blackboar d an d a pre-tex t i n th e sens e tha t i t necessarily precede s tha t two-sentenc e text. However , th e ver y process of producing th e words on the blackboard result s in the produc tion o f the actua l tex t o f the stor y 'L'Hôte.' Moreover , b y th e sam e token, the shorter text is also a condensed representation o f the latter, which i t reproduce s i n miniature . Th e relationshi p o f the tw o sentences on the blackboard t o the text o f the short story on the printe d page i s precisel y tha t o f th e microcos m t o th e macrocosm . I t i s for

The Writing on the Blackboard / 5 such a relationship, that of a microcosm reflecting an d reproducing a macrocosm, that Claude-Edmonde Magny 1 coined the literary neologism mise-en-abyme.

An analogous situation can be seen to pertain in the case of Joseph Grand's famou s sentenc e laboriously worked out an d revise d on his own blackboar d i n L a Peste. However , ther e i s an importan t differ ence, sinc e Grand' s sentenc e figure s no t onc e bu t o n a numbe r of occasions i n th e tex t o f the nove l as we follow it s gradua l evolution whereby the initial words 'allées fleuries' (i, 1240) become a sentence: 'Par un e bell e matiné e d u moi s d e mai , un e élégant e amazon e parcourait, sur une superbe jument alezane, les allées fleuries du Bois de Boulogne.' (i , 1302 ) This is then modified t o form: Ta r un e bell e matinée d e mai , un e svelt e amazone , monté e su r un e superb e jument, parcourai t le s allées fleuries du Boi s de Boulogne. ' (i , 1327) Which then becomes: 'Par une belle matinée de mai, une svelte amazone monté e su r un e somptueus e jumen t alezan e parcourai t le s allées pleines de fleurs du Boi s de Boulogne.' (i , 1328) To be finalized in th e followin g form : 'Pa r un e bell e matiné e d e mai , un e svelt e amazone, monté e su r un e somptueus e jument alezane , parcourait , au milie u des fleurs, les allées du Boi s ...' (i , 1432 ) While not wishin g to go as far as one critic who saw in the evolution of this one sentence nothing les s tha n 'a kind o f history in miniatur e o f the evolutio n of contemporary Occidental mentality', 2 it is, I believe, clear that thi s is not th e stati c reflectio n i n miniature o f the finalize d an d immutabl e text of the whole novel but rathe r the mise-en-abyme o f the productive process itself through which the novel came into being, what Lucien Dállenbach ha s terme d th e 'mise-en-abym e d e renonciation,' 3 énonciation* comprisin g bot h th e productio n an d th e receptio n o f th e text. I t i s a mirro r reflectio n o f it s actua l generation , a proces s described i n detail in Chapter 3 , devoted t o 'Jonas.' It i s hardly surprising that this should be the function o f the blackbord image since, contrary to what was said earlier about the representation of both the manuscript pag e and its printed counterpart , the blackboard, due to the possibilit y i t offer s no t onl y of inscription bu t als o of endless correction an d modificatio n of what has already been written upon it, is clearly a more fitting mirror image of the former tha n th e latter. I shall be returning to the various evocations of Grand's sentence in a slightl y differen t contex t i n Chapte r 2 , o n L a Peste. Suffic e i t t o remark here that the difficulty tha t Grand experiences in the working

6 / The Narcissistic Text out of his sentence, the laborious nature of his months-long enterprise , if it brings to mind by its apparent futilit y th e grotesque figure of the old man i n th e sam e novel who spends hi s time spitting o n the cat s and transferrin g peas fro m on e receptacl e t o another , i s also no t s o dissimilar fro m th e painstaking , meticulou s manner i n which Rieu x relates th e events tha t make up hi s chronicle. The various transcriptions of the stage s i n th e evolutio n o f Grand's sentenc e henc e func tion, on th e first level, as an intra -textual mirro r whereby the fiction reflects the narratives to which it more immediately owes its existence. It i s only subsequentl y tha t thei r activit y shift s ont o th e othe r level encompassing th e actua l productio n o f the text , it s actual origins in the process of writing. If blackboard s ar e no t uncommo n i n Camus ' fiction , image s of writing, o f linguistic signs , ar e eve n les s so . It i s often th e sk y tha t takes the place of the blackboard studie d earlier . Indeed, whereas the blackboard constituted a kind of photographic negativ e of the white sheet of paper, the sky restitutes the positive since it, too, is characterized in these southern climes by the same blinding whiteness. Thus, in the short story 'Le Renégat o u un espri t confus,' th e sky is described as a 'plaqu e d e tôl e chauffé e à blanc. ' (i , 1582 ) I t i s hardly surprising tha t just a s the linguistic signs stand ou t fro m th e white sheet of paper the y are written or printed on, it is precisely against the backcloth forme d b y th e Nort h African sky , 'blanc d e chaleur' (il , 58) in the essa y 'Noces, ' tha t certai n sign s ar e t o b e read : 'Ca r cett e ville squelette, vue d e s i haut dan s l e soir finissan t e t dans les vols blancs des pigeons autour d e l'arc de triomphe, n'inscrivait pas sur le ciel les signes d e l a conquêt e e t d e l'ambition.' (il , 65 ) While th e 'signes ' in question ar e no t her e designate d explicitl y a s bein g linguisti c i n nature, the metaphor used to describe the relationship that man establishes with the deser t is , curiously, manifestly linguistic: 'Par elle (ma peau), auparavant , je DECHIFFRAI S L'ECRITURE d u monde . I l y traçait les signe s d e s a tendress e o u d e s a colère.. . Mais s i longuemen t frotté d u vent.. . je perdai s conscienc e d u dessi n qu e traçai t mo n corps.' (H , 62) Th e uniformit y an d visua l monoton y o f th e desert , together wit h th e blindin g an d unceasin g sunligh t tha t pervade s i t and fro m whic h ther e i s n o escape , mak e o f its landscap e a n idea l backcloth tha t share s thes e attribute s wit h th e whit e sheet o f paper awaiting th e writer' s pe n o r th e printer' s ink . Nowher e doe s th e

The Writing on the Blackboard / 7 Camusian text refer t o itself so clearly and offe r a more explicit transcription of its own origins in the act of writing than in this detail of the desert landscap e note d b y Janin e i n 'L a Femm e adultère' : 'Tou t autour, u n troupea u d e dromadaire s immobiles , minuscule s à cett e distance, formaien t sur l e so l gri s le s signes d'une étrang e écritur e dont i l fallai t déchiffre r l e sens. ' (i , 1567 ) Eve n wit h th e comin g of night (an d the consequent setting of the sun), when the act of writing necessarily gives way to the inner unfurlin g of mental imagery in the form o f a fresc o o f curiously shaped animals , th e sam e desert background appears : 'L a nui t commença . De s image s venaient . D e grands animau x fantastique s qu i hochaien t l a têt e au-dessu s d e paysages désertiques. ' (MH , 199 ) Somethin g o f th e sam e effec t a s i n this passage from L a Mort heureuse, Camus' posthumously published novel, i s create d b y anothe r fresc o wit h th e interpla y an d contras t between a whit e backgroun d an d th e dar k huma n form s se t off against it . I t i s the scen e presented b y th e harbou r o f the Kasba h in Algiers, a s depicte d i n th e essa y 'L'Et é à Alger' : 'L e por t es t dominé pa r l e jeu d e cube s blancs d e l a Kasbah . Quan d o n es t au niveau d e l'eau , su r l e fon d blan c cr u d e l a vill e arabe , le s corps déroulent un e fris e cuivrée . Et , à mesur e qu'o n avanc e dan s l e mois d'août e t qu e l e soleil grandit , le blanc des maisons se fait plu s aveuglant et les peaux prennen t une chaleu r plus sombre.' (il , 69) One o f th e mos t strikin g evocation s o f th e deser t figure s i n th e remarkable and , i n man y ways, puzzling shor t story 'Le Renégat. ' The following description, which recalls the linguistic signs formed b y the dromedaries as seen by Janine, will serve as a useful transition to a detailed consideratio n of this short story that will bring out its special significance i n th e presen t context : 'le s chameau x fuien t droi t vers l'horizon, o ù u n geyse r d'oiseau x noir s vient de s'éleve r dan s l e ciel inaltéré.' (i , 1590) One o f th e man y peculiaritie s o f 'L e Renégat ' i s that , wit h th e murder scene and the scene in the mortuary in L'Etranger, it contains one o f th e ver y few hallucinatory passage s i n al l o f Camus' works . This hallucinatory quality can obviously be attributed, on the level of the fictive universe, quite literally to the mind o f the protagonist who is, as in the case of Meursault before him, hallucinating. However, on the formal leve l of the writing, thes e passages hav e a distinctly visual quality, rar e i n Camus , tha t make s a n indelibl e impressio n o n th e

8 / The Narcissistic Text

reader's mind. These evocations curiously happen t o be characterized by the same blinding whiteness, whether it be in the earlier novel or in the description, in the short story, of 'la ville de sel, au creux de cette cuvette pleine de chaleur.' (i , 158l) This is very clear from th e follow ing passage : Sur chacun des murs droits, taillés à coups de pic, grossièrement rabotés, les entailles laissées par le pic se hérissent en écailles éblouissantes, du sable blond épars les jaunit un peu, sauf quand le vent nettoie les murs droits et les terrasses, tout resplendit alors dans une blancheur fulgurante, sous le ciel nettoyé lui aussi jusqu 'à son écorce bleue. Je devenais aveugle, dans ces jours où l'immobile incendie crépitait pendant des heures sur la surface des terrasses blanches qui semblaient se rejoindre toutes comme si, un jour d'autrefois, ils avaient attaqué ensemble une montagne de sel, l'avaient d'abord aplanie, puis, à même la masse, avaient creusé les rues, l'intérieur des maisons, et les fenêtres, ou comme si, oui, c'est mieux, ils avaient découpé leur enfer blanc et brûlant avec un chalumeau d'eau bouillante... dans c e creux au milieu du désert... (i , 1581) Although ther e i s nothing i n thes e particula r line s t o attenuat e th e all-pervasive dazzlin g whitenes s create d b y th e light-reflectin g salt, nothing blac k or merely darker i n colour t o suggest characters on a page, on e i s struck by th e impressio n o f relief and clear-cu t textur e with th e wall s 'taillé s à cou p d e pic, ' th e 'écaille s éblouissantes ' left b y the pick and appearing to stand out sharply, and the hollowedout streets , houses, and windows , all creating the effec t o f the mountain's havin g bee n cu t awa y b y 'u n chalumea u d'ea u bouillante.. . dans c e creux a u milie u d u désert. ' Her e i t i s as thoug h th e char acters ha d no t bee n trace d i n in k bu t rathe r embosse d i n th e very whiteness of the paper . Moreover , th e physica l effor t tha t ha s obviously ha d t o b e exerte d i n th e proces s o f hollowin g ou t th e salt , 'taill[é] à coup d e pic,' bears eloquent , i f figurative, testimony to th e mental exertion entaile d i n th e forgin g o f language b y the writer in the act of literary creation . In fact , as Linda Hutcheon has very convincingly demonstrated in her remarkabl e essa y '"L e Renéga t o u u n espri t confus " comm e Nouveau Récit,' 5 the whole of this text ca n be read a s an allegor y of the act of writing. The 'chalumeau ' or pipe is not the only trace of the

The Writing on the Blackboard / 9 writing instrumen t i n th e text , fo r th e evocatio n o f the fetish' s hea d suggests th e pen' s metalli c nib : 'j'a i v u l e fétiche, s a double têt e d e hache, so n nez d e fer tordu comm e un serpent. ' (i , 1584 ) Yet another image evoking written characters on a page emerges here: 'ils passent, silencieux, couvert s de leurs voiles de deuil, dans la blancheur miné rale des rues ...' (i , 1582 ) Where doe s this strange town of the savage s lie? Precisel y a t th e meeting plac e betwee n th e blac k characters an d the whit e page , ' à la frontière de la terre des noirs et du pay s blanc , où s'élève la ville de sel.' (i , 1580 ) The dialecti c o f blac k an d whit e reappear s constantl y i n th e descriptions righ t dow n t o th e footwea r o f its inhabitant s 'dan s les sandales rouge s e t noires , leur s pied s brillant s d e sel. ' (i , 1582 ) Th e richness o f th e allegor y emerge s fro m thes e remarkabl e passage s where there is nothing schemati c or abstract , an d henc e intellectualized, tha t woul d immediatel y sugges t allegori c inten t an d detrac t from th e evocative power of the language. O n th e contrary, the visual impact of these scenes with thei r strange, barel y human forms flittin g silently across an otherworldl y landscape an d thei r stark interplay of blackness an d whitenes s gives them a nightmarish qualit y tha t con tinues to grip the reader's imagination lon g after h e has laid down the book. I t i s as though the y ha d bee n summone d u p fro m ou t o f the darkest recesse s of the huma n mind . However , m y intention her e is not to suggest that the source of the imagery lies in the subconscious whatever the merits or otherwise of such a hypothesis - bu t rather to claim that nowhere else is Camus' writin g evocatively more powerful , visually more effective : le froid de la nuit les fige un à un dans leurs coquillages de gemme, habitants nocturnes d'une banquise sèche, esquimaux noirs grelottant tout d'un coup dans leurs igloos cubiques. Noirs, oui, car ils sont habillés de longues étoffes noires et le sel qui envahit jusqu 'aux ongles, qu 'on remâche amèrement dans le sommeil polaire des nuits, le sel qu'on boit dans l'eau qui vient à l'unique source au creux d'une entaille brillante, laisse parfois sur leurs robes sombres des traces semblables aux traînées des escargots après l a pluie, (i , 1581) To quote Linda Hutcheon , 'nou s avons ici le négatif photographiqu e des trace s (le s traînées ) d e l'encr e (l a pluie ) noir e (l e sel) su r un e page blanch e (étoffe s noires)' 6- although thi s negative ha d been pré-

10 / The Narcissistic Tex t

ceded b y it s positiv e equivalen t wit h th e imag e o f the 'esquimau x noirs grelottant tou t d'un coup dans leurs igloos cubiques,' where the shivering silhouette s o f the Eskimo s sugges t th e squiggle s fro m th e writer's pen . More interesting stil l in th e presen t contex t i s the expressio n 'l e sommeil polaire des nuits,' which echoes the 'nuit polaire' evoked in Le Mythe d e Sisyphe, tha t characterize s luci d despair , tha t 'veill e d e l'esprit d'o ù s e lèvera peut-êtr e cett e clart é blanch e e t intact e qu i dessine chaqu e obje t dan s la lumière de l'intelligence' (H , 146), an d where black an d whit e come togethe r a s a succinct visua l parado x that ca n b e see n t o symboliz e paper an d ink . Fo r althoug h i t i s a question, in the essay, of pictorial images rather tha n linguistic signs, the 'clarté blanche et intacte' could well evoke the virgin whiteness of the writer's shee t of paper. Th e sam e contradictory coming-togethe r of black and white is found in the depiction of the desert landscape in the essay 'Eté,' where the landscape is described as 'noire de soleil' (n, 55) an d th e ligh t tha t prevail s i s seen t o b e 's i éclatant e qu'ell e e n devient noir e e t blanche. ' (il , 847 ) Th e followin g evocatio n o f th e effect create d by the sunlight points up the same phenomenon, that is far fro m goin g generally unremarked: sa lumière (d u soleil,) , a force d'épaisseur, coagule l'univers et ses formes dans un EBLOUISSEMENT OBSCUR. Mais cela peut se dire autrement et je voudrais, devant cette CLARTE BLANCHE ET NOIRE qui, pour moi, a toujours été celle de la vérité, m'expliquer simplement sur cette absurdité que je connais trop pour supporter qu'on en disserte sans nuances. Parler d'elle, au demeurant, nous mènera de nouveau au soleil. (H , 86l) We shall have occasion in th e nex t chapter o n L a Peste to appreciate not only how the characters on the page indulge in the kind of self-reflective proces s described an d thereby suggest the very activity of the writer that underlies and would appear chronologically to precede their existence as text (although, in fact, as we shall see later, this activity i s contemporaneous wit h th e unfoldin g o f the tex t withi n which it is inscribed fo r all eternity), but als o how the tangible, material object without which they would not be perceptible - th e paper which provides their material habitat - i s also represented within the text.

The Writing on the Blackboard / 1 1 However, to conclude the present chapter , I should like to return to the point made in my introduction concernin g stylization, which I can here illustrate i n detail and whic h will serve as a useful transitio n to the chapters tha t follow . The wa y that th e tex t throw s up a n imag e of the writing process itself an d draw s attention t o th e materialit y of language which is, of course, par t an d parce l o f th e writer' s experienc e i s bu t a furthe r development of the text's self-conscious turning away from th e fiction it normally serves to bring to existence in the mind's eye of the reader. The tex t turn s in o n itself , thu s generatin g a series of mirror reflec tions o f its own activit y an d exist s for its own sake as it unfolds i n a weaving-out process whereby text takes on tangible textur e through the continua l interpla y o f signifier wit h signifie r a s well as between signifier an d signifie d (th e third relatio n between signified an d signified being primarily responsible for the constitution of the fictive universe itself) . Th e mor e readily recognize d tendency of the languag e from whic h it is woven to be lost sight of because of that transparent quality tha t enable s th e non-linguisti c world t o rise u p i n a n unobstructed vision and realize what Jean Ricardou has named the 'referential illusion " ha s recede d int o th e backgroun d a s languag e ha s taken bac k to itself and reclaime d th e material opacity that it shares with other objects. The comparison that Ortega y Gasset has made in Th e Dehumanization of Art could not be more appropriate here. He likens the relationship tha t exist s betwee n languag e an d th e fictive universe t o tha t pertaining betwee n the windowpane and the garden that lies beyond it: Looking at the garden we adjust our eyes in such a way that the ray ofvùion travels through the pane without delay and rests on the shrubs and flowers. Since we are focusing on the garden and our ray of vision is directed toward it, we do not see the window but look clear through it. The purer the glass, the less we see it. But we can also deliberately disregard the garden and, withdrawing the ray ofvùion, detain it at the window. We then lose sight of the garden; what we still behold of it is a confused mass of color which appears pasted to the pane. Hence to see the garden and to see the windowpane are two incompatible operations which exclude one another because they require different adjustments*

12 / The Narcissistic Text

Camus' novel s ar e conceive d i n suc h a manne r tha t th e reade r i s never allowed to lose sight of the existence o f the glass , which relent lessly impose s itsel f upo n hi s attention . I t i s because o f th e glass' s coming s o obtrusively and persistentl y between hi m and th e world of its characters, subordinatin g a s it were the activity of his mind's eye to that o f his real eye , the sensorial orga n tha t picks out th e configura tion o f the letters and words on the page before him, that he finds his naïve expectation s a s a traditiona l novel-reade r (an d a traditional novel reader), in the final analysis, frustrated, 9 as readers of L'Etranger and L a Chute have found tim e and again : But not many people are capable of adjusting their perceptive apparatus to the pane and the transparency that is the work of art. Instead they look right through it and revel in the human reality with which the work deals. When they are invited to let go of this prey and to direct their attention to the work of art itself they will say that they cannot see such a thing, which indeed they cannot, because it ù all artistic transparency and without substance.™ Curiously w e fin d a n explici t illustratio n o f Orteg a y Gasset' s analysis i n Camus ' posthumousl y publishe d novel-tex t L a Mort heureuse, which merely confirms explicitly what remains implicit in his later texts. I t reveals that, all appearances t o the contrary, there is no possibility of the text's losing sight of itself, so to speak, of its losing its own self-consciousness . Th e tissu e o f languag e neve r efface s itsel f entirely i n favou r o f th e fictio n i t point s towards . Joseph Grand' s ambition wil l neve r b e realized : 'Quan d j e sera i arriv é à rendr e parfaitement le tableau qu e j'ai dans l'imagination .. . alors le reste sera plus facil e e t surtou t l'illusio n ser a telle , dè s l e début , qu'i l ser a possible de dire: "Chapeau bas"!' (i , 1302 ) The illusio n is never complete and definitive. Nowhere is its instability more vividly allegorized than i n th e scene , from L a Mort heureuse, where Mersault i s looking out through a windowpane bearing condensatio n an d where it is perhaps no t entirel y fancifu l t o se e in th e imag e o f the bi g blackbird s those same linguistic signs whose material presence yields to the world of fiction : A perte de vue et à distances régulières, de grands oùeaux noirs... tournaient en rond dans un vol lent et lourd, et parfois l'un d'eux quittait le groupe, rasait la

The Writing on the Blackboard / 13

teñe, presque confondu avec elle, et s'éloignait d'un même vol gras, interminablement jusqu'à ce qu'il fût assez loin pour se détacher comme un point noir dans le ciel commençant. Mersault avait effacé de ses mains la buée de la vitre et il regardait avidement par les longues raies que ses doigts avaient laissées sur le verre. De la terre désolée au ciel sans couleur se levait pour lui l'image d'un monde ingrat où pour la première fois, il revenait enfin à lui-même... Mersault écrasa ses larmes et ses lèvres contre le verre froid. De nouveau l a vitre se troubla, l a plaine disparut. (MH , 116-17)

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2 The Autoreferential Text: La Peste

La Peste is a text which often speak s of other texts . These other texts are, moreover , of all kinds, rangin g fro m th e ver y short t o the very long and their status varies between the aesthetic and the practical. It could eve n be claime d that th e rea l subject o f La Peste i s none other than th e text in all its various forms. This wor k starts out b y explicitly designating itsel f a s a text: 'Les curieux événement s qu i fon t l e sujet d e cett e CHRONIQU E s e son t produits en 194. , à Oran.' (i , 1217 ) Texts o r part s or aspects of texts are mentioned som e 17 0 times' within L a Peste and on e finds fifty or so differen t term s tha t fulfi l thi s function . Fo r th e purpose s o f thi s chapter, the numerous forms of writing referred to can be classified i n several categories. In additio n t o th e 'chronique ' itself , severa l other literary genre s ar e evoke d suc h a s th e 'roman, ' 'roma n policier, ' 'épopée,' 'récit, ' an d 'carnets, ' a s wel l a s th e mor e genera l term s 'histoire' an d 'texte. ' Non-literar y form s o f writin g ar e als o men tioned, whethe r i t b e th e 'feuilleton, ' th e 'lettre, ' th e 'traité, ' th e 'travail (écrit), ' th e 'note, ' th e 'bulletin, ' th e 'journal ' o r th e 'télé gramme.' Other term s belong to the realm of journalism and government bureaucracy , suc h a s 'reportage, ' 'communiqué, ' 'décrets, ' 'dépêche,' 'déclaratio n préfectorale, ' 'déclaratio n administrative, ' 'annonce,' 'déposition, ' 'publicatio n d e statistiques, ' 'arrêt, ' 'arrêté, ' and 'rapport.' There are also those mini-texts that serve, for example, to provide variou s form s o f information: 'curriculum vitae,' 'bulleti n de renseignements, ' 'ordonnance, ' 'inscription, ' 'écriteau, ' 'affiche, ' 'pancarte,' 'mot d'ordre,' 'laisser-passer,' and 'message.' An analogous function i s fulfilled b y 'l'indicateur Chaix,' 'le graphique,' 'une radio-

16 / The Narcissisti c Text

graphie,' 'tablea u d e surveillance, ' an d 'feuille s d e statistiques.' Further term s designate th e materia l characte r of the written text a s in the cas e of 'livre,' 'ouvrage, ' 'documents, ' 'fiche, ' 'dossiers, ' 'livr e d e chevet,' 'papiers,' 'manuscrit,' 'feuille,' 'feuille manuscrite,' and 'pages.' Finally, ther e ar e othe r constitutiv e parts o f the text : 'mots, ' 'mot s justes,' 'signes,' 'formules,' 'phrases,' 'bouts de phrase,' 'cliché,' 'clause de style, ' 'longu e période, ' 'lignes, ' 'observations, ' an d 'remarques. ' This summary enumeration will suffic e t o illustrate the considerabl e variety of terms that evoke the written language in its different forms . And thi s is not th e leas t remarkabl e aspect of the vocabular y of La Peste. To speak of texts, to evoke the text in its various possible guises, is, when what is speaking is itself a text, necessarily to speak of oneself. In other words, I have just enumerated diverse fashions in which the text goe s about referrin g t o itself. But t o speak o f oneself is not th e only way to refer t o oneself. The autorepresentation the text indulges in consist s of a whol e range o f procedures t o whic h L a Peste bear s eloquent witness. Few readers of this novel could remain unaware of the importan t rôle playe d b y languag e an d th e inadequacie s o f languag e i n it s thematic texture. The attention paid by the representatives of authority to the precise wording of official statement s and their correlation to the law s o f th e lan d i s a clea r sourc e of satirica l effec t i n Camus ' depiction of how Oran's administratio n i s reluctant t o come to grips with th e firs t tell-tal e sign s o f th e outbrea k o f th e plague . Thi s i s contrasted wit h Rieux' s matter-of-fac t no-nonsens e practicalit y tha t insists o n callin g a spad e a spade : 'i l fallai t de s mesures complètes, non de s phrase s ... " (i , 1265) , h e point s out , an d 'C e n'es t pa s un e question d e vocabulaire, c'est une question de temps.' (i , 1256 ) Wha t is important is not th e words used to describe what is happening bu t the practica l measures that are to be pu t int o effect. I n othe r words, language ca n hav e n o rea l gras p o n th e concret e reality of human suffering: Les médecins se consultèrent et Richard finit par dire: - Il faut donc que nous prenions la responsabilité d'agir comme si la maladie était la peste. La formule fut chaleureusement approuvée:

The Autoreferential Text : La Peste 117 - C'est ainsi votre avis, mon cher confrère? demanda Richard. - L a formule m'est indifférente, di t Rieux. (i , 1256-7) - n o more tha n th e numerical languag e o f statistics ca n provide a meaningful accoun t of the deat h tol l of pestilence, a s Rieux discover s in attempting t o appreciate th e dimension s of the situation : II essayait de rassembler dans son esprit ce qu'il savait de cette maladie. Des chiffres flottaient dans sa mémoire et il se disait que la trentaine de grandes pestes que l'histoire a connues avait fait près de cent millions de morts. Mais qu'est-ce que cent millions de morts? Quand on a fait la guerre, c'est à peine si on sait déjà ce qu'est un mort. Et puisqu'un homme mort n'a depoids quesi on l'a vu mort, cent millions de cadavres semés à travers l'histoire ne sont qu'une fumée dans l'imagination, (i , 1246)

Language an d statistic s ar e bu t tw o facet s o f th e phenomeno n o f abstraction2 that is one of the main adversaries in the struggle agains t the plague . However, the interplay of major themes within the work is not part of m y presen t concern . Wha t i s more pertinen t i s the wa y in which language has a tendency to provide a commentary upon itself, so that we rea d tha t 'le s mot s "transiger, " "faveur, " "exception " n'avaien t plus d e sens ' (i , 1272 ) and tha t 'l e mot mêm e d e "nouveauté" avai t perdu so n sens.' (i , 1397 ) Language thereb y draws attention, t o itself, no longe r givin g wa y t o wha t i s here th e fictive reality i t ostensibl y designates. Thi s i s true no t onl y on th e leve l of the evocatio n o f the drama tha t i s played ou t befor e th e reade r bu t als o o n tha t o f th e other dimensio n o f th e fictio n whic h i s constitute d b y th e actua l telling o f the tale . Th e narrativ e i s characterized, befor e al l else, by certain 'précaution s de langage ' (i , 1220 ) which manifes t themselves time and tim e again i n the discours e of our chronicler : Le docteur remarqua que Grand, parlant de Cottard, l'appelait toujours 'le désespéré. ' II employa même à un moment l'expression 'résolution fatale. ' Ils discutèrent sur le motif du suicide et Grand se montra tatillon sur le choix des termes. On s'arrêta enfin sur les mots 'chagrins intimes.' Le commissaire demanda si rien dans l'attitude de Cottard ne laùsait prévoir ce qu 'il appelait 'sa détermination.' (i , 1241 )

18 / The Narcissistic Text

Not th e least curious aspect of La Peste i s the parado x that , while the text insists that what really matters, the experience of the plague, 'n'est pas une affaire de vocabulaire' (i, 1256), its own status does tend to become reduced t o a mere question of words and language . Th e reason is not only that the theme of the inadequacy of language ends up, throug h a process of almost inevitable contamination , b y undermining it s ow n linguisti c vehicle , bu t als o tha t th e neutralit y an d objectivity th e narrator cultivate s gives rise to a kind of very distinctive, obtrusive verbosity which obviously has nothing t o do with the wordiness o f gossip o r affectatio n tha t arise s fro m a quit e differen t motivation. Th e languag e o f the narrativ e manage s to be obtrusive precisely becaus e i t seem s to b e tryin g to o hard t o be discree t an d with thi s end i n view, uses so many circumlocutions an d reformula tions, taking , s o t o speak , tw o step s backwar d fo r ever y ste p wit h which it carries the narrative forward. It goe s without saying that in drawing attentio n t o itself , th e languag e o f the novel , b y th e sam e token, necessaril y draw s attention t o it s ow n material medium : th e text. Let u s no w tur n t o th e actua l device s a t wor k i n th e proces s of autorepresentation. I shal l first of all trac e an d ma p ou t a serie s of reflections operating within the confines of the text whereby the latter appears to pause to reflect upon itself before moving forward, picking up agai n wha t has already been evoked and repeating it , and henc e representing itself . Thu s th e progressio n o f the tex t matches tha t of the narrator's discourse . Th e followin g passag e onc e again raises the problem of the inadequac y of language, thi s time in the for m of telegrams and letters: Même la légère satisfaction d'écrire nous jut refusée... Les télégrammes restèrent alors notre seule ressource. Des êtres que liaient l'intelligence, le cœur et la chair, en furent réduits à chercher les signes de cette communion ancienne dans les majuscules d'une dépêche de dix mots. Et comme, en fait, les formules qu'on peut utiliser dans un télégramme sont vite épuisées, de longues vies communes ou des passions douloureuses se résumèrent rapidement dans un échange périodique de formules toutes faites comme: 'Vais bien. Pense à toi. Tendresse. ' Certains d'entre nous, cependant, s'obstinaient à écrire et imaginaient sans trêve, pour correspondre avec l'extérieur, des combinaisons qui finissaient toujours par se révéler illusoires. Quand même quelques-uns des moyens que nous

The Autoreferential Text: La Peste 119

avions imaginés réussissaient, nous n'en savions rien, ne recevant pas de réponse. Pendant des semaines, nous fûmes réduits alors à recommencer sans cesse la même lettre, à recopier les mêmes appels, si bien qu'au bout d'un certain temps, le s mots gu i d'abord étaient sorti s tout saignants d e notre cœur se vidaient de leur sens. Nous Us recopiions alors machinalement, essayant de donner a u moyen d e ce s phrases mortes de s signes d e notre vi e difficile. (l , 1272-3) The first sentence of the second paragraph represent s a veritable allegory of the ac t of writing: th e writer's fate is none other tha n that of imagining 'de s combinaisons qui finissent] toujours par s'avérer illusoires' inasmuch as language, i n th e final analysis, refers t o nothin g but itself . Bu t m y mai n concer n her e i s wit h th e imag e o f bein g reduced ' à recommence r san s cesse la mêm e lettre,' for it produce s its mirror image in the shap e of the character of Joseph Grand, who devotes hi s whol e existence t o rewritin g th e sam e sentenc e which, 'indéfiniment recopiée , remaniée , enrichi e o u appauvrie ' ( l 1432) , constitutes th e su m tota l o f th e manuscrip t tha t th e municipa l employee shows to Rieux . Grand is first of all introduced t o the reader as somebody who 'ne trouvait pa s se s mots' (l , 1252) , a proble m which 'l'empêchai t tou jours d'écrire la lettre de réclamation qu'i l méditait': A l'encroire, il se sentait particulièrement empêché d'employer le mot 'droit'sur lequel il n'était pas ferme, ni celui de 'promesses' qui aurait impliqué qu'il réclamait son dû et aurait par conséquent revêtu un caractère de hardiesse, peu compatible avec la modestie des fonctions qu'il occupait. D'un autre côté, Use refusait à utiliser les termes de 'bienveillance, ' 'solliciter, ' 'gratitude, ' dont il estimait qu 'ils ne se conciliaient pas avec sa dignité personnelle. C'est ainsi que faute de trouver le mot juste, notre concitoyen continua d'exercer ses obscures fonctions jusqu'à un âg e assez avancé. (l , 1252 ) Quite apar t fro m th e recurrence here of the stress on language an d the difficult y o f bringing the latter into Une, or even contact, with the reality (psychological, in this case) t o which one seeks to give expression ('pou r évoque r de s émotions s i simples, cependant , le moindr e mot lui coûtait mille peines,' we are told.) ' "Ah! Docteur, disait-il, je voudrais bien apprendr e à m'exprimer".' [l , 1253]) , what should b e

20 / The Narcissistic Tex t

noted i s that th e paragrap h i n questio n is , as it were, framed b y th e same observation . Jus t a s th e previou s paragrap h ende d wit h th e words: 'Enfin , e t surtout, Joseph Gran d n e trouvait pas ses mots' (i , 1252), the present one ends thus: 'II continuait de chercher ses mots.' (i, 1252 ) Now , these two sentences point t o another leve l of the tex t which i s no t tha t o f th e fictio n a s suc h (a s was th e cas e wit h th e evocation o f the characte r Grand) , bu t tha t o f the narration . The y apply not onl y to Grand himsel f but als o to Rieux in his function a s narrator. Curiously the sentence with which the very next paragrap h begins itself illustrates the point I am making: 'Dans un certain sens, on peut bien dir e que sa vie était exemplaire.' (i , 1252) The narrato r too appear s t o b e constantl y searchin g fo r words: 'Ce qu i es t plu s original dan s notr e vill e es t l a difficult é qu'o n peu t y trouve r à mourir. Difficulté , d'ailleurs , n'est pas le bon mot et il serait plus juste de parler d'inconfort ' (i , 1218) - a n 'inconfort,' one might add, that is far remove d from th e 'malconfort' of the inveterately voluble narrator of L a Chute\ Althoug h th e 'précaution s d e langage ' (i , 1220 ) which he continually has recourse to can appear to represent a striving afte r 'le mot juste' (i , 1252) , th e latte r nevertheles s repeatedly eludes him and an y impressio n o f linguistic precisio n an d accurac y soon give s way t o a strin g o f formulations that ar e al l equally approximative , much in the manner, as we have already seen, that all the talk by the text about th e irrelevance of language itsel f takes on the appearanc e of just so much talk or verbiage : On dira SANS DOUTE que cela n 'est pas particulier à notre ville et qu 'ENSOMME tous nos contemporains sont ainsi. SANS DOUTE, rien n 'est plus naturel... Ces quelques indications donnent PEUT-ETRE une idée suffisante de notre cité. AU DEMEURANT, ON NE DOIT RIEN EXAGERER. Ce qu'il fallait souligner, c'est l'aspect banal de la ville et de la vie. Mais on passe ses journées sans difficulté aussitôt qu'on a des habitudes. Du moment que notre ville favorise les habitudes, ON PEUT DIRE que tout est pour le mieux, sous CET ANGLE, SANS DOUTE, la vie n 'est pas très passionnante. DU MOINS, on ne connaît pas chez nous le désordre... MAIS I L EST JUSTE D'AJOUTER .. . (i , 1219) This whole passage can be seen to furnish a mirror reflection of the diffidence an d distrus t wit h which th e narrato r himsel f handle s lan guage in recounting, amon g other things , th e story of Joseph Grand.

The Autoreferential Text: La Peste 121

We have here then an example o f textual autorepresentation, a phenomenon Jean Ricardo u ha s describe d i n thes e terms: 'Avec Vautoreprésentation .. . il y aura bien effet s d e représentation mai s au lieu d e renvoyer ver s toujour s autr e chose , c'es t l e text e lui-mêm e qu'il s concernent, selo n parfoi s de s subtilité s étranges , à différent s niveaux.'3 Now, if what is reflected i n th e portrait of Grand were the words of Rieux uttere d during the course of the events recounted, we would have an example of what Ricardou ha s defined a s 'horizontal autorepresentation' wher e 'tels aspect s d e l a fiction, dans l a mesure où il s se lient d'u n nombr e excessi f d e ressemblances , tendent à se représenter réciproquement,' 4 fo r the n th e tw o passages i n questio n would b e situate d o n th e sam e level of the text : tha t o f the fiction . (This wa s th e cas e o f th e firs t reflectio n note d abov e betwee n th e portrait o f Grand an d th e accoun t of the particular rôle of telegrams and letter s durin g th e plague. ) However , thi s i s not th e cas e here , since th e firs t passag e concernin g Grand, one o f the characters o f the fiction, pointed t o or reflected th e narrativ e level of the text, Rieux' s discourse in his rôle as story-teller. Hence, the phenomenon is rather that o f 'vertica l autorepresentation ' characterize d b y th e situatio n where 'tel s aspect s d e l a fiction , paysag e décrit , situatio n offerte , idéologie proposée , s'efforcen t d e ressembler , selo n se s manières , à tel s aspect s de l a narration qu i les produit.'5 Ricardou goe s on t o point out tha t of the different form s of 'vertical autorepresentation,' it is precisely the 'mise-en-abyme' that is Tune des occurences les mieux visibles de ce dispositif.'6 In additio n t o the mirroring process of autorepresentation, however, any mise-en-abyme als o implies the existence of a particula r kind o f relationship between the elements of the tex t thus brought together: it is the same relationship that exists between the microcos m and th e macrocosm , th e smalle r element bein g contained within the larger one. This condition is naturally fulfilled with regard t o th e relationshi p betwee n a componen t o f th e fiction (the character trait s of Joseph Grand) and a feature o f the narrativ e (the language of Rieux a s chronicler). An analogou s device can be seen at work in another passag e concerning Grand. The difference lie s in the fact that this time it does not refer t o othe r specifi c element s o f the text , i n othe r word s to othe r particular passages elsewhere in the novel. Rather i t seems to point to the very origins of the text in its entirety:

22 / The Narcissisti c Text Rieux comprit seulement que l'œuvre en question avait déjà beaucoup de pages, mais que la peine que son auteur prenait pour l'amener à la perfection lui était très douloureuse. 'Des soirées, des semaines entières sur un mot... et quelquefois une simple conjonction '... Les mots sortaient en trébuchant de sa bouche mal garnie. - Comprenez bien, Docteur. A la rigueur, c'est assez facile de choisir entre mais e t et . C'est déjà plus difficile d'opter entre e t e t puis . L a difficulté grandit avec pui s e t ensuite . Mais, assurément, ce qu'il y a de plus difficile c'est de savoir s'il faut mettre et o u s'il ne faut pas. (i, 130l ) It woul d doubtles s b e equally pertinen t t o speak her e either i n more traditional critica l term s of a kind of allegory of novelistic creation o r of an intratextual allegor y of the productio n of the tex t itself whereby the surfac e o f th e latte r reveal s her e an d ther e th e trace s o f its own generation. The tex t no t onl y proffers a reflection o f the generativ e process by which i t ha s com e t o exis t bu t a t othe r point s wher e i t i s again a question of Grand's activities as a writer, it points out its own present existence a s a material object: Dans la salle à manger, Grand l'invita [Rieux] à s'asseoir devant une table pleine de papiers couverts de ratures sur une écriture microscopique ... [Grand]... contemplait toutes ces feuilles et sa main parut invinciblement attirée par l'une d'elles qu'il éleva en transparence devant l'ampoule électrique sans abat-jour. La feuille tremblait dans sa main, Rieux remarqua que le front d e l'employé était moite, (i , 1301-2) The tex t thus draws attention t o the medium of paper and ink which provides th e tangibl e for m tha t constitute s it as an objec t o f perception. And sinc e in thi s respect, b y virtue o f the natur e o f its materia l existence, th e printe d pag e o f L a Peste i n n o wis e differ s fro m th e original manuscrip t page , th e tex t thu s designates throug h thi s self same gesture and b y means of the very same passage th e conditions of its own production : d'une voix étrangement creuse, [Grand] les pria de lui apporter le manuscrit qu 'il avait mis dans un tiroir. Tarrou lui donna les feuilles qu 'il serra contre lui, sans les regarder, pour les tendre ensuite au docteur, l'invitant du geste à les

The Autoreferentia l Text : La Peste 123 lire. C'était un court manuscrit d'une cinquantaine de pages. Le docteur le feuilleta et comprit que toutes ces feuilles ne portaient que la même phrase indéfiniment recopiée, remaniée, enrichie ou appauvrie. Sans arrêt, le mois de mai, l'amazone et les allées du Bois se confrontaient et se disposaient de façons diverses. L'ouvrage comportait aussi des explications, parfois démesurément longues, et des variantes. Mais à la fin de la dernière page, une main appliquée avait seulement écrit, d'une encre fraîche: 'Ma bien chère Jeanne, c'est aujourd'hui Noël... ' Au-dessus, soigneusement calligraphiée, figurait la dernière version de la phrase. 'Lisez, ' disait Grand. Et Rieux lut. 'Par une belle matinée de mai, une svelte amazone, montée sur une somptueuse jumentalezane, parcourait, au milieu des fleurs, les allées du Bois... ' (l, 1432) This last sentence, the object of Joseph Grand's unending care and attention, is itself, a s I remarked i n Chapter 1 , a mise-en-abyme o f th e process of enunciation o n the level of the generation of the whole text in which it is embedded. However , it function s thu s in two complementary ways: both diachronically and synchronically. Through its recurrence in ever so slightly modified forms (n o less than four : cf . I, 1302, 1327,1328, and 1432) , it reflects the actual historical emergence of the manuscript tha t was to become th e tex t w e have before us throug h the series of modifications and rewriting s that it underwent, as though laying ou t befor e th e reader' s gaze th e very variants whic h are normally efface d on e afte r anothe r an d finally obscured foreve r beneat h the definitiv e versio n o f the text . I t i s a s thoug h i t wer e openly t o exhibit syntagmaticall y the variou s levels of the palimpses t tha t was the origina l manuscript , muc h i n th e manne r o f th e Frenc h Ne w Novel, suc h a s Robbe-Grillet' s L a Jalousie fo r example , wher e th e same passag e recur s tim e an d agai n bu t eac h tim e i n a slightl y modified form . I n thi s sense, th e diachronic , historical genesi s of th e text i s made presen t an d perceptibl e i n it s entirety, i n othe r word s synchronically, or, t o change registers , th e temporal is thereby trans posed int o the spatial. However, this sentence can at the same time be seen t o functio n o n a solel y synchronie level, completel y within th e spatial dimensio n of the tex t withou t regard fo r its historical origins . For i t also has all the appearanc e o f a mise-en-abyme o f the whole text within which it is contained an d which it reproduces and represents in miniature, jus t a s th e microcos m mirror s th e macrocosm . I shal l

24 / The Narcissistic Tex t

return late r t o the status and functionin g of the texts withi n the text. What is, for me, beyond disput e is that it is possible to read the commentary Grand make s on his own sentence as a commentary on th e language tha t goe s to make up th e text o f La Peste, a language tha t never stops pointing itself out, drawing attention t o itself instead of to the fiction that is its ostensible raison d'être: - Ce n 'est là qu'une approximation. Quand je serai arrivé à rendre parfaitement le tableau que j'aidans l'imagination, quand ma phrase aura l'allure même de cette promenade au trot, une-deux-trois, une-deux-trois, alors le reste sera plus facile et surtout l'illusion sera telle, dès le début, qu 'il sera possible de dire: 'Chapeau bas!' Mais, pour cela, il avait encore du pain sur la planche. Il ne consentirait jamais à livrer cette phrase telle quelle à un imprimeur. Car, malgré le contentement qu'elle lui donnait parfois, Use rendait compte qu'ELLENE COLLAIT PAS TOUT A FAIT ENCORE A LA REALITE .. . (l , 1302-3 )

The language of La Peste is no more effective tha n that of its character Grand i n 'sticking' to the fictive reality it is intended t o refer t o and the illusio n o f which al l th e device s o f autorepresentatio n serv e t o denounce. Let u s now leave aside all the various forms o f autorepresentatio n we hav e bee n concerne d wit h thu s fa r an d concentrat e o n on e of them i n particular : th e mise-en-abyme i n it s mos t obviou s an d leas t debatable form . I a m referrin g to the mise-en-abyme tha t i s brought about b y th e particula r organizatio n o f th e differen t level s o f th e text: narration and fiction. (Here I retain Jean Ricardou's own terminology: 'I I es t clai r qu e l a narratio n es t l a manièr e d e raconter , l a fiction c e qui es t conté ...") Th e resultin g structure is responsible for the text' s takin g o n th e appearanc e o f a nes t o f boxes eac h fittin g into a larger , identica l versio n o f itsel f lik e thos e popula r Russia n dolls. Thi s will entail a n examinatio n o f the over-all structure of the work a s well as, although incidentally , the specifi c trait s of its narrative technique. The narrator presents his story as a chronicle, as I remarked at the beginning of this chapter : Arrive là, on admettra sans peine que rien ne pouvait faire espérer à nos concitoyens les incidents qui se produisirent au printemps de cette année-là et

The Autoreferentia l Text : La Peste I 25

qui furent, nous le comprîmes ensuite, comme les premiers signes de la série des graves événements dont on s'est proposé de faire ici la chronique. Ces faits paraîtront bien naturels à certains et, à d'autres, invraisemblables au contraire. Mais, après tout, un chroniqueur ne peut tenir compte de ces contradictions. Sa tâche est seulement de dire: 'Ceci est arrivé, ' lorsqu 'il sait que ceci est, en effet, arrivé... (i , 1219) What cannot fai l t o strike the reader is the impersonal, almost anonymous tone of voice of the speaker, a characteristic which is perfectly in keeping, I might add, with the objectivity and neutrality sought afte r by the writer of a chronicle : Du reste, le narrateur qu 'on connaîtra toujours à temps, n 'aurait guère de titre à faire valoir dans une entreprise de ce genre si le hasard ne l'avait mis à même de recueillir un certain nombre de dépositions et si la force des choses ne l'avait mêlé à tout ce qu'il prétend relater. C'est ce qui l'autorise à faire œuvre d'historien. Bien entendu, un historien, même s'il est un amateur, a toujours des documents. Le narrateur de cette histoire a donc les siens: son témoignage d'abord, celui des autres ensuite, puisque, par son rôle, il fut amené à recueillir les confidences de tous les personnages de cette chronique, et, en dernier lieu, les textes qui finirent par tomber entre ses mains, (i , 1219-20) Almost identica l term s wil l be use d subsequentl y b y th e narrato r when he comes to present another document that will play an important rôl e in hi s own narrative an d lon g extracts o f which will, moreover, be incorporated therein . I am referring to Tarrou's diary : le narrateur croit utile de donner sur la période qui vient d'être décrite l'opinion d'un autre témoin. Jean Tarrou, qu'on a déjà recontré au début de ce récit, s'était fixé à Oran quelques semaines plus tôt... Ses carnets... constituent eux aussi une sorte de chronique de cette période difficile. Maù il s'agit d'une chronique très particulière qui semble obéir à un parti pris d'insignifiance... Dans le désarroi général, il s'appliquait, en somme, à se faire l'historien de ce qui n 'a pas d'histoire. On peut déplorer sans doute ce parti pris et y soupçonner la sécheresse du cœur. Mais il n 'en reste pas moins que ces carnets peuvent fournir, pour une chronique de cette période, une foule de détails secondaires qui ont cependant leur importance et dont la bizarrerie même empêchera qu'on juge trop vite ce t intéressant personnage. (l , 12334)

26 / The Narcissistic Tex t

It i s to be noted tha t Tarrou's diary is just a s much a 'chronicle' as Rieux's tale, tha t th e former to o undertakes th e work of a historian even if, in his case, he is not th e historian o f the 'graves événements' (l, 1219 ) the narrato r speak s of but th e historia n 'd e c e qui n' a pa s d'histoire.' an d finally , tha t hi s diar y ca n giv e th e impressio n o f a certain 'sécheresse du cœur' that could also have been created by the objectivity and detachment of the narrator . Tarrou's diar y is, of course, just one of the 'documents' or 'texts' in the narrator' s possessio n whic h enabl e hi m t o 'fair e oeuvr e d'his torien.' (i, 1220) Moreover, the reader is not allowed to lose sight of its status as a document as he reads this narrative within the first narrative, this 'chronique' (l , 1234 ) within that other 'chronique ' (l , 1219) that i s L a Peste. Th e materia l existenc e o f th e diar y i s constantly evoked: ' A vra i dire, ce s carnets deviennen t assez bizarre s à parti r du momen t o ù le s statistique s commencen t à baisser . Est-c e l a fatigue, mai s L'ECRITUR E E N DEVIENT DIFFICILEMEN T LISIBL E e t l'o n passe tro p souven t d'u n suje t à l'autre. ' (l , 1443 ) Th e passage s quoted fro m th e diary are often accompanie d by th e presentation of the actual document as well as by a commentary on its contents: Ce sont les seuls endroits où les notes du voyageur, à cette date, semblent prendre un caractère personnel II est difficile simplement d'en apprécier la signification et le sérieux. C'est ainsi qu'après avoir relaté que la découverte d'un rat mort avait poussé le caissier de l'hôtel à commettre une erreur dans sa note, Tarrou avait ajouté, D'UNE ECRITURE MOINS NETTE QUE D'HABITUDE: 'Question: comment faire pour ne pas perdre son temps? Réponse: l'éprouver dans toute sa longueur. Moyens ... ' Mais tout de suite après ces écarts de langage ou de pensée, les carnets entament une description détaillée des tramways... et terminent ces considérations par un 'c'est remarquable' qui n'explique rien.' (l , 1235-6 ) These sheet s of writing that make up the second level of narrative of the tex t reproduce , throug h th e b y no w familiar proces s of mise-enabyme, the material reality of the latter : Ici, du reste, l'écriture de Tarrou donnait des signes bizarres de fléchissement. Les lignes qui suivaient étaient difficilement lisibles et, comme pour donner une nouvelle preuve de ce fléchissement, les derniers mots étaient les premiers qui

The Autoreferentia l Text : La Peste I 27 fussent personnels: 'Ma mère était ainsi, j'aimais en elle le même effacement et c'est elle que j'ai toujours voulu rejoindre. Il y a huit ans, je ne peux pas dire qu'elle soit morte. Elle s'est seulement effacée un peu plus que d'habitude et, quand je m e suis retourné, elk n'était plus là. ' (l , 1444 )

The materia l existence of the diar y is situated in tha t fictive universe that is the subject of the narrative (of the first narrator, that is), being just one of the document s the narrator ha s collected: 'Rentr é chez lui , Tarro u rapportai t cett e scèn e e t aussitô t (L'ECRITUR E LE PROUVAIT ASSEZ) notait sa fatigue.' (i , 1447) This means that the level of th e tex t correspondin g t o th e diar y belongs t o th e worl d of the fiction, whereas i n relatio n t o th e event s of Tarrou's everyday existence evoked in the diary's pages, on the other hand, it constitutes a second level of narration. What w e hav e here, is , if not th e beginning , th e potentia l fo r a new proces s o f mise-en-abyme, th e firs t consisting , a s w e hav e just seen, of the quotations from Tarrou's diary. This possibility is brought about by the fact tha t Tarrou's diary , in its turn, quotes other documents so that, just as the extracts from the latter are embedded within the large r tex t fo r which Rieux i s responsible an d whic h it, a t th e same time, mirrors due to the diary's status as a 'chronicle' within a 'chronicle,' so the written sources quoted by Tarrou are embedded in the text in which they figure. If I speak here of the 'potential' for the generation o f a mise-en-abyme rathe r tha n it s actual realization, i t is because the actual situation where one text lies embedded does not, in itself, brin g about or necessitat e an y mirroring effec t a s such on th e part o f the embedde d tex t o f the tex t tha t contain s i t Unless , of course, on e were to conside r th e commo n status as text of the tw o elements concerne d a s constituting a commo n identit y tha t would justify considerin g th e smalle r th e reflectio n o f th e larger . Suc h is clearly implied in the image of a microcosm/macrocosm relationship that I evoked in connection with the functioning of Joseph Grand' s sentence on the synchronie level of the text as a spatial rather tha n a temporal phenomenon. Here it appears more reasonable, however , to postulate quite simply a situation of enchâssement where the vehicle of the firs t enchâssement, Tarrou's diary , become s th e framewor k fo r a second analogou s embeddin g process 8 featuring further documents : hence, texts within a text within a text.

28 / The Narcissistic Tex t

This is precisely the structuring effect analyse d by Tzvetan Todorov in hi s essa y 'Le s Hommes-récits ' o n A Thousand an d On e Nights i n Poétique d e l a prose. T o th e rhetorica l question : 'Mai s quell e es t l a signification intern e d e l'enchâssement...?,' thi s theoreticia n replies : 'La structur e d u réci t nou s e n fourni t l a réponse : l'enchâssemen t est un e mis e en évidenc e d e l a propriét é l a plu s essentiell e d e tou t récit. Ca r l e réci t enchâssant , c'es t l e récit d'un récité Fo r présen t purposes, i t suffice s t o rea d th e ter m text wher e Todoro v write s 'récit': 'E n racontan t l'histoir e d'u n autr e récit , l e premie r attein t son thèm e fondamenta l e t e n mêm e temp s s e réfléchi t dan s cett e image d e soi-même ; l e réci t enchâss é es t à l a foi s l'imag e d e c e grand réci t abstrai t don t tou s le s autre s n e son t qu e de s partie s infimes, e t auss i d u réci t enchâssan t qu i l e précèd e directement . Etre l e réci t d'u n récit , c'es t l e sor t d e tou t récit , qu i s e réalise à travers l'enchâssement.' 9 It i s in this way that the process of reflection comes int o pla y onc e agai n i n th e fina l analysis . Texts-within-text s here join s u p wit h texts-about-texts , whic h provide d th e startin g point o f this chapter. In th e same manner, then , tha t Tarrou's diary figures among the 'documents' gathere d togethe r b y the chronicler Rieux, other documents take their place within the diary like so many microtexts within the macrotex t tha t contain s them . Amon g thei r number , w e find newspaper items , whethe r the y hav e th e brevit y o f headlines: '[de s vendeurs d e journaux] s e répandront dan s tout e la ville, tendan t à bout d e bra s le s feuille s o ù éclat e l e mo t "Peste" . " Y aura-t-i l u n automne d e peste ? L e professeu r B . répond : Non". ' (i , 1314 ) O r reproduce the actual text of an article : il s'est créé u n autre journal: L e Courrie r d e l'épidémie , qu i s e donne pour tâche ¿"informer nos concitoyens, dans un souci de scrupuleuse objectivité, des progrès et des reculs de la maladie; de leur fournir les témoignages les plus autorisés sur l'avenir de l'épidémie; de prêter l'appui de ses colonnes à tous ceux, connus ou inconnus, qui sont disposés de lutter contre le fléau; de soutenir le moral de la population, de transmettre les directives des autorités et, en un mot, de grouper toutes les bonnes volontés pour lutter efficacement contre le mal qui nous frappe.' (\, 1314) At one point, we actually corne across a third 'chronicle ' that there fore figures as a chronicle withi n a chronicle withi n a chronicle! 'L a

The Autoreferentia l Text: La Peste I 29 chronique locale.. . est maintenant occupé e tou t entièr e pa r un e campagne contr e l a municipalité : "No s édile s s e sont-il s avisé s d u danger qu e pouvaien t présente r le s cadavre s putréfié s d e ce s rongeurs?"' (l , 1237 ) Certain microtext s ar e als o to be found i n th e form o f signs: Toutes les boutiques sont fermées. Mais sur quelques-unes, l'écriteau 'Fermé pour cause de peste' atteste qu'elles n 'ouvriront pas tout à l'heure avec les autres. (i, 1314) II n'y a pas longtemps, certains restaurants affichaient: 'Ici, ébouillanté.' (i , 1315 )

le couvert est

The precedin g text s ar e therefore doubly embedded o r framed a s texts within a text within a text. If we now retrace our footsteps, so to speak, bac k t o th e poin t wher e th e firs t leve l of enchâssement i s produced b y th e various extracts fro m Tarrou' s diary in th e for m o f an actual mise-en-abyme, we notice tha t th e latter documen t is itself surrounded b y othe r document s whic h are als o th e objec t of the sam e enchâssement while not, for the reasons given earlier, creating a mise-enabyme. These other texts, in addition t o Joseph Grand's sentence , are of many kinds. Here , too , there are newspaper items : La réponse du préfet en présence des critiques dont la presse se faisait l'écho ('Nepourrait-on envisager un assouplissement des mesures envisagées?') fut assez imprévue, (i , 1280) A les lire [les journaux], ce qui caractérisait la situation, c'était 'l'exemple émouvant d e calme et de sang-froid' qu e donnait l a population, (i , 1411 ) But there are also posters: 'u n mot d'ordre avait fini par courir qu'on lisait, parfois , su r le s murs ... "Du pai n o u d e l'air". ' ( l 1411 ) Sign s found i n th e window s of commercial establishments: 'U n caf é ayan t affiché qu e "l e vi n tu e l e microbe, " l'idé e déj à naturell e a u publi c que l'alcoo l préservai t de s maladie s infectueuse s s e fortifi a dan s l'opinion.' (l , 1282 ) Not t o mention officia l communiqués : Le communiqué ajoutait, il est vrai, que dans un esprit de prudence qui ne pouvait manquer d'être approuvé par la population, les portes de la ville resteraient fermées pendant deux semaines encore et les mesures prophylactiques maintenues pendant un mois. Durant cette période, au moindre signe gué le

30 / The Narcissistic Text péril pouvait reprendre, 'le stat u qu o devait être maintenu e t le s mesures reconduites au-delà.' (i , 1440-1 )

Also i n th e administrativ e domai n i s the hospita l car d tha t record s Father Paneloux' s death: 'O n inscrivi t sur l a fiche: "Cas douteux". ' (i, 1408 ) Th e posta l service s als o provid e othe r text s suc h a s th e official dispatc h receive d b y th e Préfet : 'Bernar d Rieu x regardai t l a dépèche officiell e qu e l e préfe t lu i avai t tendue.. . La dépêch e portait: "Déclare z l'éta t d e peste . Ferme z l a ville". ' (i , 1267 ) An d the telegra m Ramber t send s t o his wife i n Paris : 'I I avai t fini, après une attent e d e deu x heure s dan s un e file , pa r fair e accepte r u n télégramme o ù i l avai t inscrit : "Tou t v a bien . A bientôt". ' (l , 1285) I t i s perhap s eve n les s surprisin g t o fin d a n extrac t fro m a medical handbook : 'un e phras e revenai t a u docteu r Rieux , un e phrase qu i terminai t justemen t dan s so n manue l l'énumératio n de s symptômes: "L e poul s devien t filiform e e t l a mor t survien t à l'occasion d'u n mouvemen t insignifiant". ' (i , 1247 ) Nor shoul d w e overlook here the macabre text scrawled on Cottard's door announcing hi s intended suicide : 'sur l a porte d e gauche , Rieu x lut , tracé à la craie rouge: "Entrez , je suis pendu".' (i , 1229) Having analyse d thi s two-tiered framing devic e of a frame withi n a frame where the element reflected contain s the element reflecting an d both, whether they constitute narrative or fiction, consist of texts (that is to say passages marked off by quotation marks) , we must now come back to the interrelationship of the differen t level s of the text taken as a whole, as formal entities , in other words the over-all structure of La Peste. At first sight, we appear t o be confronted b y a formal device that is, to all intents and purposes, the same as that just described: the dimension o f the fiction dependent upo n th e narratio n o f the first narrator takes on , i n it s turn , a narrativ e functio n i n th e shap e o f Tarrou's diary o r even , theoretically , Grand' s manuscript . Bu t le t u s retur n once again t o the first level of narrative, that for which the narrator of the whole chronicle is responsible: 'Cependant , avant d'entrer dan s le détail d e ce s nouveaux événements , l e narrateur croi t util e de donner su r l a périod e qu i vien t d'êtr e décrit e l'opinio n d'u n autr e témoin.' (i , 1233 ) Ther e appear s t o b e n o doub t o f th e narrativ e character, an d solel y narrativ e character , o f this level of the text. Yet,

The Autoreferentía l Text: La Peste 131 at th e beginnin g o f th e las t chapter , w e encounter a mos t curiou s phenomenon: 'Cett e chroniqu e touch e à s a fin. Il es t temps qu e le docteur Rieu x avou e qu'il en es t l'auteur.' (i , 1466 ) It consist s of the unexpected appearanc e o f wha t ca n onl y b e describe d a s a prenarrator.10 'L e narrateur ' i s th e creatio n o f thi s prenarrator , whos e existence endows even the level of the first narrator's narrativ e with a fictive status , sinc e th e perso n designate d a s 'l e narrateur ' i s non e other tha n a fictive character invented by Dr Rieux fo r his own purposes, that is to say to take on the rôl e of story-teller. The presence of a prenarrator was, in fact, already perceptible long before th e last chapter o f the novel . First of all, the designation of the narrator i n th e thir d perso n alread y implie d th e existenc e o f some such unidentified an d unmentione d person: Car il faut bien parler des enterrements et LE NARRATEUR s'en excuse. IL sent bien le reproche qu 'on pourrait LU! faire à cet égard, mais SA seule justification est qu 'il y eut des enterrements pendant toute cette époque et que, d'une certaine manière, on L'a obligé... à SE préoccuper des enterrements. Ce n 'est pas, en tout cas, qu'/L ai t d u goût pour ce s sortes de cérémonies... (l , 1357) Secondly, the narrative at times had recourse to a curiously ambiguous pronoun, th e impersonal , third-perso n pronou n on : 'A c e point d u récit qu i laiss e Bernard Rieu x derrièr e s a fenêtre , O N permettra a u narrateur d e justifier l'incertitud e et la surprise du docteur , puisque, avec des nuances, sa réaction fut cell e de nos concitoyens.' (l , 1245) What i s strange here - an d this emerges very clearly from th e last passage quote d - i s that th e prenarrator, Rieux , th e protagonist in the fight against the plague, who has created the character of'le narrateur,' exist s paradoxicall y o n th e leve l o f th e fictio n a s on e o f th e characters involved in th e events recounted. If Tarrou's diary constitutes, as we have seen, a first level of fiction, it is to the subsequent and last fictiv e dimensio n o f th e tex t tha t th e prenarrato r necessaril y belongs: th e serie s of events that ar e recounted b y Tarro u a s well as by Rieux . Th e on e level of the text that appeared t o be solely narrative i n characte r (sinc e that correspondin g t o Tarrou's diary consti tutes a narrative an d a fiction) finally proves t o be dependent upo n the fictio n tha t wa s of its own creation. Thus , th e table s hav e bee n turned and a logically impossible situation has arisen where the narra-

32 / The Narcissistic Text tive has become the fiction and vic e versa. The narrato r turn s out t o be a n inventio n o f one o f th e character s whose stor y we have been following thanks to this imaginary intermediary without whose words the characte r woul d no t hav e existe d i n th e firs t place . Wha t thi s means, in the final analysis, is that the prenarrator, although his name is finall y reveale d t o us , Bernar d Rieux , i s wholly inaccessible an d unknowable. Since the onl y Bernard Rieu x know n to us is the daily fighter agains t th e plague , th e companion-in-arms , s o t o speak , o f Tarrou, Grand, and th e rest of them. He is, moreover, only known to us from th e outside," his inner thoughts an d feelings only perceptibl e inasmuch as they are articulated or given bodily expression. Even the ubiquitous and ambiguou s narrative on does not describe his physical appearance directl y but , instead , cite s the portrai t give n in Tarrou's diary: A titre documentaire, on peut enfin reproduire le portrait du docteur Rieux par Tarrou. Autant que le narrateur puisse juger, il est assez fidèle: 'Paraît trente-cinq ans. Taille moyen. Les épaules fortes. Visage presque rectangulaire. Les yeux sombres et droits, mais les mâchoires saillantes. Le nez. fort est régulier. Cheveux noirs coupés très courts. La bouche est arquée avec des lèvres pleines et presque toujours serrées. Il a un peu l'air d'un paysan sicilien avec sa peau cuite, son poil noir et ses vêtements de teintes toujours foncées, mais qui lui vont bien. ' (i, 1238) The resulting narrative perspective is, when viewed retrospectively b y the reade r i n the light o f Rieux's revelation i n the final chapter, not unlike tha t o f L'Etranger. Bernar d Rieux , lik e Meursault , speak s of himself a s thoug h h e wer e another (excep t tha t i n hi s case , i t i s as though th e speaker , rathe r tha n th e perso n spoke n about , wer e another). And just a s the narrato r o f La Chute wil l assume the rôle of a certai n Jean-Baptiste Clamence , judge-penitent an d fals e prophet , in order t o trap his listener, so the narrator o f La Peste assumes a false identity for the purposes o f his narration. It i s difficult no t to perceive in th e relationshi p betwee n thes e thre e novelisti c text s o f Camu s variations o n a commo n theme : ostensibl y o f mask s an d men , o f stories and story-tellers or, more pertinently for the present context, of mirrors and mirages. Characters wh o refuse to identify themselve s are produced b y texts tha t neve r stop doing so.

The Autoreferential Text : La Peste 133 What thi s amount s t o i n term s o f narrative structur e i s that th e story withi n a stor y withi n a stor y constitute d b y th e event s o f the plague recounte d b y Tarro u an d the n subsequentl y recounte d ye t again b y th e narrato r o f the chronicl e entitle d L a Peste is taken on e stage furthe r an d thereb y circle s bac k upo n itself . Fo r on e o f th e protagonists o f th e stor y o f th e event s o f th e plagu e is , in fact , th e creator o f the firs t narrato r an d hence , i n th e final analysis, responsible for the latter' s narrative. Now , if, as we have seen, each leve l of fiction i s enchâssé or frame d b y th e narrativ e leve l which it i s dependent upo n fo r its existence, th e oute r an d firs t framewor k (th e first level of narrative) ends up by being framed b y that which is the object of th e secon d framin g proces s (Tarrou' s diary) , that i s by th e fiction. The story of Rieux and hi s fellow citizens is contained within Tarrou's narrative whic h i s containe d withi n 'th e narrator" s narrativ e fo r which Rieu x i s responsible . Th e proces s o f enchâssement ha s bee n turned insid e out like a glove.12 What mor e fittin g a n imag e o f autorepresentation coul d ther e b e than thi s remarkabl e structur e wherei n eac h leve l o f th e tex t i s enchâssé b y an d embedde d withi n the precedin g leve l and eac h level functions bot h a s a narrative an d a fiction? The final twist whereby this movement of enchâssement, having renewed itself once, then turns back upon itself , like the proverbial snake that eats its own tail/tale, so that th e repetitio n could , theoretically , b e repeate d a d infinitum , brings t o min d th e 'je u d e glace s étudié ' evoke d i n th e 'Prièr e d'insérer' of La Chute, the 'glaces' corresponding here to the differen t levels o f the text . Thus, i n L a Peste, all and ever y fiction is endlessly undermined b y the manner i n which the tex t never ceases to refer t o itself and t o proclaim it s status as text. As Sylvère Lotringer ha s pu t it, '!' 'autoreprésentation subverti t l e je u d e l a représentatio n e n l e prenant, s i l'on peu t dire , a u mot : si l'on n e peut barre r entièremen t l'effet référentiel , qu i es t inscri t dan s l e langage , o n peu t lui-mêm e le représenter , e n d'autre s terme s ... le détourner e t contourne r afi n de le renvoyer au text e même." 3

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3 The Self-Generating Text : 'Jonas'

In thi s chapter , I shal l b e looking a t a differen t for m o f narcissism from tha t operativ e i n L a Peste. The textual narcissis m o f the latte r novel wil l giv e wa y t o th e linguistic narcissis m tha t ca n b e see n a t work withi n th e ver y textur e o f th e tex t a s it spin s itself ou t i n a process of autogeneration, continuall y mirroring itself so that production and reproduction becom e synonymous. The shor t stor y 'Jona s o u l'artist e a u travail ' conclude s wit h a n enigma which , i n th e contex t o f the tal e tha t precede s it , i s tanta mount to a pun, that is to say a play on words. There is, in fact, only one word, but tha t word can be read a s one of two alternatives. It is 'un mot qu'on pouvai t déchiffrer , mai s dont on ne savait s'il fallait y lire solitaire ou solidaire.' (l , 1652 ) The tw o spellings of the word sum up s o wel l th e tw o polaritie s o f Camus ' whol e literar y outpu t — a dichotomy that is to be found i n all he wrote and tha t is reflected in the ver y title s o f hi s texts : L'Envers e t l'endroit, 'Entr e ou i e t non, ' L'Exil e t le royaume - tha t one might well suspect that in this play on words lie s the ver y raison d'êtr e of this shor t story . The oppositio n between solitude and solidarity, the two 'temptations' Camus was continually confronted with, stands out here in such sharp relief that the whole of the text could be nothing more than a pretext to obtain thi s final effect. Tha t being so , it shoul d com e as no surprise to discover that the text that serves as a mere pretext for a play on words' should itself prov e t o b e th e produc t o f a pla y o n words . The tex t woul d thereby turn out t o be the occasion and place for play, like the apartment it describes wher e beings 'semblaient flotter comme des ludions dans un aquariu m vertical.' (l , 1633 )

36 / The Narcissistic Text The text begin s thus: 'Gilbert Jonas, artiste peintre, croyait en son étoile.' (l , 1627 ) Where ha s thi s star come from? I t wa s already to be found i n Camus ' Carnets o n 1 0 January 1950 : 'Je n'ai jamais vu trè s clair e n mo i pour finir . Mai s j'ai toujour s suivi , d'instinct, un e étoil e invisible.'2 In 1958 , in reply to a questionnaire presented to him by a North America n academic , Camu s speak s of experiencing 'l e sentiment d'un e "étoile " particulière.' 3 I t shoul d moreove r b e pointe d out tha t on e o f the possibl e source s of this short stor y is an essa y by Henry Miller entitled U n Etre étoilique. 4 Jonas attribute s th e 'succès ' (i , 1642 ) that h e meet s wit h i n th e eyes o f th e critic s t o hi s star : 'Jona s rendai t justic e à so n étoil e plutôt qu' à se s mérites. ' (l , 1627 ) H e account s fo r th e monthl y retainer pai d t o hi m b y th e ar t deale r i n th e sam e way : 'Jonas e n lui-même remerciai t so n étoile.. . "Ça, disait-il , c'es t un e chance! " Il pensai t e n réalité : "C'es t un e chanc e qu i continue. " Auss i loi n qu'il pû t remonte r dan s s a mémoire , i l trouvait cett e chanc e a l'œuvre.' (l , 1627 ) In othe r words, what is at work here is none other than his star, which is responsible not only for his success but als o for the text itself. This is hardly surprising since, according to the Rober t Dictionary, 'l'étoile ' i s 'un astr e producteu r e t émetteu r d'énergie. ' Let us now consider what is produced by 'l'étoile.' What 'l'étoile ' produce s i n th e firs t plac e i s 'l a productio n d e Jonas' (l , 1638) : 'le s toiles ' tha t Jonas works on. And i t is only to be expected tha t his 'toiles' are often mentione d in the text. It goes without sayin g tha t th e wor d 'tableau ' als o derive s fro m 'l'étoile ' b y semantic association. What i s less obvious is the analogou s genesis of the 'carr é d u cie l dessin é pa r l a cour ' (l , 1635 ) agains t th e back ground of which the daylight was fading away as Jonas decided to lay down hi s paintbrush an d th e shap e o f which reproduces that o f the canvas ('toile' ) th e artis t wa s seate d i n fron t of . Bu t it s genesi s i s doubly determined b y the fact tha t it is within the 'carré du ciel' that 'l'étoile' will subsequently appear. The productio n o f hi s 'toiles ' unde r th e influenc e o f hi s 'étoile ' makes o f Jonas himsel f a star . Fo r 'l e succè s de Jonas lui valut' no t only 'de s amis ' (1634 ) bu t als o '[des ] disciples ' (1636 ) an d h e thu s becomes th e 'maître ' (1636 ) o f a schoo l o f painting : 'Jona s main tenant faisai t école. ' (1636 ) Indeed , wit h th e changin g o f a conso nant an d th e droppin g o f a vowel , étoile become s école. Bu t le t u s

The Self-Generating Text : 'Jonas' / 37

return t o th e 'maître, ' a ter m tha t i s inevitabl y calle d fort h b y 'école.' Nowher e coul d on e fin d a kinde r no r mor e helpfu l master . 'Ce sera comm e vous voudrez' (1627 , 1632, 1634 , 1639 , 1650 ) i s the refrain wit h which he greet s every call on hi s services, every request for help . On e ca n appreciat e tha t hi s wif e Louis e doe s indee d 's e sais[ir] d'u n mètr e pliant ' (1638 ) an d wel l befor e sh e need s i t t o measure their apartment. Fo r it was on the occasion of their marriage that she got her hands on a master who would do all that was asked of him and put u p with anything. The sta r is normally to be found withi n its constellation. Jonas the star is no exception t o this rule since he paints away surrounded by a constellation o f attentive faces : 'Ains i coulait le temps d e Jonas, qu i peignait a u milie u d'ami s e t d'élèves , installé s sur de s chaises maintenant disposée s e n rangs concentriques autour d u chevalet. ' (1637 ) If the word constellation does not itself figure in the text, it is as though it wer e conjure d u p b y it s phoneti c half-brothe r 'installation, ' i n which on e ca n hea r it s echo . Th e nou n 'installation ' appear s fou r times (1631 and 1633) , as does the verb 's'installer' (1630 , 1634, 1638 , 1646). 'Installation' produces , i n its turn, 'organization' (1638 , 1639, 1646) with its verbal form (1648) , which brings us back to the original star thank s t o th e organizatio n o f the planetar y system . In fact , th e very way in which the teacups are passed around suggest s the movement of the planets : Les tasses passaient de main en main, parcouraient le couloir, de la cuisine à la grande pièce, revenaient ensuite pour atterrir dans le petit atelier où Jonas, au milieu d'une poignée d'amis et de visiteurs qui suffisaient à remplir la chambre, continuait de peindre jusqu'au moment où il devait déposer ses pinceaux pour prendre, avec reconnaissance, la tasse qu'une fascinante personne avait spécialement remplie pour lui. (164l )

But befor e systematicall y going throug h th e inventor y o f al l th e vocabulary tha t belongs, b y association, t o the domain of the stars, I should poin t ou t tha t th e image of the 'rangs concentriques' forme d by th e chair s the friend s an d disciple s are occupying, an image tha t can be seen to represent in visual form th e situation of the star, is not the onl y one of its kind. Th e descriptio n o f the way in which Louise tries to enter Jonas's studio without disturbing him, stretching out her

38 / The Narcissistic Text limbs in all directions at once and at the same time walking on tip-toe, 'sur l a pointe de s pieds' (1633) , seem s to reproduce th e shap e of the star fro m whic h th e tex t originates . Nothin g coul d b e more visually striking b y it s very grotesquenes s tha n thi s 'mimique où Louise , les bras largemen t écartés , l e tors e u n pe u renvers é e n arrière , e t l a jambe lancé e trè s hau t devan t elle , n e pouvai t pa s passe r inaper çue.' (1634 ) A whole vocabulary is to be found arisin g from th e existence of the sky or the cosmos. The revolutio n of the planets is associated wit h 'les toiles' (l'étoile) i n th e followin g sentence: 'il s mettaien t au-dessu s d e tout le s toile s d e l a premièr e période , mai s le s recherches actuelle s préparaient un e véritabl e révolution. ' (1639 ) Th e wor d 'voies ' (1628) call s t o min d th e milk y way (l a voie lactée), just a s 'croissance' (1638) is related t o croissant or the crescent-shaped quarter-moon. Cer tain passages are particularly rich in this respect and allo w us to trace the activit y o f th e origina l sta r i n som e detail . I n th e followin g example, th e verb 'cumuler' suggest s a particular kind o f cloud, th e cumulus (le cumulus), while the dedication o f the heavenly creature or 'ange' Louise shines forth i n the manner of a star: L'étoile décidément protégeait Jonas qui pouvait ainsi CUMULER sans mauvaise conscience les certitudes de la mémoire et les commodités de l'oubli.

Mais les trésors de dévouement que prodiguait Louise ETINCELAIENT DE LEURS PLUS BEAUX FEUX dans la vie quotidienne de Jonas. Ce bon ANGE lui évitait des achats de chaussures, de vêtements et de linge qui abrègent, pour tout homme normal, le s jours d'une vie déjà s i courte. (1630 ) Later o n i n th e text , 'cumuler ' return s i n th e for m o f Jonas's correspondence, whic h 's'accumulait ' (164l) . The working-ou t of the sta r can b e foun d i n a n eve n more succinc t for m o n the leve l of a single sentence: 'I I fallai t écarte r le s toiles , déplie r l a toil e perfectionnée , et s'installer ave c les petits.' (1634) I n addition t o the verb 's'installer,' mentioned earlier, we here see the lin e of derivation goin g from étoile to toile t o tableau an d thenc e t o table wit h a n étoile disseminate d i n 'é[carter les] toiles' and a n incomplete tableau i n 'table.' There is not only the vocabulary of the text that is related either by phonetic o r semantic association t o the phenomeno n o f the sky. Certain images, apparently having n o connection wit h the sky, reveal, on

The Self-Generating Text : 'Jonas' / 39 closer inspection , precisel y th e sam e association . Note , for example , that 'un e ombr e d e tristesse ' (1638 ) passe s cloudlik e ove r Louise' s countenance. An d whe n destin y n o longe r smile s on Jonas an d hi s star n o longer watches over hi m with its 'sourire bienveillant' (1629 ) so that h e lose s his 'naturelle bienveillance' (1637) , our her o and hi s reputation begi n t o declin e ('baiss[er], ' 164 2 and 1645 ) in harmon y with th e fadin g ligh t from hi s star. Indeed he himself makes the connection betwee n th e sky and th e star and, significantly, in a moment of discouragement, Jonas 'leva les yeux ver s le ciel sans étoiles, et alla tirer les rideaux' (1643), as though losing all hope of bathing agai n in the inspirationa l ligh t of his benevolent star . The mor e conscious he becomes o f the difficult y h e i s experiencing i n carrying on hi s painting as successfully as he had been wont to do, the more time he spends gazing a t th e sk y a s if looking fo r hi s absen t star : 'I I étai t toujour s assidu, mai s i l avai t maintenan t d e l a difficult é à peindre , mêm e dans le s moments de solitude. Ces moments, i l les passait à regarder le ciel . I l avai t toujour s ét é distrai t e t absorbé , i l devin t rêveur . I l pensait à l a peinture , à s a vocation , a u lie u d e peindre. ' (1645 ) I shall return later to his 'solitude,' but th e significance of his dream-like state i s clear enoug h for had h e not bee n i n th e habi t o f 'rêver à son étoile'? (1630 ) W e ca n therefor e understan d wh y 'reverie ' (1628 ) plays such a large part i n the story of Jonas (cf. also 1638 and 1646) . And so , ' à cett e époque , i l peignai t de s ciels ' (1645) , a s thoug h seeking t o conjur e u p th e sta r h e s o sorely missed . I t is , moreover, significant tha t a t Louise' s suggestio n tha t h e pain t a n 'ouvrière, ' 'il essaya, gâcha deux toiles , pui s revint à un ciel commencé.' (1646 ) There is little need to stress the obvious relationship between l'étoile and ligh t in general. Moreover, to a certain extent, the state of the sky and th e amoun t o f illuminatio n ar e directl y related . W e rea d tha t 'l'appartement étai t littéralemen t viol é pa r l a lumière. ' (1632 ) A t the sam e tim e stres s is als o place d upo n artificia l lightin g wit h th e description o f th e 'systèm e d'éclairage. ' (1632 ) Althoug h electri c light ha s nothin g t o d o wit h th e sky , it doe s have somethin g more directly in common with that other source of light, l'étoile, and tha t is its intensity. One finds in the imagery of the text a continual interplay between lightnes s and darkness , as in th e following sentence where it is as thoug h 'peinait ' represented , o n th e leve l of both signifie r an d signified, a defectiv e an d incomplet e for m o f peignait: 'Jona s qu i

40 / The Narcissistic Tex t

peinait longuemen t pou r recevoi r d e loi n e n loi n un e sort e d'éclai r fugitif o ù l a réalit é surgissai t alor s à se s yeu x dan s un e lumièr e vierge, n'avait qu'une idé e obscure de sa propre esthétique.' (1636 ) It i s clear tha t fo r Jonas himself darkness is brought abou t by th e absence o f th e star : 'I I allai t peindre , c'étai t sûr , e t mieu x peindr e après cett e périod e d e vid e apparent . Ç a travaillai t au-dedans , voilà tout , l'étoil e sortirai t lavé e à neuf , étincelante , d e ce s brouillards obscurs. ' (1647 ) Darknes s attain s it s zenith , i n bot h th e astronomical and the general sense of the term, in the form of the attic that the frustrated artis t builds for himself and i n which he first of all remains 'immobile , dan s l'obscurité , l a journé e entière. ' (1650 ) What exactl y does he do there? il attendait son étoile, encore cachée, mais gui se préparait à monter de nouveau, à surgir enfin, inaltérable, au-dessus du désordre de ces jours vides. 'Brille, brille, dùait-il. Ne me prive pas de ta lumière. ' Elle allait briller de nouveau, il en était sûr. Mais il fallait qu'il réfléchît encore plus longtemps, puisque la chance lui était enfin donnée d'être seul sans se séparer des siens. (1650) Note, in passing, the reappearance of the theme of solitude and als o of the relatonshi p betwee n th e proces s o f 'réflexion ' (1638 ) whic h recurs a t leas t seve n time s (1636 , 1643 , 1646 , 1649 ) and th e rôl e of light originating fro m th e star. If Jonas spends so much time reflect ing, it is precisely under th e influenc e of the ray s of starlight. When his friend Râtea u asks Jonas what he is doing in his attic and Jonas replies that he is busy working or at least that it is 'tout comme,' the reader can very well mistake the word 'toile' for étoile in Rateau' s reply: 'Mais tu n'as pas de toile!' (1651), says Râteau. The evening on which th e latte r find s th e lam p lit in th e attic for the first time coincides with th e occasio n when Jonas asks him for a canvas which his friend bring s him. Thus th e bringin g o f 'la toile ' an d th e retur n of 'l'étoile' ar e contemporaneous , a s i s suggeste d b y th e fac t tha t th e artist ha d li t his lamp: 'La lampe resta allumée toute la nuit et toute la matiné e d u lendemain . A ceu x qu i venaient , Râtea u o u Louise , Jonas répondait seulement : "Laisse, je travaille." A midi, il demanda du pétrole . L a lampe , qu i charbonnait , brill a d e nouvea u d'u n vif éclat jusqu'au soir. ' (165l ) His artistic inspiration corne s to life agai n

The Self-Generating Text : 'Jonas' / 41 in th e presenc e o f this 'vi f éclat ' whic h reveals that hi s sta r i s once again watchin g ove r him . Thi s lam p burnin g 'd'u n vi f éclat' recalls the 'trésor s d e dévouement, ' manifeste d b y Louise , whic h 'étince laient de leurs plus beaux feux' (1630) , as well as the way in which the virtue an d disinterestednes s o f Louise' s siste r an d niec e 'éclataien t dans leur nature honnête.' (1644 ) (Thi s whole range of vocabulary, it should be added, can bring t o mind the effect s o f a precious stone or diamond, t o which I shall return later.) Once hi s canva s ha s bee n completed , Jonas listen s t o th e nois e outside, 'l a bell e rumeur des hommes': 'D e si loin elle ne contrariai t pas cette force joyeuse en lui, son art, ces pensées qu'il ne pouvait pas dire, à jamais silencieuses , mais qu i l e mettaient au-dessu s de toute s choses, dan s u n ai r libr e et vif. ' (1652 ) Her e w e can appreciat e th e ultimate realizatio n o f th e expressio n o f being place d 'au-dessu s d e toutes choses' like the star. The previou s formulation o f the same idea ('Tous, certainement , plaçaien t trè s hau t le s travaux d e l'artiste... ' [1635]; '[Se s disciples ] l e mettaien t s i hau t dan s leur s discours.. . qu'après cel a aucun e faibless e n e lu i étai t permise. ' [1636] ) merel y foretold th e apotheosis by which he would see himself once and for all inhabiting the stellar regions. Proof of this is found in the fact that th e star's light will survive the snuffing ou t of the lamp, which will, on the contrary, enable him the better t o appreciate the renewed intensity of the star : 'I I éteigni t l a lamp e et , dan s l'obscurit é revenue , là , n'était-ce pa s son étoile qu i brillai t toujours ? C'étai t elle, il la reconnaissait, le cœur plei n de gratitude ...' (1652 ) The interpla y between light and dar k which fulfils s o significant a rôle in this text i s paralleled b y a n eve n more marked phenomenon : the alternatio n betwee n a n opening-ou t an d a narrowing-dow n of space. The statu s of the star as a symbol of expanding spac e is no less obvious tha n it s rôle as a source of light. The origina l space, that of the young couple's apartment, is generous by virtue of its exceptionally vas t dimensions , sinc e th e apartment , wit h it s room s tha t ar e 'particulièrement hautes, ' 'offrai t à se s hôte s u n gran d volum e d'air' ( 1631), in spite of the fact that this 'important cubage d'air' had already bee n divide d u p horizontally , i f not vertically , becaus e 'le s nécessités d e l'entassemen t urbai n e t d e l a rent e immobilièr e avaient contrain t le s propriétaire s successif s à coupe r pa r de s cloisons ce s pièce s tro p vastes , e t à multiplie r pa r c e moye n le s

42 / The Narcissistic Tex t

stalles qu'il s louaien t a u pri x for t à leu r troupea u d e locataires. ' (1631-2) With the birth of their children, the young couple find themselves 'contraints],' that is to say, short of usable living space: Le problème de l'espace vital l'emportait de loin ... sur les autres problèmes du ménage, car le temps et L'ESPACE SE RETRECISSAIENT du même mouvement, autour d'eux. La naissance des enfants, le nouveau métier de Jonas, leur INSTALLATION ETROITE, et la modestie de la mensualité qui interdisait d'acheter un plus grand appartement, ne laissaient qu'un CHAMP RESTREINT à la double activité d e Louise e t de Jonas. (163l ) Note the reappearanc e o f the word 'installation' (ou t of constellation) accompanied b y the epithet 'étroite.' The latter wor d reveals that the theme of ever-reducing space is doubly determined b y l'étoile: first of all, a s we have seen, throug h th e associatio n o f opposites (sinc e the star shines forth and thereby encroaches upon the surrounding space) and secondly , through phoneti c and lexical association. Fo r through the replacemen t o f one consonant b y another an d th e additio n o f a further one , étoile produce s 'étroite, ' a n adjectiv e tha t occur s fou r times in the tex t (cf . 1631,1632, 1644, 1649). Everywhere we find the cramped nature of space ('exiguïté' [1633] underlined, as in the case of the shower which 'pouvait en effet passer passer pou r tel[le ] à l a conditio n d' y installe r u n appareil , d e l e placer dans le sens vertical et de consentir à recevoir le jet bienfaisant dans une immobilité absolue ' (1632-3 ) an d th e kitchen in which 'on pouvait... à l a rigueur , mange r ... pourvu qu e Jonas , o u Louise , voulût bie n s e teni r debout. ' (1633 ) Thi s vertica l 'je t bienfaisant, ' descending fro m o n high , whose lbienfaisan[ce],' throug h th e 'bien veillance' noted earlier, is already related to the star that watches over ('veille') Jonas, as well as the purely vertical spaciousness of the rooms gives the impression of a movement reaching up towards the source of the starlight, laying way beyond a ceiling and a roof that already seem far away: La hauteur vraiment extraordinaire des plafonds, et l'exiguité des pièces, faisaient de cet appartement un étrange assemblage de parallélépipèdes presque entièrement vitrés, tout en portes et en fenêtres, où les meubles ne pouvaient trouver d'appui et où les êtres, perdus dans la lumière blanche et violent, semblaient flotter comme des ludions dans u n aquarium vertical (1633 )

The Self-Generating Text: 'Jonas' / 43

The effec t create d her e is not wholl y dissimilar t o the impressio n of human bodie s floatin g i n interplanetar y space , wher e th e forc e o f terrestrial gravit y n o longe r operates . Th e buildin g itsel f is like a n enormous contraption designed to attract and disseminat e light while subjecting it to endlessly varying refractions and reflections: ' "C'est le cabinet des glaces," disait Jonas ravi.' (1633 ) In spit e o f numerou s 'installation s ingénieuses ' i n th e for m o f 'portes roulantes ... tablettes escamotables et... tables pliantes' ('mètre pliant' gav e u s maître pliant), whe n 'le s pièce s furen t pleine s d e tableaux e t d'enfants , i l fallai t songe r san s tarde r à un e nouvell e installation' (cf . constellation) .(1633) An d spac e continues t o prove t o be more and more at a premium as it rapidly dimishes. Thus, Louise 's'inquiétait devan t l a croissanc e d e se s deu x aîné s e t Pétroitess e de leur chambre.' (1638) She therefore puts them in the biggest room and Jonas moves into the little room with the baby, for, 'en raison de l'encombrement cré é pa r se s toiles e t celle s de se s élèves, d e beau coup les plus nombreuses, il travaillait, ordinairement, dan s un espace à pein e plu s gran d qu e celu i qu i lu i serait , désormais , attribué. ' (1638) Bu t eve n thi s set-u p canno t las t fo r lon g sinc e 'l'enfan t l e gênait. I l grandissai t d'ailleurs , i l faudrai t achete r u n divan , qu i prendrait de la place.' (1643 ) A new arrangement has therefore to be found: 'Jona s occupai t l a chambr e conjugal e e t travaillai t dan s l'espace qu i séparai t l e li t d e l a fenêtre. ' (1644 ) A s hi s friend s an d acquaintances continu e t o encroac h upo n hi s livin g an d workin g space, the painter finds himself reduced t o a final solution which will guarantee him a space that will be his alone even if it only furnishes a limited amoun t o f room: 'Dan s l'angl e droi t qu e faisaien t les deu x couloirs, i l s'arrêt a e t considér a longuemen t le s haut s mur s qu i s'élevaient jusqu'au plafon d obscur .. . A mi-hauteur des murs, il construisit u n planche r pou r obteni r un e sort e d e soupent e étroite , quoique haut e et profonde.' (1648-9 ) This last refuge, sinc e it is situated high up below the ceiling, has the effect of bringing hi m closer to his star while at the same time ensuring hi s solitude. 'Solitude' (1645 ) als o derive s fro m l'étoile vi a it s adjectiva l for m 'solitaire' (1644, 1652), which generates a whole family of words that are either synonyms such as 'seul' (1650) and 'isolement' (1638) or else are very close in meaning while at th e same time rhyming with 'solitaire' a s in th e cas e o f 'singulière.' (1647 ) Fo r 'solitaire ' i s also, a s a noun, the name of a diamond which , like the star, 'étincfèle] d e [ses]

44 / The Narcissistic Text

plus beaux feux ' (1630 ) an d shine s 'd'un vif éclat.' (1651 ) Throug h the ray s of reflected light it throw s forth, th e diamon d als o suggests the shape o f the sta r as seen fro m afar , in th e sky . It i s interesting t o note tha t i n a first tentative versio n o f thi s text , a 'mimodram e en deux actes ' entitle d 'L a Vi e d'artiste, ' w e fin d a jeweller bringin g Jonas 'des écrins' (jewel-cases ) (2049 ) an d late r returnin g t o reclaim possession of the 'bijoux' (2051) . We can now appreciate how the play on words with which the text concludes 'solitaire ou solidaire' i s itself a product o f th e sta r ' à l'œuvre ' (1628 ) fo r th e las t time , i f onl y through th e intermediary of another plane t since the common denominator o f 'solitaire' and 'solidaire ' is none other than solaire. What is more, the effec t create d b y the whole of this last sentence of the short story i s of an eve n greate r complexit y an d constitute s a résum é of the activity of the star - an d not the artist - 'au travail.' It is an effec t of duplication wit h the sta r a s its object, a mise-en-abyme o f 'l'étoile,' since the 'solitaire' (or star-like diamond) is located right in the middle of a wholl y white '[é]toile': 'Dan s l'autr e pièce , Râtea u regardai t l a toile, entièremen t blanche , a u centr e d e laquell e Jonas avai t seulement écrit , e n trè s petit s caractères , u n mo t qu'o n pouvai t déchif frer, mai s dont on ne savait s'il fallait y lire solitaire ou solidaire? (1652 ) This is then yet another o f the 'bons effets d e [l']étoile.' (1629) What w e have here is a fine example o f what Jean Ricardo u ha s called Tautorepresentation, ' where 'il y aura bien effet s d e représentation mais, au lieu de renvoyer vers toujours autre chose, c'est le texte lui-même qu'il s concernent , selo n parfoi s de s subtilité s étranges , à différent s niveaux.' 5 I t come s a s n o surpris e t o discover , more over, tha t thi s texte-étoile i s a clos e cousin o f Roland Barthes ' 'text e étoile'6 an d end s u p lik e a spo t o f ink o n blottin g pape r spreadin g out, star-like, in all directions t o extend beyon d its own confines a s a text corresponding to the short story 'Jonas' and to participate in the process o f what on e migh t call , paradoxically , a n interna l o r intra intertextuality,7 that i s to say an intertextuality where the text s concerned are all part of the same writer's literary corpus. The othe r text s tha t i t thereby most ostensibly joins u p with in a movement o f reciprocal interplay ar e th e tw o novels L'Etranger an d La Chute. Thus Jonas's refrain 'C e sera comme vous voudrez' echoes its textual variant , Meursault' s equall y characteristi c respons e to all and sundr y 'Cel a m'était égal' so that each tex t ca n be read behin d

The Self-Generating Text : 'Jonas' / 45

the other, so to speak, creating a kind of palempsestic effect tha t contributes t o the internal textua l dynamic s of Camus' tota l writings or œuvre (a n effec t I shal l retur n t o later) . Mor e importantly , everything i n thi s tex t which , at first sight, it does not appea r possibl e to attribute t o the 'astre producteur' tends , through th e strongly ironical ton e tha t i t take s on , t o ech o o r foreshado w (sinc e historica l chronology i s not a n operativ e concep t o n th e leve l of textual pro duction) thos e maxims which constitute th e very substance of much of Clamence' s narrativ e i n L a Chute. We read tha t 'L'étoil e décidé ment protégeai t Jonas qui pouvait ains i cumuler sans mauvaise conscience le s certitude s d e l a mémoir e e t le s commodité s d e l'oubli ' (1630), just as , for Clamence , th e confessio n o f the errors of his ways allows hi m 'd e recommence r plu s légèrement e t de jouir deu x fois , de [sa ] natur e d'abord , e t ensuit e d'u n charman t repentir. ' (1546 ) When th e latte r says : 'J'a i conn u u n cœu r pu r qu i refusai t l a méfiance' (1479) , it is as though he were referring to Jonas himself, of whom i t i s written: '"Nou s n'avon s rie n à cacher, " disai t c e cœu r pur.' (1632 ) Th e shor t stor y and th e nove l corne together a t severa l points, whether it be on th e level of actual formulations: '// ne faut plus dire, affirmait Louise, qu 'un tel est méchant ou laid, mais qu 'il se veut méchant ou laid. ' La nuance était importante et risquait de mener au moins... à la condamnation du genre humain. ('Jonas, ' 1629 ) Chacun exige d'être innocent, à tout prix, même si, pour cela, il faut accuser le genre humain ... (La Chute, 1515)

Or whether it be on the level of character depiction : fo r just as Jonas has his 'étoile,' Clamence feel s himself to be personally singled out for a succes s tha t i s also written i n th e stars : ' à forc e d'êtr e comblé, je me sentai s ... désigné. Désign é personnellement , entr e tous , pou r cette longu e e t constante réussite. ' (1488 ) Similarly , just as the artis t accepts th e friendshi p of others 'ave c un e simplicit é encourageante' (1628), the judge-penitent accept s the homage pai d t o him by 'la vie, ses être s e t se s dons ' 'ave c un e bienveillant e fierté. ' (1488 ) I f th é former is , as we have seen, place d 's i haut dan s [les ] discours' o f his friends an d disciples , th e latte r appear s t o b e offerin g hi m hi s condolences whe n h e exclaims : 'L e cie l nou s préserve , che r Monsieur , d'être placé trop haut par nos amis!' (1489)

46 / The Narcissistic Text

But le t us return t o th e irony of the ironical overtones mentione d above. The story of the adultery committed by Jonas's father provides a fine example of this: 'il ne pouvait supporter le s bonnes œuvres d e sa femme , véritabl e saint e laïqu e ... le mar i prétendai t dispose r e n maître de s vertu s d e s a femme . "J'e n a i assez , disai t ce t OTHELLO , d'être trompé avec les pauvres".' (1628 ) Clamenc e has recourse to a similarly ironica l nomenclature : 'Bie n entendu , l e véritabl e amou r est exceptionnel , deu x o u troi s foi s pa r siècl e à pe u prè s ... Pour moi, en tou t cas, je n'étai s pas la RELIGIEUS E PORTUGAISE.' (1503 ) Bu t whereas Clamence appear s t o make fun of himself, for example, a s a 'Français cartésien ' (1513) , th e iron y bein g exercise d a t hi s ow n expense, it is not Jonas who calls himself or even considers himself a 'cœur pur, ' refusing thereb y t o take himself seriously, but a n omniscient narrator (neithe r is it his father wh o take s himself for Othello). In fact , th e text of this short stor y is unique in th e Camusia n cano n precisely inasmuch as the iron y exercised at th e expense of the characters cannot possibly be attributed t o the protagonist (a s is, at least , possible in the second part of L'Etranger fo r example), if only because elsewhere (i n L'Etranger an d L a Chute, i n particular ) th e iron y i s accompanied b y a firs t perso n narrative . Here , th e character s an d their lives are pictured b y the reader at a certain distance , seen, if not from afar , certainl y not a s close to, a s would be necessary for one t o identify wit h them . (Perhap s th e fac t tha t th e shor t stor y wa s preceded, geneticall y speaking , a s mentione d earlier , b y th e play form - and a silent one at that! - o f the 'mimodrame' has something to d o wit h thi s distancin g effec t whic h i t ca n b e see n thereb y t o 'account for' i f not, of course, t o 'explain' within the actual function ing of the final text.) It is clear that these characters are not intende d to be take n too seriously. This is true even of Jonas himself. His misfortunes constitut e a cautionary tale concerning th e likely fate of the successful Parisian painter. That this tale was inspired by Camus' own bitter experienc e a s a successfu l write r ca n b e demonstrated readily enough by the following lines from a letter to a friend date d 15 February 1953 : La vérité est queje dispute au temps et aux êtres chaque heure de mon travail, sans y réussir, le plus souvent... le plus grave est que je n'ai plus le temps, ni le loisir intérieur, d'écrire mes livres... Depuis quelques années d'ailleurs, mon

The Self-Generating Text: 'Jonas' / 47

œuvre ne m'a pas libéré, elle m'a asservi... certains matins, lassé du bruit, découragé devant l'œuvre interminable à poursuivre, malade de cette folie du monde aussi qui vous assaille dans le journal,sûr enfin queje ne suffirai pas et queje décevrai tout le monde, je n 'ai que l'envie de m'asseoir et d'attendre que le soir arrive. J'aicette envie et j'y cède parfois. (l , 2054) However, th e heartfel t motivatio n underlyin g it s genesi s doe s no t make o f Jonas, it s protagonist , a tragi c figure . Her e th e seed s of tragedy ar e dissipate d b y th e all-pervasiv e iron y whic h intercede s similarly in tha t mos t autobiographical o f Camus' works, La Chute, which constitutes, on one level and in its own peculiar fashion, a confession while precisely uttering a warning against any kind of confession, literary or otherwise. This cautionary tale in fact read s at times like one of Aesop's fables: Selon RATeau, d'ailleurs, Louise ne méritait pas d'être regardée. Petit et râblé lui-même, il n 'aimait que les grandes femmes. 'Je ne sais pas ce que tu trouves à cette FOURMI, ' disait-il Louise était en effet petite, noire de peau, de poils et d'oeil, mais bien faite, et de jolie mine. Jonas, grand et solide, s'attendrissait sur l a FOURMI, d'autant plus qu'elle était INDUSTRIEUSE. (1629 ) Nothing could be further remove d from an y kind of realism than this short story. All is seen at one remove, as though through th e wrong end o f a telescope or, indeed, as if from the vantage point of another planet — or star . Thus, l'étoile intervenes, i n th e fina l analysis , in th e very narrative process itself, determining th e perspectiv e it offers th e reader o n the events related an d th e characters depicted. I s this not yet another form of the autorepresentation we have already seen to be at work , bu t o f th e vertical kind , a s describe d b y Jean Ricardou , where 'tel s aspect s d e l a fiction , paysag e décrit , situatio n offerte , idéologie proposée , s'efforcen t d e ressembler , selo n se s manières , à tels aspects de la narration qu i les produit'?8 Everything in this text, indeed, a s Jonas says himself, 'est un effe t de l'étoile. ' (1635 ) I t i s 'l'astr e producteur, ' t o refe r agai n t o th e definition give n b y th e Rober t Dictionary , tha t ha s generate d th e whole text. In th e light, so to speak, of such a marked effec t tha t the star ca n b e see n t o have here, Rateau' s words prove t o have unex pected implications , whe n h e say s t o Jonas: 'C e n e son t pa s te s

48 / The Narcissistic Tex t

tableaux qu e j'aime. C'es t ta peinture.' (1639 ) I n a like manner, it is the proces s of writing tha t here prevails at th e expense of the work of art see n as a static, immutable objec t fixed for all eternity in a sterile immobility, wholly comparable t o th e paintin g entitled Ouvrière tha t Jonas does not succeed in completing and tha t was to portray Rose's cousin sewing. It i s significant tha t the very moment when Jonas 'qui peignait l a donatric e au x chien s ... était pein t lui-mêm e pa r u n artiste officiel' an d whe n 'l'Artiste au travail' (1642 ) was consequently about t o constitute the subject of someone else's painting, marks the beginning o f the declin e o f Jonas's artistic abilit y whe n i t i s said b y one of the art experts that Jonas 'baisse.' (1642) The pertinence of the fact tha t th e actual text o f the short story bears precisely the subtitle 'l'artiste au travail ' becomes clear. What coul d more effectively dra w attention t o the text' s refusa l t o accept t o see itself transformed from an occasio n an d plac e for pla y int o a work of art, i n other word s a consumer object? I n othe r words, as Roland Barthes puts it, the text 'décante l'œuvre.. . de s a consommatio n e t l a recueill e comm e jeu, travail, production , pratique.' 9 The oppositio n her e i s between pro duct and production , th e result and th e process, a s Barthes explain s in the following terms : l'œuvre est un fragment de substance, elle occupe une partie de l'espace des livres (par exemple dans une bibliothèque). Le texte lui est un champ méthodologique... l'œuvre se tient dans la main, le texte se tient dans le langage... L'œuvre se ferme sur un signifié... Le texte, au contraire, pratique le recul infini du signifié, le texte est dilatoire; son champ est celui du signifiant...10

I hav e accounte d fo r th e subtitl e o f th e short stor y 'L'Artist e a u travail,' but hav e said nothing to explain th e title itself. Why 'Jonas'? The reaso n is not fa r t o seek once one is alerted t o the activit y of the star. 'J'e n a i assez , disai t ce t Othell o (l e père d e Jonas), d'êtr e trompé ave c les pauvres' (1628) , we read in the text. I n othe r words, for th e character in question, 'c'est assez.' It so happens that the name in French for one of the constellations is CET ACE. And sure enough the constellatio n concerne d is none other tha n tha t of the whale who swallowed up the luckless Jonas.

4 The Hermeneutic Paradigm : L'Etranger

Let us look again a t the sentence tha t concludes 'Jonas.' All appearances to the contrary, we have still not exhausted it s implications. I n addition t o it s autoreferentia l rôl e o n th e leve l of the generatio n o f the text, it also points to the other end of the chain of literary communication: th e subsequen t reception o f the literary text. The wor d on the artist' s canva s is, we are told , decipherabl e excep t fo r the doub t concerning one letter, a '