Examen corrigé Université de Montréal Thèse numérique Papyrus ...

316infelicitous performative utterance, “I love you” destinerrs and might be assigned other meanings notintended by the speaker/sender. Writing for and about Derrida, Miller says in The Medium is theMaker: “Any utterance or writing I make may escape my intentions both as to what it should mean(for others) and as to the destination it is supposed to reach. It may be destined to err and to wander,even though it may sometimes, by a happy accident, reach the destination I intended for it (33). Thepostcard is open to all those who happen to see it. Anyone who reads it can interpret it as addressedto him or to her. Anyone can change the destination of the postcard or disrupt its journey to itsaddressee. Anyone can add, delete, or hide parts of the message. In doing so, the “I” ceases to be theowner of the message, as it is doubled and re-doubled, endlessly. Letter posting is an invocation ofghosts. These ghosts are created by the senders and receivers of letters. When the letter goes astray,the ghosts disappear. To send a letter is to make oneself naked before the naked specters generated bythe letters. To write a letter is to depend on the ghosts the letter conjures up. What is supposed to beprivatethe letterturns out to be open and accessible to the public.59 This is reminiscent of the dialogue between Chillingworth and Hester in The Scarlet Letter: “Andso, Hester, I drew thee into my heart, into its innermost chamber, and sought to warm thee by thewarmth which thy presence made there!” (61).60 One of the main components of metaphysical discourse is the argument that the world has adouble. The immediate real is validated by another reala real that gives meaning and essence to