Defying Gravity: Jean Paulhan's Interventions in Twentieth-Century French Intellectual History (SUNY series, The Margins of Literature)

Defying Gravity is a major reassessment of the work of Jean Paulhan within the context of his own times, as well as in the light of contemporary debates in literary theory. Best known for his long-serving editorship of the influential Parisian literary review, La Nouvelle Revue Francaise, Paulhan is now widely acknowledged as one of the most central yet least understood figures of twentieth-century French intellectual and literary history. Syrotinski's study admirably performs the dual purpose of introducing a genuinely innovative and distinctive writer to a general anglophone readership, while engaging critically with his texts and their reception. Syrotinski's readings of Paulhan are both original and provocative, and firmly establish him as an unavoidable point of reference for twentieth-century French literary history and theory. A major reassessment of the work of Jean Paulhan within the context of his own times as well as in the light of contemporary debates in literary theory.Defying Gravity is a major reassessment of the work of Jean Paulhan within the context of his own times, as well as in the light of contemporary debates in literary theory. Best known for his long-serving editorship of the influential Parisian literary review, La Nouvelle Revue Française, Paulhan is now widely acknowledged as one of the most central yet least understood figures of twentieth-century French intellectual and literary history. Syrotinski's study admirably performs the dual purpose of introducing a genuinely innovative and distinctive writer to a general anglophone readership, while engaging critically with his texts and their reception. Syrotinski's readings of Paulhan are both original and provocative, and firmly establish him as an unavoidable point of reference for twentieth-century French literary history and theory.Michael Syrotinski is Assistant Professor in French at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland. He has published a translation of The Necessity of the Mind (La Nécessité d'esprit) by Roger Caillois, and has co-translated (with Christine Laennec) Progress in Love on the Slow Side: Récits by Jean Paulhan, with an essay by Maurice Blanchot. Defying Gravity......Page 1 Contents......Page 6 Acknowledgments......Page 7 Introduction Figures Of Duplicity Paulhan and Contemporary Literary Theory......Page 10 Malagasu Proverbs......Page 33 Sacred Language......Page 48 2 Underwriting The Personal: Modesty and the récits......Page 55 Jean Paulhan and Jacques Maast......Page 57 Modesty, Mania and Other Wor(l)ds......Page 71 Coda: Progress in Love?......Page 82 Who Said Anything About Terror?......Page 84 Poetic Justice......Page 100 Non-coincidences......Page 108 4 Resistance, Collaboration, and the Postwar Literary Purge in France......Page 112 Cubes, Cubes, and More Cubes......Page 133 Painting By Letters......Page 149 Conclusion......Page 156 Introduction. Figures of Duplicity......Page 161 1. Allegories of Ethnography......Page 164 2. Underwriting the Personal......Page 169 3. Blanchot Reading Paulhan......Page 177 4. Resistance, Collaboration, and The Postwar Literary Purge in France......Page 184 5. Aesthetic Spaces, Domestic Traces......Page 188 Conclusion......Page 194 Bibliography......Page 196 B......Page 204 D......Page 205 I......Page 206 P......Page 207 T......Page 209 V......Page 210 Defying Gravity 1 Contents 6 Acknowledgments 7 Introduction Figures Of Duplicity Paulhan and Contemporary Literary Theory 10 1 Allegories of Ethnography 33 Malagasu Proverbs 33 Sacred Language 48 2 Underwriting The Personal: Modesty and the récits 55 Jean Paulhan and Jacques Maast 57 Modesty, Mania and Other Wor(l)ds 71 Coda: Progress in Love? 82 3 Blanchot Reading Paulhan 84 Who Said Anything About Terror? 84 Poetic Justice 100 Non-coincidences 108 4 Resistance, Collaboration, and the Postwar Literary Purge in France 112 5 Domestic Spaces, Aesthetic Traces 133 Cubes, Cubes, and More Cubes 133 Painting By Letters 149 Conclusion 156 Notes 161 Introduction. Figures of Duplicity 161 1. Allegories of Ethnography 164 2. Underwriting the Personal 169 3. Blanchot Reading Paulhan 177 4. Resistance, Collaboration, and The Postwar Literary Purge in France 184 5. Aesthetic Spaces, Domestic Traces 188 Conclusion 194 Bibliography 196 Index 204 A 204 B 204 C 205 D 205 E 206 F 206 G 206 H 206 I 206 K 207 L 207 M 207 N 207 O 207 P 207 Q 209 R 209 S 209 T 209 U 210 V 210