Afterburn: An Afterwd "The Flying Mnuscript" Auth(s): Peggy Kmuf Reviewed wk(s): Source: New Literry Hisry, Vol. 37, No. 1, Hélène Cixous: When Wd Is Stge (Winter, 2006), pp. 47-55 Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press Stble URL: http://www.jsr.g/stble/20057926. Accessed: 07/12/2012 06:13 Your use JSTOR rchive indictes your cceptnce Terms & Conditions Use, vilble t. http://www.jsr.g/pge/info/bout/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR is not-f-prit service tht helps scholrs, reserchers, students discover, use, build upon wide rnge content in trusted digitl rchive. We use infmtion technology ols increse productivity fcilitte new fms scholrship. F me infmtion bout JSTOR, plese contct suppt@jsr.g.. The Johns Hopkins University Press is collbting with JSTOR digitize, preserve extend ccess New Literry Hisry. http://www.jsr.g This content downloded by uthized user from 192.168.72.230 on Fri, 7 Dec 2012 06:13:35 AM All use subject JSTOR Terms Conditions
An Afterwd Afterburn: "The Flying Mnuscript" Peggy Kmuf Brcelon, June 22, 2005 A lrge lecture hll t University. Rows upon rows, witing. I hve copy typescript held redy but not uncovered until fter she red. "Le mnuscrit volnt... begins [ she dds: voulnt, voilnt]. Arcchon 7 vril 2005 Triste bonheur de retrouver le mnuscrit de Voiles, oui..." Her voice st, firm, setting ech wd down crefully, but without emphsis drmtiztion, n letting m go on ir wy like fledglings out nest. They tke flight she reds on. The pges fly by swiftly, like swifts y dip spirl from one side in complex ptterns mny-voiced speech, dilogues externl, internl, mternl, telephonic, helenophonic, teleidiomtic, derridiomtic, telepthic, telegrphic. In hll, stillness ttention. I m both listening reding, hering seeing f first time text I hve pledged render in Between ers English. eyes, but lso on ngue uch, senstion untrnsltble. A enveloping senstion, yes, not just mtter f reflection, not just tesing thought in spce between idioms?hers his mine. Tht will come o, lter, but first senstion, tingling, stinging, better yet: burning. The senstion, in eyes ers, on ngue skin, is tht writing tht burns through its fuel, lnguge, without consuming it yet without leving it intct. F lredy in French, in iginl ngue, untrnsltble burns its wy through wlls contining "within" "itself." ne sis comment lnguge "Je ps c'est trduisible, en t'inqui?tes-tu, frn?is," one sys voices Derrid Jcques ventriloquized by "The Flying Mnuscript." "I don't know how it cn be trnslted, you wry, in French." The sentence tht prompts this wry this recollection sets f n intense sering senstion when I her red it gin in Brcelon. As if douse flme, ters flow from eyes ers ngue. I know it cnnot be trnslted, first ll in French; it is just brely tht one cn ber her it gin n gin: Comment voulez-vous queje meure? New Literry Hisry, 2006, 37: 47-55 This content downloded by uthized user from 192.168.72.230 on Fri, 7 Dec 2012 06:13:35 AM All use subject JSTOR Terms Conditions
48 NEW LITERARY HISTORY And n I know f sure I m lost. The trnsltion must crsh burn. It must becuse it is impossible, necessrily impossible. The only thing do refe is begin s soon s possible. Los Angeles, July 22, 2005 Right wy, little three-letter wd in "... jet oui, le premier jet" brings everything hlt even befe end text's first line. Here it "mens" drft, sketch, thus first drft. But mere is mening very thin plnk on which cross ocens between lnguges. A jet is thrown, it spurts, like wter jet. Jeter: throw, hurl, ss, propel. Derrid hs shken down jeter jcere (Ltin is never fr f; objet, sujet, rejet, projet, etc.) in countless plces in "The Flying Mnuscript" Cixous reclls one m prenticlly: "( lst time you did commentry o? Jet ws, I believe, in GGGG...)." With this reduction Derrid's title Gen?ses, g?n?logies, genres et le g?nie its repeted initil (which is bove ll, f Cixous, tht her fr's nme, Geges), cronym is fged tht in French would be pronounced, homonymiclly, Jetjetjetjet. So, in very first sentence Cixous puts her finger on this sensitive plce thrownness wht she will lter describe, when she comes t lst chrcterize physiognomy mnuscript's first pge, s "its quivering signs tht look like y've been hurled from brush" [signes fr?missnts comme jet?s d'un pinceu]. Less picrilly but with no less figurtive thrust, she will refer "premier jet" s "se svge pslms hurled t sky" [ces psumes suvges jet?s u ciel]. Jet lso resontes with Derrid's fenme, vi Ltin especilly (lejcquet est). But in this first occurrence in text, it is streming fce premier jet tht is retined most explicitly, f she dds tht it is "jilli de tr?s loin," from spurted, gushed very fr wy. Left dmnt, but f only brief time befe it will be ctivted, is irplne jet, which is pronounced me less s in English, refe unlike closer homonym here, y 'i (I hve), which t lest on surfce seems not be... wking, lthough There's nothing be done with jet loss is immense, right t strt. To be sure, one could dd note, put wds in brckets, fce English ccept n unidiomtic expression ("first throw/spurt/ gush") but compensry solution solves little encumbers eir eye er reder. Cixous's fledgling birds, her drting swifts, should not hve ber, in ir migrtion, dded weight such encumbrnces be expected sor if stumbling blocks re put in wy ir flight in idiom's er. Let it be, n, " first drft" let this first displcement cused by English idiom ricochet n This content downloded by uthized user from 192.168.72.230 on Fri, 7 Dec 2012 06:13:35 AM All use subject JSTOR Terms Conditions
AFTERBURN 49 elsewhere mke up f some loss, e.g.: " first drft... blown in from very fr." Such displcements will be fced upon text countless times, not lwys feliciusly, course. They fm prt wht I wnt cll fterburn effect trnslting ny text by H?l?ne Cixous, differently lthough no less seringly, ny text Derrid's. Tht se writers hve shred n cute er lwys f idiom's reserve sres is one untrnsltbility most sounded constntly "mes" in "The I've cited one Flying Mnuscript." lredy round this exchnge me, but re re s, f instnce: -But how do you expect, how cn you wnt nyone trnslte you? you sy-and you? I sy. Do you wnt it? How? How much? To red you? You who set ll texts spinning. Or: -I m listening you, I sy, I listen your weve thought itself. -You know how her yourself, you sy. -You think? Me, I think it's you on brink tht I her [Moi je crois que c'est i en croix que j'entends]. So we sclize ourselves one. -I don't know how it cn be trnslted, you wry, in French. All se nested settings. Often, o ten, encumbering brckets mrk plce where trnsltion hs filed burn through from one lnguge, where ricocheting displcement hs not wked its wy surfce in time (f, like everything else, trnsltion's fterburn is timed: re re dedlines, one must put n end endless serch tht, becuse it is much me like pssive witing be found, cnnot be hurried). Nothing like n electrifying sprk leps cross gp sve llince se friends in n ngue. The fterburn, in wds, is lso experience cooled sprk dmpened flme. And yet, writes Cixous, " cry strts up gin like flme, s soon s it is gzed on lovingly." Announcing precept even something like nturl lw (one dy someone my try codify Cixousin nturl lw s indexed in hundreds, perhps thouss xioms like this), sentence loctes ction, pssion, n iginl fterburning, which is refe not t ll specific time spce trnsltion, t lest not in common sense trnsltion between nturl lnguges. F "The Flying Mnuscript" is, through through, (bout) fterburn, (bout) cry strting up gin like flme tht This content downloded by uthized user from 192.168.72.230 on Fri, 7 Dec 2012 06:13:35 AM All use subject JSTOR Terms Conditions
50 NEW LITERARY HISTORY one but tht burns on fter it hs burned out. thought extinguished, This poses question very possibility extinction extin wht hs once been set in motion guishment by cry? nguish, love, despir, nger, longing?tht is, fce by n ignition. Accding Cixousin nturl lw, extinction/extinguishment would be mtter chnce, mlchnce, s witness, she cites Proust: one trembles, one hs received messge from ded one, pst/ pssed one, it/he is hidden, sys Proust ( pssed one, ded one) "in some mteril object (in feeling tht this mteril object would give us) tht we do not suspect. It on depends chnce wher we encounter this object befe dying, wher we do not encounter it." Cixous's subtle uch on this most fmous Proustin moment in fterburn mdeleine episode displces its key terms chnce le pss?. F chnce, if re is ny, is f whom f wht? And le pss?, is it ultimtely pst experience tht is returned subject by senstion mteril is it rr someone object,, s one cn lso tr?pss? sy in French? The syntx "le in Cixous's pss?" gloss twice mkes possible both redings, so tht one is obligted trnslte its pronoun, "il," s both "he" personl impersonl, "it": "on tremble, on re?u un messge d'un mt, le il est pss?, cch?, dit Proust, (le le pss?, mt) 'en quelque objet mt?riel...'" Wht is me, in its second occurrence in "le cn lso st prenses pss?" in nme pposition proper Proust. Tht "le le mt" cn pss?, lso be Proust, whose cry is being revived by this reder's uch, hs effect here stging right very event tht Proust's nrrr is in describing generl terms, tht is, chnce encounter with "le pss?, le mt" in mteril object: in, f exmple, mterility mdeleine-text? else rediscovered chnce. fgotten mnuscript, by In this wy, fterburn psses flme long syntctic pthwys where one (subject, object, person, non-person) cnnot be distinguished from. Accding Cixous's supplement lws rmody nmics, undistinguished is unextinguished wht is without distinction is lso without extinction. Here's n such syntx, which once rises het under gin personl/impersonl pronoun "il," but lso on depends flexing verb s'?teindre mong its idiomtic uses: burn out, go f, die down, like flme light, fde, like voice,, when sid persons, die: Il crie, et il m'envoie ce cri envelopp? me recommnt de ne ps le recevoir donc lu qu'?teint. dns du ppier, depuis Buenos-Aires en vnt se qu'il soit?teint, le cri. ne Je l'i This content downloded by uthized user from 192.168.72.230 on Fri, 7 Dec 2012 06:13:35 AM All use subject JSTOR Terms Conditions
AFTERBURN 51 [He cries, he sends me this cry enveloped in some pper, from Buenos Aires me not dvising receive it befe it/he hs been extinguished, cry. I red it refe only extinguished.] The ppended " cry" t end first sentence seems t first specify subject "extinguished," until, with shock mild surprise, one relizes how sentence's syntx defies being tmped down even so. F re is no ssurnce tht, in ltter prt sentence, object pronoun "it" (le) subject pronoun "it" (it) hve sme ntecedent. Relyed by ir multivlent pronouns, it he cn shre exchnge substnce; both cn be extinguished: cry cn fde he cn die. (Of course, it is this multivlent chnce tht is wise extinguished by English with its non-recognition gendered pronouns substn tives. The delicte firing Cixous's syntx here is mde sputter when trnsltion hs insert lterntives f pronouns. But this time chnce sprk ls in following sentence?"i red it refe only extinguished"? ignites supplementry possibility unvilble in French f sme reson rules gender greement. F in ddition him it, English sentence lso lets one red tht it is "I" whose light hs burned out, who m extinguished.) But n, in next prgrph s we hve lredy red gin, whtever is extinguished?him, it, me, which re ll relying ech in structure its substitution?begins fterburn, f " cry strts up gin like flme, s soon s it is kindled with loving gze." Here, it is not pronouns but crossing within figurtive idiom tht is flme between mteril le pssing le mt "un cri object pss?, comme une reprt flmme, d?s est qu'il couv? des I yeux." erlier this sentence s pointed precept within vst "system" Cixousin nturl lw. it me one Exmining closely, finds tht not only is lw stted in terms simile ("like flme"), but it poses s well principle crossing "nturl" lines division between, once gin, nimte personl impersonl, innimte, finlly living ded. The rhericin would cll this figurtive crossing personifiction, perhps prosopopei, but it little mtters since Cixousin poetics leve relm rheric f tht nturl lw, lws rmodynmics. Tht cry, in its mnuscripted trce, cn be "couv? des yeux" reby rekindled, like flme, is not figure speech but lw fterburning nture. "Couver des yeux" is virtully wht one clls ded metph in dinry speech. Here it is being renimted by writing prctice tht hets up wds until y become voltile. Literlly, s we re tught sy those sme by rhericins, "couver" is incubte, cover eggs This content downloded by uthized user from 192.168.72.230 on Fri, 7 Dec 2012 06:13:35 AM All use subject JSTOR Terms Conditions
52 NEW LITERARY HISTORY m keep wrm, htch. Hence, extension figurtive wrd sense f htching plot, pln revenge, else n incubting illness, s in dois couver "Je quelque chose," "I must be down coming with something." Intrnsitively, however, "couver" smolders beneth shes, in its most common use in this sense, wht smolders thus hs not innocence newbn chicks but is der htred, envy, vengence, revolt, resentment. "The Flying Mnuscript" deploys verb in this sense s well in sentence whose fm is closer this time mxim L Rochefouculd, pens?e Pscl, Nietzschen thn dictum nturl lw: phism "nothing gurntees tht some odium resentment is not brewing [ ne couve ps] in secret those who hve no love f ttention." Resentment smolders, brews stews; s Nietzsche insists, it is bn? htched?through suppres sion (negtive) feeling, "sentiment," which hs return in n, inverted f ml condemntion. guise, exmple, Resentment, so undersod, would be n inversion life's perversion fterburning fce, smoldering, hnging-fire (f exmple "in secret those who hve no love ttention") ill-feeling wrd whtever it resents: ones strong who re life-ffirmers (Nietzsche once me, but lso Cixous Nietzschen Derrid). So, "couver" covers quite rnge in dinry usge: from nturl, life-giving wrmth broody hen brooding, brewing, stewing resentment htred tht festers in secret, monsters htching finlly only who re nti-life, life-deniers. But "couver des burns yeux" openly, visibly. There is here no secret fterburning resentment envy. Rr, re is desire, love longing, shown f n in eyes, by eyes gze (one lso sys couver du regrd). It is visibility tht burns f lso in sense tht only n cn see this look in my eyes, which will lwys be invisible f me. Even if it is not impossible f me sy myself "I gzed with longing, with desire t X" (j'i couv? X des yeux), I will not hve discovered this feeling by looking myself in eyes, but rr by sensing from within wht wells up when I look t X. To "couver des yeux," n, is "express oneself," literlly, push inside out, without wds, without mening mening-, on surfce one's exposure s plce from which my be seen look "me" tht I cnnot see myself. The expression thus implies witness, ct witnessing some "I" who cn be sid "couver des yeux." It is f witness see sy "my" expression, which thus divides me right on burning surfce visible, spekble ex-position with s. On very first pge "The Flying Mnuscript," expression "couver des yeux" is ligned with cll witness: "you fight over yourself, you ter yourself prt. And you let it be seen by people This content downloded by uthized user from 192.168.72.230 on Fri, 7 Dec 2012 06:13:35 AM All use subject JSTOR Terms Conditions
AFTERBURN 53 who follows you who looks longingly t you [ te couve des yeux], whom you cll upon witness this The tering witnesses re pieces." clled upon insmuch s y let mselves see with heted glnce pssion J. D.; ct seeing "with ir own eyes" (s wht re clled is mde on eyewitnesses) consequent ction?which is gin To see witness pssion? couver-des-yeux. pssion, it, is couver. keep wrm, het, protect, bring (bck) life. It is this mode seeing, which genertes het germintes life, tht Cixous in her turn is rousing from its dedened stte by this remise en-sc?ne drm witnessed when, we red in sme pssge, Derrid stges irruption feign fces in your course, I men sy in your inner fum own [f]?your feign fces, your own polemos, you fight with yourself. I men sy: you over fight yourself, you ter yourself prt. And you let it be seen by people who follows you who looks t longingly you, whom you cll upon witness this tering pieces. And se n people, immensity, you sy You [ Vous], you nme it bring it wrd you, with nme You. On tht stge, he will hve ddressed 'You" by sying sking, f "Comment voulez-vous exmple: que meure?" je And now You o re clled witness this sentence-event, by letting it resonte endlessly, by letting it ter itself? you?prt. From beginning, n, Cixous's text prepres reder-witness couver des yeux flying, crying mnuscript, which hd led in drwer ly re extinguished f so yers, tht when t lst, fter mny deferrls its digressions, first pge is brought in view, its cry will lep up gin like flme. It burns, it fterburns f you if you hve eyes see, which is sy, incubte wht hs been confided your longing look. Look, her, couvez-le, kindle it, it wrm with keep your eyes your ers, in tht wy ber witness, be witness. Trnslte it, in wds wise. Undistinguished, unextinguished, I sid. It is especilly voice, lwys me thn one, tht bers out this undying principle. How mny voices mke up chle "The Flying Mnuscript"? Who could ever count m, tht is, who could ever unrvel ir strs, distinguish one from? There re indeed different voices sounded here, but y exchnge plces rpidly else y spek from severl plces t once, in nme one but lso f. Pronouns ttributing speech (I sy, he sys, you sk, she cries) shift just s unsppbly mong ll sps on this mny-voiced instrument, song sung by citing reciting 's voice within, which is itself me thn one. Consider, f "Ich exmple: mg ds nicht, sys Eri sys my m, tht something This content downloded by uthized user from 192.168.72.230 on Fri, 7 Dec 2012 06:13:35 AM All use subject JSTOR Terms Conditions
54 NEW LITERARY HISTORY you et, it mens you don't like it. Tht, tht's Eri. I don't like this, I don't like tht.?ich ds m?ge gern, tht mens we like tht." Eri "Sys sys my m" sys H?l?ne. And she (?) dds "tht's Eri," one whose ngue is lwys discriminting in its tste, one who sys "I don't like this, I don't like tht." But n this tste 's ngue fms Germn sentence Ich m?ge ds gern, in first person singulr, which, however, is right wy trnslted with plurl: "? veut dire nous imons?," "tht mens we like tht." A lesson in trnsltion is being given here by plurlizing voices H?l?ne 's m: when one reds hers "I" especilly when this "I" is stting its plesure, unextinguishble, undistinguishble voice nerby slips on ngue, I n trnslte irrefutble truth tht we re lwys me thn one spek. Listen your m (ngue): tht is trnsltion's impertive. And yet, no less impertively, trnslr here?me (?) f voice strs so s exmple?must nlyze try m ir give due, tht this is wht wnt men ssuming y sy. In wds, bsic duty trnsltion is know, ssume it knows wht wnts mens who iginl sy? sys it. Wht becomes, however, this essentil nlytic tsk when it is precisely question "who tht cnnot be resolved speks?", f whoever would not neglect tht trnsltion is n ethicl tsk, tht should notbe resolved? Cn one trnslte without without sns svoir? Not in knowing knowledge, ignnce, perhps, but in tl suspense, without possible decision certinty? These questions burn on long fter it's time declre trnsltion "finished," "done." Every line "The Flying Mnuscript" could testify this suspense, but let just one exmple serve illustrte effect. After version hd lredy been compred mny times iginl, moment undecidble voice leped out from its syntctic, semntic reserve where it hd lin unobserved until n. It is just one mny such moments when voices re intertwined in bck fth whose oscilltion incption cnnot be stilled. Here, Cixous cites multibeginnings "Un ver? soie," definitive published version flying mnuscript. Befe cittion, she remrks how, in its multiple beginnings, "three sts vers 'succeed' ech " [se 'succ?dent7]. Her commentry resumes fter quottion, but it is quickly interrupted (s signlled by singulr punctution shtened dsh, -) by n voice sying, I will cite it first ll in French: "-Se succ?der, c'est ce qui m'ttend, me dis-tu." Now, on first encounter, this remrk seemed intervening pose bove ll how trnslte "se question succ?der," which cn be eir reflexive succeed oneself one n. But in reciprocl: fterburning This content downloded by uthized user from 192.168.72.230 on Fri, 7 Dec 2012 06:13:35 AM All use subject JSTOR Terms Conditions
AFTERBURN 55 ftermth rose wht seemed be n question lger, which is tied up with ttribution pronouns in phrse tht scribes speech: me dis-tu. Who sys, who my be herd sying: "you sy me"? F in bsence quottion mrks, it is possible her cited intervention s including s well this phrse, tht is, her Derrid sying her: "Se succ?der, tht's wht wits me, you're telling me." But no less possible is reding: UiSe succ?der, tht's wht wits me,' you sy me." In wds, it is eqully possible red Cixous citing Derrid, s it is red Derrid citing Cixous who cites him citing her sying he is citing her, ssing infinitive "se succ?der" bck while sying she is sying tht wht wits him is succeed himself? n. Given tht, throughout text, intervening, echoing, reciting voices re lmost never distinguished by quottion mrks, this suspen sion ttribution is generl effect polyvoclity throughout text. Voices tke in re tken in, housed, sheltered, indistin guishbly, unextinguishbly. And trnsltion hs tsk resheltering in n ngue ll se nested voices without deciding ir undecidble succession. Its nlysis must refe be endless. -Oh! Trnslte, you, depth my nguish, she writes. Los Angeles, August 27, 2005 F trnsltion comes fter iginl, f imptnt wks, which never find ir predestined trnslr t time ir birth, it chrcterizes stge ir living on.?wlter Benjmin Time hs run out. The trnsltion must be sent f, on unfledged, wing pryer. Its only hope hs ever been slip in jet strem behind iginl. Following fter, lwys fter, it feels singeing blst from propulsions driving iginl hed, lwys hed. By ctching jet's rml drfts, it my remin irbne f while. But even when it crshes, when it especilly crshes, senstion untrnsltble lives on long fter. After ll. University Sourn Clifni This content downloded by uthized user from 192.168.72.230 on Fri, 7 Dec 2012 06:13:35 AM All use subject JSTOR Terms Conditions