Allegories of Reading: Figural Language in Rousseau, Nietzsche, Rilke, and Proust

By Paul De Man

Book Overview

This important theoretical work by Paul de Man sets forth a mode of reading and interpretation based on exemplary texts by Rousseau, Nietzsche, Rilke, and Proust. The readings start from unresolved difficulties in the critical traditions engendered by these authors, and they return to the places in the text where those difficulties are most apparent or most incisively reflected upon. The close reading leads to the elaboration of a more general model of textual understanding, in which de Man shows that the thematic aspects of the texts--their assertions of truth or falsehood as well as their assertions of values--are linked to specific modes of figuration that can be identified and described. The description of synchronic figures of substitution leads, by an inner logic embedded in the structure of all tropes, to extended, narrative figures or allegories. De Man poses the question whether such self-generating systems of figuration can account fully for the intricacies of meaning and of signification they produce.

Throughout the book, issues in contemporary criticism are addressed analytically rather than polemically. Traditional oppositions are put in question by a rhetorical analysis which demonstrates why literary texts are such powerful sources of meaning yet epistemologically so unreliable. Since the structure which underlies this tension belongs to language in general and is not confined to literary texts, the book, starting out as practical and historical criticism or as the demonstration of a theory of literary reading, leads into larger questions pertaining to the philosophy of language.

Through elaborate and elegant close readings of poems by Rilke, Proust's Remembrance, Nietzsche's philosophical writings and the major works of Rousseau, de Man concludes that all writing concerns itself with its own activity as language, and language, he says, is always unreliable, slippery, impossible....Literary narrative, because it must rely on language, tells the story of its own inability to tell a story....De Man demonstrates, beautifully and convincingly, that language turns back on itself, that rhetoric is untrustworthy.--Julia Epstein, Washington Post Book World

The study follows out of the thinking of Nietzsche and Genette (among others), yet moves in strikingly new directions....De Man's text, almost certain to be endlessly provocative, is worthy of repeated re-reading.--Ralph Flores, Library Journal

Paul de Man continues his work in the tradition of 'deconstructionist criticism, '... which] begins with the observation that all language is constructed; therefore the task of criticism is to deconstruct it and reveal what lies behind. The title of his new work reflects de Man's preoccupation with the unreliability of language. ... The contributions that the book makes, both in the initial theoretical chapters and in the detailed analyses (or deconstructions) of particular texts are undeniable.--Caroline D. Eckhardt, World Literature Today

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0300028458
• ISBN13: 9780300028454
• Release Date: September 1982
• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 1.22 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.1" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

For more support:

I agree with Aaron C Sparenberg, and for further support suggest a reading of Dr. James Paxson's article "Historicizing Paul de Man's Master Trope Prosopopeia: Belgium's Trauma of 1940, the Nazi Volkskörper, and Versions of the Allegorical Body Politic," published in Historicizing Theory. Being at all familiar with de Man's work, one inevitably would understand how complex such issues can be, and would refrain from making such rash generalizations, particularly when the evidence at hand is printed materials -- as is quoted at the opening of The Allegories of Reading, "Quand on lit trop vite ou trop doucement on n'entend rien." The book itself is, as has been noted before, complex and filled with intense close readings of challenging texts. But these readings are truly rewarding when you reach a full understanding. (The end of each chapter tends to ignite a triumphant climax in which you at once understand how the intricacies of close readings reflect a grander picture of literature and the act of reading as we know it.) The Allegories of Reading deserves not one reading, but many close rereadings for full comprehension.

Nietzsche

Genesis and Genelogy alone is worth five stars. If you don't believe me - read it.

Semantic is complex

One of the best analyses upon the metaphor subject. The chapter about the Marcel Proust metaphors is pure light. Do not lose it!

A RESPONSE TO THE ABOVE REVIEW

This is to serve as a rebutal to the earlier so- called review. De Man's war time involvement with the Dutch fascists was indeed unfortunate, as was Heideggar's espousal of nazism, as well Eliade's support of the Romanian fascists. This does not however take away from the beauty of their literary and philisophical works. Something that as a Jew I have had to grapple with. Derrida is an Algerian Jew, and was Paul de Man's close friend. His approach to reading is principly an ethical one. Perhaps you should turn your attention to his book on de Man. And perhaps also, you should reread the above book, or first read some other books on deconstruction, as your characterization of it was terribly off base. Deconstruction in it's Derridean form is extremely subtle, requiring a mental agility to grasp the closeness of it's readings. You would be doing yourself a service by reapproaching it more with an attentive honestness not exhibited in the above review. As to the book in question, I have always enjoyed Paul de Man's work, however if you are not familiar with continental philosophy it may not be the best opening into that world-Derrida, Delueze, Cixous and later Hedeggar may prove more stimulating and enjoyable.