Laughing in the mechanism : du choix du silence comme élément autobiographique dans le poème ''Agrippa'' de William Gibson (1992)
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2011
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Edições Universitárias Lusófonas
Resumo
Le silence est une composante fondamentale de la création artistique, aussi bien dans le domaine musical qu’au cinéma. La notion de silence atteint toutefois un espace limite dans le domaine littéraire, comme le note Gilles Deleuze en évoquant le « silence dans les mots », la « limite asyntaxique » qui n’est pas
« extérieure au langage » dans la poésie d’Antonin Artaud ; cette même notion devenant plus problématique encore dans le domaine de l’autobiographie, traditionnellement informative.
Nous posons tout d’abord la question de savoir comment l’auteur, se racontant lui-même, sa vie, son parcours, peut choisir de ne donner à lire qu’un silence plus ou moins long, et sembler ainsi
renoncer à sa tâche, pour ensuite étudier le poème « Agrippa—A Book of the Dead » (1992) de
l’écrivain américain William Gibson (né en 1948). Inspiré par la découverte d’un album de photos appartenant à son père, l’auteur y évoque les souvenirs
de son enfance en Virginie. La singularité d’« Agrippa » réside surtout dans les mécanismes
mis en oeuvre lors de sa lecture : à l’origine seulement disponible sur disquette, un programme d’
« encryption » ou « bombe logique » efface le texte au fur et à mesure que l’ordinateur le déchiffre,
afin de n’être lu qu’une fois seulement, laissant la place au vide, au silence. Nous proposons ici d’étudier le poème « Agrippa » en démontrant comment la disparition progressive
du texte a, dans le travail d’écriture de Gibson, une portée originale. L’objectif de l’étude est de montrer que Gibson se sert du poème pour proposer une révolution littéraire où l’art « quitte le cadre », où « le mot écrit quitte la page » de façon concrète et effective pour soumettre au lecteur un questionnement, esthétique, philosophique, voire théologique fécond – Maurice Blanchot arguant que Dieu communique « seulement par son silence ».
Silence is a fundamental component of artistic creation, be it in the musical domain or in the world of cinema. The notion of silence, however, seems to reach a dead end within the field of literature. Gilles Deleuze notes this when referring to “silence within the words,” or the “asyntaxic limit” which is not situated “outside of the language” in Antonin Artaud’s poetry. This particular notion becomes even more problematic when relating to autobiographies which are traditionally informative. Firstly, I examine how the author, through narration of his own life and path, opts for short or long silences in his writing, thus seeming to renounce his primary goal. I then proceed to study American writer William Gibson’s poem, “Agrippa-A Book of the Dead” (1992). Inspired by the discovery of a photo album belonging to his father, the author conjures up memories from his childhood in Virginia. The singularity of “Agrippa” can mostly be found in the mechanisms it sets in motion whilst being read. The poem, only available on disk at first, is being erased by an encryption program or “logic bomb” while being decoded by the computer, meaning it can only be read once and leaving nothing but emptiness, silence at the end. I propose studying “Agrippa,” demonstrating how the progressive disappearance of the text, through William Gibson’s writing technique, has an unprecedented reach. The main objective of this paper is to demonstrate that Gibson uses the poem as a means to prone a literary revolution where art “leaves the framework,” where “the written word leaves the page” in a way that is both tangible and effective, leading the reader to an interrogation which raises aesthetic, philosophical and possible theological issues; for example, Maurice Blanchot claiming that God only communicates “through his silence.”
Silence is a fundamental component of artistic creation, be it in the musical domain or in the world of cinema. The notion of silence, however, seems to reach a dead end within the field of literature. Gilles Deleuze notes this when referring to “silence within the words,” or the “asyntaxic limit” which is not situated “outside of the language” in Antonin Artaud’s poetry. This particular notion becomes even more problematic when relating to autobiographies which are traditionally informative. Firstly, I examine how the author, through narration of his own life and path, opts for short or long silences in his writing, thus seeming to renounce his primary goal. I then proceed to study American writer William Gibson’s poem, “Agrippa-A Book of the Dead” (1992). Inspired by the discovery of a photo album belonging to his father, the author conjures up memories from his childhood in Virginia. The singularity of “Agrippa” can mostly be found in the mechanisms it sets in motion whilst being read. The poem, only available on disk at first, is being erased by an encryption program or “logic bomb” while being decoded by the computer, meaning it can only be read once and leaving nothing but emptiness, silence at the end. I propose studying “Agrippa,” demonstrating how the progressive disappearance of the text, through William Gibson’s writing technique, has an unprecedented reach. The main objective of this paper is to demonstrate that Gibson uses the poem as a means to prone a literary revolution where art “leaves the framework,” where “the written word leaves the page” in a way that is both tangible and effective, leading the reader to an interrogation which raises aesthetic, philosophical and possible theological issues; for example, Maurice Blanchot claiming that God only communicates “through his silence.”
Descrição
Babilónia : Revista Lusófona de Línguas, Culturas e Tradução
Palavras-chave
LINGUÍSTICA, CRÍTICA LITERÁRIA, TEORIA DA LITERATURA, SILÊNCIO, LINGUISTICS, LITERARY REVIEW, LITERARY THEORY, SILENCE