Examen corrigé Université de Montréal Thèse numérique Papyrus ...

1962.3 The De-centered Center and the Loss of Origins: The Work of the Supplement andDifféranceMay I, monsieur, offer my services without running the risk ofintruding? (Albert Camus The Fall, 3)We have seen how the slippage among the narrator, author and character is effectedorperformedthrough the infinite spectral mise en abyme. Parallel to this slippage is the onewhereby Ishmael would be the puppet of the ghost effect. My speculation on the shift fromIshmael to Melville as narrator in tandem with writing and hauntology stems from the perpetualplay of ghosts. Clearly, the associationboth tropic and literalof writing with hauntingundermines traditional binaries. The relationship among author, reader, narrator, and narrative isstructured by the post effect. The narrative is not at the center and these different poles, ghostlydetermined, exchange positions in a Gothic manner. Subject to the post effect, the reader entersthe narrative and participates in the production of meaning, and the narrative becomes the author.Melville himself enters the narrative in the guise of sporadic omniscience. The first 25 chaptersexhibit a first-person narration. The remainder of the narrative is permeated by omniscience.Especially the chapter “The Fountain” questions the nature of the “I” of the narrative. The chapterstarts with an unknown narrator, someone that is known to the reader. Like a ghost, Ishmaeldisappears from the narrative leaving no notice, and Melville, like a revenant, enters the narrativewithout prior notice. The reader receives an invitation from the narrator to enter the narrative.