Whats Left? the Ecole Normale Superieure and the Right (Post-Structuralism, Deconstruction, France)
(1) Institution/Myth. We trace the development of a literary signa- ture from its social origin via an empirical sociology of normaliens in the years 1922-1929. An analysis of two rites of institution (the concours dentree and the canular) demonstrate the power of acts of institution to resist and r...
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| Format: | Thesis Electronic Book |
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1985
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| Summary: | (1) Institution/Myth. We trace the development of a literary signa- ture from its social origin via an empirical sociology of normaliens in the years 1922-1929. An analysis of two rites of institution (the concours dentree and the canular) demonstrate the power of acts of institution to resist and recuperate political difference from within at the same time that they transform history into myth (2) Myth/Discourse. Our adumbration of the institutional dis- course of the ENS continues with a comparison of its institutional mechanisms (canular, concours dentree) with overt thematics of rightist ideology and its variants. Normalien discourse is seen to articulate analogous concepts of superiority, hierarchy, exclusion and a horror of mediocrity. We conclude with an elaboration of the codes of authoritative discourse. Normalien discourse as a prototype of elite discourse reveals the prevalence of rhetorical tropes such as preemptive verbalism, repetition, alliteration, neologisms and binary oppositions which reinscribe social position in the separation (ecart) from ordinary language (3) Discursive Practice/Judgement. We witness the intersection of principles of textual and legal authority in literary networks and in the post war trial sentencing. The ENS is seen to be a pepiniere to publishing circles and patterns of literary participation are under- stood to be recreations of normalien experience. The post war trials bring our narrative development of a literary signature to its end in the confrontation between textuality and criminality. The trials judge the ENS as a licensee and regulator of discourse and are both a judgement on and protection of an educational system that ritualizes speech My thesis is a deconstruction of the Ecole Normale Superieure through a comparison of its institutional discourse with the literary politics of the right in the thirties and under the Occupation. It focuses on the relationship between language and authority, writing and politics, and textuality and ideology. The theoretical contribu- tions of post-structuralist normaliens Pierre Bourdieu, Michel Foucault and Jacques Derrida are actively deployed The priority of writing is a consistent theme of the thesis which will serve to explain the importance of rightist normaliens well beyond their actual numbers as well as to highlight the specificity of the ENS as an institution devoted to the dissemination of cultural values. Moreover, with our reinscription of the right within the ENS political tradition, we will also reinscribe writing within politics, ideology within institutions and at the same time develop a methodology (or, principles of a reading) for the study of intellectuals. This reinscrip- tion of the right has three moments: |
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| Item Description: | Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 46-11, Section: A, page: 3478 |
| Physical Description: | 1 online resource (366 p.) |
| Access: | Access is restricted by licensing agreement |