A Night at The Text Roland Barthes's Marx Brothers

"A Night at the Text": Roland Barthes's Marx Brothers Author(s): Gregory L.
Ulmer Source: Yale French Studies, No. 73, Everyday Life (1987), pp. 38-57 Published by: Yale University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2930196 . Accessed: 27/04/2013 12:01
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GREGORY L. ULMER
"A Nightat the Text": RolandBarthes's Marx Brothers
ALLEGORY to thegapseparating thediscourse ofeveryday RolandBarthes's approach lifefromspecializedlanguagewas to enterdiscourseat still another a third manner ofspeaking theother level-to find two capableoftaking intoaccount.One of the principal tasks ofmy essayis to identify this themodeofentry thatBarthes madepossialternative level,to describe teachers. ble,and to arguethatit has specialvalue for In his searchofa hybrid, "third" Barthes sometimes used discourse, in not as of the artistic forms (literature, painting, objects study music) conventional withcognitive Consense,but as allegories significance. to the revalorization tributing by moderncriticsof the notionof alleto pay moreand more gory,'Barthestended,as his careerprogressed, attention to allegory and emblem.One ofhis strategies was to appropriate certain introductions orprefaces thatdesigtextsbytheactofwriting natedthemas emblems ofhis ownconcepts andconcerns. The collagesof Bernard materials not as a realist Requichot, who reworked preformed "in order would "in order to see better," butas a textualist, to see someto Barthes, "the emblemof thing else," became,forexample, according myown worknow."2 of this sort,in which One of the most important appropriations Barthes "signed"theworkofanother artist, is thepreface tothepaintings ofArcimboldo. The innovation ofArcimboldo's Barthes portraits, said,is
1. See Walter Benjamin, The Originof GermanTragicDrama, trans. John Osborne NLB, 1977).Paul de Man,Allegories in Rousseau, ofReading:Figural Language (London: Nietzsche, Rilke,and Proust (New Haven,Yale University Press,1979).On therelations among allegory, parody, andthepun(theprincipal modesofthemethod under discussion) see LionelDuisit,Satire, Parodie,Calembour: Esquissed'une theorie desmodesdevalues California: AnmaLibri,1978). (Saratoga, 2. Roland Barthes, inBernard R6quichot La Connaissance, 22,29-30. (Brussels: 1973),
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thebirth favors ofmoreandmorecomplex lexiconsofobjects"(Fashion, 265). In principle, then,everyobjectis available,capable of beingseparated from itsoriginal justification orcontext andremotivated as part ofa new discourse. Thus the semiologue maydrawon theencyclopedia ofa the same way a poet makesuse ofa dictionary. society Barthes's lesson for theteacher orpopularizer is a lesson in allegorical in which writing,
3. RolandBarthes, in Arcimboldo 37-38. (Milan:F. M. Ricci,1978),
function being reduced to the rank of artifice or alibi . . . it likewise
to devise forpaintingsomething similarto the double articulation of language(thepointapplies to the collage methodin general, withBarthes's texts exemplifying one version of an adaptation of colto thecritical lage/montage writing funcpaintings essay):Arcimboldo's tionas ifthey were"written." "All is metaphor in Arcimboldo. Nothing is everdenoted, becausethefeatures (lines, forms, whichserveto scrolls) composea head have a sense already, and thissense is detourne toward another in a certainway beyonditself(thatis what the sense,thrown word'metaphor' means etymologically)."3 as we shall (Detournement, ofthe Situationists.) see,is thecentral operation Arcimboldo's function portrait heads,once constructed, allegorically,and modelwhatBarthes meantby "third The heads are meanings." composedat the firstlevel of sense out of "nameable things:fruit, and so forth," flowers, branches, fish, plants, whichare books,children, in turn nameable(atthesecondlevel)as, on theonehand,"heads,"andat the same time as something other-a thirdsense-from a completely " "Calvin," "Fire, different ofthelexicon: "Summer,""Winter, region " and thelike.The namesfor from thisthird level ofsensearederived the viewer'sgeneralculturalcodes: "I need a metonymic culture, which makesme associatecertain withSummer, fruits (andnotothers) or,still more subtly,the austere hideousnessof the visage of Calvinist puritanism: and as soon as one abandonsthedictionary ofwordsfor a table ofcultural ofassociationofideas,in short for an encyclopedia meanings, ofreceived fieldofconnotation" ideas, one enters intothe infinite (Arcimboldo,54-55). ofhis own writing an intellectual reflects verBarthes's description sionofArcimboldo's allegorical collages:"One couldconceiveTheFashion System as a poeticproject, in constituting an whichconsists precisely intellectual objectwithnothing, before the orwithvery little, fabricating in its comreader'seyes an intellectual objectthatdevelopsgradually in theensembleofitsrelations" plexity, (Grain, 67). Whathappenswith thearticles ofclothing in TheFashionSystem is possiblewithanycultural object:"Where itis understood thatthecultural objectpossesses, byits socialnature, a sortofsemantic thesignis quiteready vocation:in itself, to separateitselffrom and operatefreely on its own, the the function
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the elementsof everyday lifeand of science may be introduced into a thenatureofwhichwas discourse to servethe endsofa third meaning, perhaps bestcharacterized byLacan as neither sense,norcommonsense, but "jouis-sens"[bliss-sense]. Whatthisbliss-sense teachesis thepleasureofthetext, thesubject'sdesirefor thelove oflearning, knowledge. in a sense,for The film orvideocameramakesitpossible, anyoneto be an Arcimboldo, The notionof thatis, to write theobjectsoftheworld. film language, as ithas beendeveloped from Sergei Eisenstein to Stephen Heath(semioticians, opposedto realistssuch as Bazin who consider the filmimageas an analogon), in whicha involvesa definition ofmeaning photographed item (or recorded of its stripped sound) is demotivated, and remotivated, fromits reladenotation, gainingits significance in thefilm. tionship withotherelements Whatone receivesin a filmis in Barthes's nottheworldbuta discourse on theworld.We maydiscern allegorical procedure the model foran essayisticor pedagogical equivalentoffilmic theconventional thatattempts writing. Against pedagogy to represent in its discourse, an allegorical theobjectofstudy pedagogy and even morethanthe text,the film worksbyfiguration. "Similarly, will always be figurative (whichis whyfilmsare stillworth making)evenifit represents nothing" (Pleasure,56). ofthird in anycase,condiscussion Barthes's best-known meanings, Ivan theTerrible film Eisenstein's Barthes cerns stills.In theimagesfrom level and a symboliclevel, but a not only an informational remarks which"disturbs, sterilizes" metaan "obtuse"meaning third meaning, to thestory indifferent andto the becauseit is "discontinuous, language, of the story)."4 Camera Lucida obviousmeaning(as the signification thewound,to workwiththeemodevelopsthenotionofthepunctum, Buttheessayon Eisenstein tionalnature ofthesethird meanings. offers in thelaterbook,butwhich severalsuggestions whichare not pursued thatwhichinherently resiststhe maybe equallyusefulforarticulating he is discussing Barnaming processin theobtuse.Eventhough images, in a notethathisthird havetodo withthe"vocal thesindicates meanings in The Pleasureofthe Text.Indeed,Barthes mentioned found writing" himwas prethatthebestimageforthelevel ofwriting thatinterested artofsinging can givean idea ofthisvocal ciselythecinema: "A certain itmoreeasilytoday butsincemelody is dead,we mayfind at the writing; cinema.In fact, it suffices thatthe cinemacapture the soundofspeech definition ofthe 'grain'ofwritclose up (thisis, in fact, thegeneralized clarified thenature ofthis "close up" when 67). Barthes ing)"(Pleasure, ofthefivesenses,thethird he notedthat"in theclassicalparadigm sense in theMiddleAges).This is a happy in importance coinciis hearing (first dence,since what is herein questionis indeedlistening"(Image,53).
trans.StephenHeath (New York: Hill and 4. RolandBarthes, Image-Music-Text, Wang,1977),61.
GREGORY
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Whatone is supposedto listenfor he suggests is something like the "The obtusemeaning keynames Saussureheardin Latinpoetry. is not situated structurally, a semantologist wouldnotagreeas to its objective existence (butthenwhatis an objective and ifto me it is clear reading?); (to me), thatis still perhaps(for the moment) by the same 'aberration' whichcompelled thelone andunhappy Saussuretohearin ancient poetrytheenigmatic voice ofanagram, unoriginated and obsessive.... The obtusemeaning is a signifier without a signified, hencethedifficulty in naming it" (Image,60-61). The clue hereis thatthe obtusemeaningmaybe nameableif one listensin theright ofthethird way,attending to thepeculiarsituation sense: "I evenacceptforthe obtusemeaning theword'spejorative connotation: theobtusemeaning outsideculture, knowlappearsto extend edge, information; it has something aboutit: openanalytically derisory ingoutintotheinfinity oflanguage, itcan comethrough in the as limited eyes of analyticreason; it belongsto the familyof pun, buffoonery, uselessexpenditure. Indifferent to moraloraesthetic categories (thetrivial, the futile, the false,the pastiche), it is on the side ofthe carnival" (Image,55). This passageindicates first thattheobtusemaybe located, itsoperations identified, notonlybythepunctum ofemotion, butalso by the laughter associatedwith carnival.Barthesnoted a model forthis in Bataille'sapproachto third possibility meanings:"Batailledoes not counter modesty withsexualfreedom but . .. withlaughter" (Pleasure, in Barthes's 55). The secondpointto be stressed notionoftheobtuseas carnival is thatthe third meaningmaybe namedbymeans ofthepun. The pun is whatone hearsin theclose-upofa filmortextconsidered at thelevel of "vocal writing."5 FROM "OPERA" TO TEXT I wantto turnto an elaboration ofone particular example,to show the practical possibilities ofBarthes's allegorical procedure. My pointofdeis one ofBarthes's own models: "A Nightat theOpera-a work parture whichI regard as allegorical of manya textualproblem"(Image,194). This MarxBrothers film, in other a model(in a humanwords, provides itieslaboratory) for thedifficult and controversial poststructuralist conceptof "text."The immediate implication is thata teacher to wishing use textualist in a class might theory A Nightat the beginby showing Operato thestudents. Might we in thiswaybegintorealizeBrecht's goal
5. Fora discussion ofthe notionof "innerspeech"see Paul Willemen, "Cinematic Discourse-the Problem ofInnerSpeech,"Screen22 (1981).ThatBarthes discusses third meanings specifically in the context of Eisenstein, the principal experimenter withthe possibilities ofinner speechinfilmic writing, suggests in itself therelevance ofthisnotion to Barthes's thinking.
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(towhichBarthes frequently therealmsofenteralluded)ofintegrating tainment and intellect? Barthes himself indicateswhathe has in mindwithrespect to this modelin several asidesalluding toA Nightat theOperaas an emblemof Text,in whichlaughter replacessentiment as themarkofthepunctum. Ifsome a textual A Night at theOpera! Emblem, gag. What treasury, inwhich the whole mechancritical demonstration requires anallegory icsofthetext-on-a-spree explodes, thefilm willprovide itfor me:the final ofopera decors-each thetorn the chaos steamer cabin, contract, ofthelogical subverofthese is theemblem episodes (among others) areperfect, it is sionsperformed bytheText;andiftheseemblems arecomic, ultimately because they laughter being what, bya lastreverlibitsdemonstrative attribute. What sal,releases demonstration from what manifests erates metaphor, symbol, emblem from poetic mania, isthe that 'bewilderment' which itspower ofsubversion, preposterous, ofany was so goodat getting intohisexamples, to thescorn Fourier ofmetaphor would thereThelogical future theoretical respectability. fore be thegag(Barthes, 80-81). ofText. Thereare,then,at least two ways to model the operation One way,demonstrated in CameraLucida,is bymeansofthesentiment generated by anecdotestold in associationwith one's family album,a The Marx Brothers' level of narrative accessible to everyone.6 gags,of course, are equallyaccessible,although whenit comesto his own practice (keeping in mindthatthe bestresponseto a Text is another Text), Barthes neverprovided morethana fewhintsofhow to operatein the of the filmdiscussedby Barthes dimensionof the gag. The fragments inA Night mostforcefully indicate thattheaspectofTextemblematized at the Opera has to do withthe "fading of the subject."The "fading" oftheself-the shift refers to thecurrent statusoftheproblematic away froma Cartesianto a Freudiannotionof the person.In this context, a detournement CameraLucida maybe seenas a dramatic exploration of, of,the Oedipal problem. In theCartesian is understood as or "classical" conception, language "decoration or instrument, it is seen as a sortofparasiteofthehuman or tool subject,who uses it or dons it at a distance,like an ornament or the pickedup and laid down according to the needs of subjectivity is possible: ofsociality. another notionofwriting conformities However, neither but primal, decorative norinstrumental, i.e., in sum secondary founder ofits acts like so many antecedent to man,whomit traverses, is withthe "modem" inscriptions" (Sade, 40). Barthes's own sympathy is "He wantsto side withany writing whose principle understanding: of language"(Barthes, thatthe subjectis merelyan effect 79). In the
ofLiterary Discourse(Bloom6. See MaryLouise Pratt, Towarda SpeechAct Theory ington, Indiana:IndianaUniversity Press,1977).
GREGORY
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classicworktheorigin ofthe speakeris assignedto a consciousness (an authoror character) or to a culture(a code). But even in a work the "thevoicegetslost,as utterance maybecomepluralized, indeterminate: The bestwayto it had leakedout through though a hole in thediscourse. conceivetheclassicalpluralis thento listento thetextas an iridescent and exchangecarriedon by multiplevoices, on different wavelengths from a which subject time to time to a sudden dissolve, leaving gap without enablestheutterance to shift from one pointofview to another warning."7 Barthes findsin A Night at the Opera two scenes thatteach this lesson "in a burlesque mode." One ofthe scenesemblematizes his own experience ofthefading ofthe subjectin theact oflecturing to a class: Inthe more named than wetend itisnot knowlexpose, aptly tothink, edge which is exposed, itis thesubject. Themirror is empty, reflecting as itgradually back tomenomore than the of falling away my language unrolls. Like the Marx Brothers as Russian airmen disguised (inANight at theOpera-a work I regard which as allegorical ofmany a textual I am,at thebeginning ofmyexpose, outwith a large problem), rigged with theflood ofmyown false beard which, drenched little bylittle which theMute, words (a substitute for thejugofwater from Harpo, I then feel ontheMayor ofNewYork's guzzles away rostrum), coming infront unstuck piecemeal ofeverybody. 194] [Image, The otherscene (partof the performance of II Trovatore enacted the film)is the one in which the stagebackdrops rise and fall during from (marking Harpo'sTarzan-like progress swinging ropeto ropeabove thestage, thevillainLassparworking itsmachinery during haphazardly) ri'ssolo: "This hubbubis crammed withemblems:theabsenceofbackground replaced bytherolling pluralofsets,thecodageofcontexts (issue oftheopera'srepertoire) thedelirious and their derision, polysemy, and theillusionofthe subject, its imaginary finally singing while theother (the spectator) watches and who believes to be speakingbacked by a unique world(a set: a completescene of the pluralwhich deridesthe subject:dissociates it)" (Grain, 111-12). farceis a perfect emblemforthe One reasonwhya Marx Brothers ofthesubject, has to do withthepun for the "deathoftheauthor," fading available in "gag" (cf. "joke" and "choke") fornamingthe allegorical routine. ofa MarxBrothers meaning "Gag," thatis, is one ofthose"amthatBarthes foundso appealing. phibologies" Eachtime he encounters oneofthese double ontheconwords, R.B., insists as ifonewere atthe onkeeping both trary, meanings, winking inthat other andas iftheword's were so that oneand meaning wink,
means at one and the thesame word,in one and thesame sentence,
Miller(NewYork:Hill andWang, 7. Roland Barthes, S/Z,trans. Richard 41-42. 1974),
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Yale French Studies andso that onedelights, sametime twodifferent things, semantically, in theonebytheother. Thisis why suchwords areoften saidto be intheir lexical essence inthe 'preciously ambiguous': not (for any word lexicon hasseveral meanings), butbecause, bya kind of luck, a kind of I can actualize favor notoflanguage butofdiscourse, their amphi-
bology. [Barthes, 72]
The gagsin Nightat the Opera,then,allegorizethe othergag,the ofthebodyofdesire, gagging or choking associatedwiththeexperience revealedwhen the subjectfadesor dissolves.At one level the gag is provoked bythe "writing machine,"withthewriter's desireforcertain certain suchas "metaphor/metonymy" fetish words, binary oppositions thatprovideone with "the powerof sayingsomething":"Hence the workproceeds successiveenthusiasms, byconceptual infatuations, perishablemanias.Discourseadvancesbylittlefates, byamorousfits. (The oflanguage:in French the wordforthisinfatuation is engouecunning in thethroat, ment, whichmeansan obstruction: thewordremains for a certain (Barthes, 110). interval)" thedisgust At another thegagremarks level,however, experienced in the disgorging or exorcism of one's own image-repertoire (the "stupidities" ofone's habits, ofone's ideology): "How to questionmydisgust for thebestreading ofmy (thedisgust myown failures)? How to prepare selfI can hope for:notto love butonlyto enduretasting whathas been written?" (Barthes, 110-11). To workat thelevel ofdesireis to expose repulsion as well as attraction, disgust as well as pleasure, withthebliss ofjouissancebeinga painful orsublimetransgression ofsimplelikesand dislikes. thestereotype, whichis discourse"without Against body,"the of value, of the problemof judgment, "grain"of the voice introduces forBarthes taste,at the level of the innerbody,emblematized by Requichot'scollages and reliquaries(boxesrepresenting open torsosdisin repugnance, playingthe magma of the body).Requichot'sinterest whom "the bodybeginsto exist Barthes states,resembles de Sade's,for to devour there where it is revolted, whatdisgusts disgusted, yetwanting it" (Requichot, is theonlyavailablenamefor the 13).Laughter, perhaps, third sense ofthe obtusebody.8 An allegorical ofthefilm, namestheobtusemeanings reading then, ofText by exploiting ofcertainkeywords.Another the amphibologies suchpunis availableinA Nightat theOpera,emblematizing the perhaps underthe elementof textuality-theslidingof the signifier principal the infinite skid of meaningwhich replaces "signification" signified, with"significance." Ifthe "gag"as suchemblematizes the"fading ofthe thespecific oftheTrovatore content subject"in textuality, sequenceinA
concerning thetasteand ofKant'sthird Critique, 8. Jacques Derrida, in a discussion the transgressing evokes the "gag" (the vomi) as a limit-concept distasteof judgment, Klein,Diacritics11 Richard trans. See, "Economimesis," classicalparadigm. 1I981).
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Nightat the Opera emblematizes thetextualist slidingofthesignifier: "To decondition us ofall thephilosophies (ortheologies) ofthesignified, thatis, oftheArrest, sincewe others, 'literaries', we lack anysovereign formalisms, thatofmathematics, we mustemploy as manymetaphors as possible, for themetaphor is a meansofaccess to thesignifier; lacking an algorithm, that which could discharge the signified, especiallyif one couldmanageto disoriginate it [themetaphor]. TodayI propose this:the sceneoftheworld(theworldas stage)is occupiedbya playof 'sets' (of texts): raiseone,another appears behind it andso forth" (Grain,111).The play of the "sets" or stage backdrops, as a metaphor, replace the alofmathematics forexample)used in thesciences. gorithms (settheory, Ifwe keepin mindthat"opera"literally means "work," we maysee thatA Nightat the Opera demonstrates the passage form"work" to "text"in the way thatit traverses the classical operaII Trovatore, by Verdi;thatit shows something similarto what Barthesarguesin the essay"From Work toText": "The Textis experienced onlyin an activity, a production. It followsthattheText cannotstop,at theendofa library for shelf, example;theconstitutive movement oftheTextis a traversal: it can cutacrossa work, several works.... Whatconstitutes theTextis, on the contrary (or precisely), its subversive forcewith regard to old and experienced in classifications.... Whereasthe Text is approached the infinite practices deferral of the signified: The Text is dilatory; its fieldis thatofthe signifier."9 the Opera actually The two scenes from performed in thefilm in the areindeedtwoofthemostfamous moments repertoire-the"Anvil Chorus" and the "Miserere."As one commentator putit, "Trovatore succeedstoo well. Itsmelodieshave beenplayed and sungin everyconceivablearrangement untiltheirspontaneity has largely been wornaway. Particularly is thistrueofthe remarkable ensembleknownas the 'Miserere', reallya mosttelling piece ofdramatic music,butheardso often, thatifwe do notpausetogiveitthought we are likelynot to appreciate its excellent fully qualities."10 A brief is neededtorevealtheemblematic plotsummary gagin these scenes.The "traversal" ofIi Trovatore beginsin the secondact, when Fiorello(Chico)and Tomasso (Harpo)invadetheorchestra pit,inserting thesheetmusicfor"Take me outtotheball game"intothescoreson the music stands,a substitution overlooked in the distraction provided by their ofsomeoftheinstruments "refunctioning" withviolin (sword fight ofa page, withtheturning bows).The music begins, shifting suddenly, from Verdito "Take me out to the ball game," a signalforChico and
9. RolandBarthes, "FromWorkto Text," in Josu6 Harari,ed., TextualStrategies: Perspectives in Post-Structuralist Criticism (Ithaca:CornellUniversity Press,1979),7576. 10. Charles O'Connell,ed.,The Victor BookoftheOpera(Camden:RCA ManufacturingCo., Inc.,1936),509.
relation to the sign, the work closes itself on a signified.... The Text
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Harpoto producea ball and glovesand play catchwhile Grouchosells peanuts. To evade the Opera Director, Gottlieb, and the policemensent to arrest them,Chico and Harpomove onto the stage,mingling withthe actors,costumedas Gypsies,performing the "Anvil Chorus" ("Who maidcheers thelifeoftheroving gypsy? maiden!The gypsy /The gypsy en!"). A constrained chasescenefollows, mixing theplotofthefilm with the plot of the Opera,leadingto the hubbubof risingand descending Henderson decorsto whichBarthes referred. Gottlieband the detective to disturb theaction doncostumes andjointhescenethemselves, hoping ofthechaseis registered as littleas possible.As Lassparri singstheeffect in thechanging sets-the Gypsy campis replaced first bya forest scene, and so on. thena railroad, a fruit wagon,theBattleship Potemkin, for oftheperformance The motivation within thefilm thedisruption togivethe has todowiththeattempt toforce theDirector bytheBrothers leadingrole to theirfriend Baroni,a talentedbut youngand unknown At thebegintenor, in place ofthefamousLassparri, hiredbyGottlieb. ning of the film Groucho's plan to exploitMrs. Claypool (Margaret to Dumont),playingon her desireto enterhigh societyby promising arrange forher to be a sponsorforthe New York Opera Company,is threatened by Gottlieb who securesheragreement to fund thehiring of tenor." Lassparri, reputed tobe the"world's greatest Groucho, impressed a pieceoftheaction, andwanting makes byLassparri's fee($1,000a night) a dealwithChic,Baroni'sagent, for to signBaroni tendollarsa night, the remainder ofthe nightly feeput up byMrs. Claypoolto be splitby the The invasionof the stage agents("we are entitledto a small profit"). theconclusion ofthefilm) is theperformance of If Trovatore during (near thefinalstrategy to getBaroniintotheleadingrolefor whichLassparri has beenhired. The MarxBrothers refuse to quitthestageuntilLassparri is dismissed and Baronihiredto take overthepartof "Manrico." The allegorical oftheTrovatore significance sequenceis signalled by thepun availablein theword"tenor."Chico,Harpo,and Grouchomay be read as personifications of the signifier the (theirantics represent "fieldofplay" mentioned in the definition ofText).This "signifier," of intotherhetorical ofOgdenand course, maybe translated terminology moreorless contemporary Richards with (TheMeaningofMeaningbeing A Night ofa metaphor as "vehicle" at theOpera),whoclassified theparts and "tenor"(comparable The MarxBrothto "signifier" and "signified"). ers,thatis,aretheagents orvehicles(signifiers) "representing" thetenor oftheperformance, Baroni.Theirdisruption one (signified) substituting tenor for in theother(forcing Gottliebto substitute Baronifor Lassparri the middleof the Opera),is an allegory of the slidingof the signifier ofText. Here is the scene ofdisplacement: constitutive
STAGE MANAGER:
GOTTLIEB:
What?
HerrGottlieb! Lassparri's disappeared.
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(Gypsy Woman Onstage):She's confused, trying to figure out what happenedto Lassparri. In the wings,he pulls on a rope whichhoists (Tomasso /Harpo/): a scenery box. in a piece ofscenery, Lassparri upward He tapshis batonin a futile (Conductor): toregainorder. attempt and Gottlieb in theWings): (StageManager GOTTLIEB: Butwe haven'tevena tenor!"
The gag,forwhich this entirearticleis but a frame, dependson the amphibology in "tenor,"at once "singer"and "signified," with "sing" ofsign. beingthe anagram ofA Night at the Opera is I have notedthatthe allegorical reading ofthesubject directed andthe bytwopuns-gag, whichnamesthefading of ofthebodyofdesire;and tenor,associatedwiththesliding emergence thesignified theMarxBrothers thedriveof (displacement), personifying A Night at the Opera tooneofthe thesignifier. ThatBarthes wouldprefer mustbe dueinpart totheoperatic the other MarxBrothers films element, " thestory samethemeinforming "Sarrasine, analyzedin S/Z. Suchpatterns to Barthes as subject,to his idiolect.Suffice it to say refer finally Barthes as a metaphor for the herethatthemusicalscoreas such served interaction of the codes or "voices" of the Text, with the readerly or to tonalmusic,and thewriterly ormodern classicworkbeingcompared Text beingcompared to atonal,serialmusic. More specifically, Italian associated operais charged for Barthes withsexualconnotation, withthe themeofcastration: "Italianmusic,an objectwell defined historically, culturally, mythically (Rousseau, Gluckists-and-Piccinists, Stendhal, etc.),connotesa "sensual" art,an artofthevoice. An eroticsubstance, theItalianvoice was produced a contrario (according to a strictly symbolicinversion) bysingers withoutsex" (S/Z, 109-10). Barthes selected"Sarrasine" as a tutor-text becauseit possessedthat double structure he required for hisallegories, defined as "double" work, "a workapparently naiveand in fact as wouldbe thestory very cunning, ofa battle made conjointly and witha singlevoice by Stendhal's Fabrice and GeneralClausewitz"(Grain, 51). The intertextual analysisof codes revealshowthisdoubleform occursin "Sarrasine": thehermeneutic code, conveying the story ofthe castrato, Zambinella,manifests literally the code (involving symbolic thepsychoanalytic, Lacaniantheory oftheentryinto languagefigured in the Oedipal stageand the castration complex). The discoursemixes two codes: "Of these two codes, simultaneouslyreferred to in the same words (the same signifier)," it is impossible to decidewhichone has priority, whichone determines the oftheother."Tenor"functions meaning in A Night at the Opera in the samewaythat"castration" functions in "Sarrasine," as an amphibology joining twocodes(thecodesbeing in thisinstance theactioncodeandthe
11. The screenplay is published byViking (New York,1972).
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as an emblemfora theculturalcode). The principle forusinga story oreticalconceptis, then,an extensionof Barthes'smetaphorical apof an exemplarywork being proach,with the "double" structure ofanyone oftheverticalcodes (semic-the achievedbythe projection voice of the person;cultural-the voice of science as receivedknowlofthehorizontal codes(action, edge;symbolic) ontoeither hermeneutic), oftheparadigm as the projection based on Jakobson's notionofpoetry as a successful onto the syntagm. betweenits "Just metaphor affords, all hindrances from terms, no hierarchy andremoves thepolysemic chain an originated so a 'good'narrative to thecomparison, figure), (incontrast fulfills boththeplurality and the circularity ofthecodes" (S/Z,77). The peculiar effect ofsuchconjunctions distinguishes Barthes's allefrom thatof "illustration," gorical procedure and the "demonstration," like. Tomake ananecdotal coincide with castrabeing-castrated, condition, is thetasksuccessfully carried tion, a symbolic structure, outbythe theformer doesnotnecessarily entail thelatsince performer (Balzac), fortruth the search symbolic and the hermeneutic, making (herinto thesearch for castration meneutic structure) (symbolic structure), theabthetruth be anecdotally making (andno longer symbolically) like with itmocks the "illustrating" castration by being-castrated, like, ofillustration, itabolishes both sidesoftheequivalence notion (letter toeither here andsymbol) without advantage one;thelatent occupies isflattened the lineofthe from thestart, thesign out:there manifest is
accounts for thisstory's sentphallus.... Which perhaps uniquevalue: ter.... This success hingeson a structural artifice: the identifying
no longer any "representation." [S/Z,163-64]
A Nightat the Opera includes this same flattening, such thatit functions notas a signbutas a catachresis. Barthes avoidsthelogocentric Derridabrought trapofrepresentation-the charge againstLacan when the latterused Poe's "PurloinedLetter"to teach the truth of psychohis are analysis-by stressing that allegories obtuse, structured notrepreas signsbut as metaphors, thatdo not refer to sentationally metaphors butthemselves constitute thesignificance ofBarpreestablished truths, thes'sownText.His discourse, thatis,is composed notas metalanguage butas Text. "Let thecommentary be itselfa text:thatis, in brief, what ofthetextdemands. thetheory The subjectoftheanalysis(thecritic, the thescholar)cannotin fact, without bad faith and smugness, philologist, believehe is external tothelanguage he is describing.,12Itis thisrelation of the writer to the textthat resultsin thirdmeanings, whose sense is thesubjectofknowledge. "We can putit stillmoreprecisely," finally
theText:A PostYoung,ed., Untying 12. Barthes, "Theory ofthe Text,"in Robert Routledge andKegan,1981),44. Reader(Boston: Structuralist
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Barthesadds: "fromits veryprinciples,the theoryofthe text can produce only theoreticians or practitioners (writers),but absolutely not 'specialists' (criticsor teachers); as a practice,then,it participatesitselfin the subversion of the genres which as a theoryit studies" (Untying,44). One conclusion mightbe thatin orderto teach textuallyone must be a Situationist. A SITUATIONIST PEDAGOGY
The caveat thatmust accompany this discussion is thatthereis no situationism,according to the situationists,who condemned as recuperation any attempt to learn fromthem by people not officiallyrecognized as "situationist." They were right,of course, given their rejection of the institutionsof bourgeois culture. In this respect the situationists reflect the arroganceof militancy forwhich Barthes sought an alternative.This militancy may be observed in the hyperbolic tone with which they scorned the intellectuals of Europe, including Barthes himself: In thepresent cultural and social crisisthosewho do notknowhowto use intelligence have in factno discernible intelligence of any kind. to us aboutunusedintelligence andyou'llmakeus happy. Stoptalking PoorHeidegger! PoorBarthes! PoorLukics! PoorSartre! PoorLefebvre! PoorCardan!Tics, tics,and tics.Without themethod for usingintelligence, they havenothing butcaricatural fragments oftheinnovating ideas thatcan truly comprehend thetotality ofourepochin thesame movement thattheycontest it.13 This condemnation includes not only prominent"former thinkers," but all academics, all those hopelessly ensnaredin the specialization that makes the present educational apparatus dysfunctional."It is only the specialists,whose power is gearedto a society ofspecialization, who have abandoned the critical truthof their disciplines in orderto preservethe personal advantage of theirfunction" (Situationist, 85). Barthes and the other "formerthinkers," don'tevenknowhowto arenotonlyincapable ofdeveloping ideas,they skillfully plagiarizeideas developedby others.Once the specialized thinkers step out of theirown domain,theycan onlybe the dumbof some neighboring and equally bankrupt foundedspectators speofbutwhichhas becomefashioncialization whichtheyare ignorant ofillusioncan be taught anddiscussed able.... All thespecializations thinkers. But the situationists take theirstandin the by the tenured
Anthology (Berkeley: BureauofPublic 13. KenKnabb, ed.,Situationist International Secrets, 1981),137.
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knowledge that is outside this spectacle: wearenotthinkers sponsored bythestate." [Situationist, 137114 a glimpse ofthe The situationist attitude toward academicsprovides and ofpopularization conofpedagogy way in whichthe problematics verge. ofcertain intellectual considerations toan Thelecture, theexposition in form of human relations audience, being anextremely commonplace itself forms a part oftheeveryday life a rather sector ofsociety, large tooinclined must for areonly that becriticized. Sociologists, example, tothem and toremove life that from everyday things happen every day, In this totransfer them toseparated andsupposedly superior spheres. with thehabit ofhandling a few inall itsforms-beginning wayhabit
professional concepts(concepts produced by the divisionof labor)-
It is thusdesirable conventions. to masksreality behind privileged is alteration ofthe usualprocedure lecture demonstrate, bya slight [the than that rather being delivered bya tape recording bya person], everyhere.[Situationist, 681 daylifeis right
in the The situationist forthe cretinism remedy theyfindrampant halls universities (causingthemto "condemnall the ado ofthe lecture and classrooms as merenoise, verbalpollution"), is their own version of popularization, a merger of intellectualand life activitiesthe goal of whichis notso muchto createa dialoguebetween discredited academics and "white-collar the sheep,"butto transform dailylifeitself (including theprincipal I Before reviewing techniqueoftheir program, classroom). in which the situationists shouldnote thatif the modality pose their if the "apocalyptic"tone were removed, were altered, we suggestions ofgreat interest for wouldbe left with witha program anyoneconcerned thepotentials The combative, sarcastic ofa postmodernized pedagogy. tone of situationist is specificto the genreof the manifesto, writing of the terrorist characteristic posturesof much Europeanintellectual ofthatstyle, I also believe politics. HowevermuchI enjoythehyperbole thatthis tone is not translatable into,is irrelevant to, the American can teachus something aboutthe intellectual scene.Butthesituationists is the ofthe academy:thesituationto be constructed psychogeography environment oftheuniversity. is termed The first ofthisprogram the "realization ofart," principle andconcerns to ourtraditional ourrelationship objectofstudy (literature and the arts),which will no longerbe contemplative but active. The in theuniversity, traditional to learning thatis, "speculative"approach of educationwiththe societyofthe spectaclein marksthe complicity
de 14. Cf. Derrida's critiqueof the State's role in educationin "Otobiographie Nietzsche,"in L'Oreiile de 1'autre:Texteset ddbatsavec JacquesDerrida,ed. Claude V.L.B.Editeur, Cristie V. McDonald (Montreal: LUvesque, 1982).
GREGORY
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51
in which the which the appearanceof educationreplacesthe reality, pursuit ofdegrees, the accumulation ofcredentials, take priority overa directengagement with the learning process. "The spectaclepresents itself Itsaysnothas an enormous unutterable andinaccessible actuality. ingmorethan 'thatwhichappearsis good,thatwhichis goodappears'. The attitude whichit demandsin principle is thispassive acceptance, ofappearing whichin factit has already obtained byitsmanner without reply, but its monopolyof appearance."15 Since the spectacle "is the oppositeof dialogue,"situationists beginby replying to the spectacle. The onlymeansavailablefor thisdialogue, however, maybe loosely as "deconstructive" is no position outsidethespectacle). described (there "Whenanalyzing thespectacleone speaks,to some extent, thelanguage of the spectacle itselfin the sense that one moves across the methin thespectacle" ofthesocietywhichexpresses itself odological terrain no. 11). "In itsvery theexposition ofdialectical is a (Debord, style, theory scandaland an abomination in termsofthe rulesofthe dominant languageandfor thetastewhichthey have educated, becausein thepositive use ofexisting conceptsit at the same timeincludesthe knowledge of their oftheirnecessary destruction" no. rediscovered fluidity, (Debord, 205). The approach to teaching thisdialectic, thisresponse to thespectacle, will not be that of orthodoxMarxism,since that ideology "retheconfidence in pedagogical demonstrations whichhad chardiscovers acterized utopiansocialism,butnixesit witha contemplative reference to thecourseofhistory" no. 95). Debordand the situationists, (Debord, thatis,believethatmodemevents haverefuted theoriginal Marxist goal ofrendering theworkers theoreticians no. 97). Hence,they (Debord, proforrevolution: "Our practo an education pose an alternative approach tical conclusionis the following: all efforts we are abandoning at pedagogical actionandmoving toward experimental activity" (Situationist, but 17).Moreover, thegoal will be notto makethepeoplephilosophers, artists. halfofthenineteenth "Thus,just as in thefirst century revolureflection on philostionary theory aroseoutofphilosophy (outofcritical to rise out ofthecrisisand deathofphilosophy), so now it is going ophy, out of againout of modem art-out of poetry-out of its suppression, whatmodemarthas soughtandprovided, out oftheclean sweepit has madeofall thevaluesandrulesofeveryday behavior" (Situationist, 106). Poetry, then,the quintessential objectof studyin the humanities ofrevolution. The poetsadmired becomesthematerial establishment, by the situationists, and however, are by and largedadaistand surrealist, a in a way quite alien to the tenured theyconceiveofpoetry thinkers, transformation identified as therealizationofart,synonymous withthe ofart."(Debord, carno. 191).This realization "overcoming essentially
Red andBlack,1970),no. 12. 15. GuyDebord,Society oftheSpectacle(Detroit:
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ofwords" riesoverintoperformance, intoaction,the "insubordination ("wordsembodyforcesthat can upset the most careful calculations") whichpoets"from Baudelaire to thedadaiststo Joyce" werelargely contentto confine to literature: theoppressive intheheyday ofitsassault surrealism Whereas against define itsarsenal as 'poetry life could ofculture anddaily order rightly for theSI ofa poetry it is nowa matter ifnecessary,' without poems less means necessarily without poems.... Realizing poetry nothing events and their lanand inseparably thansimultaneously creating inwhich andconofpoetry intheoldforms itwasproduced pearance in effective forms. itsreturn andunexpected andtoannounce sumed nolonger hastowrite out ithastocarry them out Ourera poetic orders;
(Situationist, 115, 116). leads us to announcethe totaldisapguage.... The same judgment
residesin praxisalone, Or,to putit another way, "Since understanding thenature oftheenemy one canreally comprehend onlyin theprocess of fighting it . .. ofintroducing theaggressivityofthe delinquent onto the indeedthedevice, plane ofideas" (Situationist, 87).The principal device, of this insubordination or delinquency the situais "detournement," tionist"signature." Past,preexisting artin thisoperation (a versionof but reused, "The two collage/montage) is not abandoned refunctioned. fundamental laws of detournement are the loss of importance of each as to lose its origidetourne autonomous element-which maygo so far nal sensecompletely-andat thesame timetheorganization ofanother on each elementits new scope and ensemblethatconfers meaningful effect.... Detournement is thusfirst ofall negation ofthevalue ofthe previous organization ofexpression" (Situationist, 55). The laws fortheuse ofdetournement are: 1) "It is themostdistant totheoverall detourned element mostsharply whichcontributes impresdetermine the natureof the sion, and not the elementsthat directly introduced in the detourned impression"; 2) "The distortions elements mustbe as simplified as possible, sincethemainforce ofa detournement is directly relatedto the consciousor vaguerecollection ofthe original is less effective themoreit contexts oftheelements"; 3) "Detournement a rationalreply";4) Detournement approaches bysimplereversal is aland the least effective" waysthemostdirect (Situationist, 10-11). in thedetourTechniquesand examplesinclude "experimentation nementofromantic photo-comics as well as of 'pornographic' photos, andthatwe bluntly realtruth realdialogues imposetheir byrestoring by to detourn thosein subwaycoranyadvertising billboards-particularly ridors, whichform remarkable sequences-by pasting overpre-prepared fortheuse of "guerplacards"(Situationist, 213-14). Theirsuggestions from rillatactics"in themass mediaincludedeverything overan taking
addingor alteringspeech bubbles..
..
In the same spirit, it is also possible
GREGORY
L. ULMER
53
electronic one's own slogansor other newspaper in orderto broadcast messages,to issuing counterfeit copies of a periodical.But of all the in the realmofthe cinemathat possibilities discussed,"it is obviously detournement can attainitsgreatest efficacity" (Situationist, 12).ExamBirthof a Nation "a soundtrack that ples includeaddingto Griffith's madea powerful ofthehorrors ofimperialist warandofthe denunciation activities oftheKu KluxKlan." Old historical epicscouldbereedited, and his execution," to "have Robespierre for history rewritten, say,before and thegrandeur example,"'in spiteofso manytrials, myexperience of me thatall is well."' Or,conversely, "a neorealist mytaskconvinces sort ofsequence, atthecounter ofa truckstop bar, for example, withoneofthe truckdrivers to another: saying seriously 'Ethicswas in thebooksofthe we have introduced it intothegoverning ofnations"' (alphilosophers; ludingto the "idea ofa dictatorship oftheproletariat").16 The situationist form approach to thecollage/montage foregrounds theparodic toneinherent in therefunctioning Whatremains to strategy. be seen is whether a new pedagogy from the situamightnot benefit lifeoftheunivertionist experience, might bring to bearon theeveryday sity thesamecritique as a wholeat thesituationists appliedtotheculture thelevel ofthemass media.17 It shouldnot be forgotten thatthesituationistcall for"all powerto the imagination" the principal provided It is possiblenow,in the 1980s, sloganfor theMay '68 student rebellion. to benefit from the lessons of thoseyears,from the successes and the some ofthedynamics ofchangeand innovation abusesalike,to recover in the troublesof the late sixtiesand earlyseventies, manifested now even though ofstudents the nearly forgotten thatgeneration now staffs ornew possibilities academy. Barthes was sensitive to theopportunities offered to teachers evenin thefailures ofMay '68. "May '68 has revealed thecrisisofour teaching. The old values are no longertransmitted, no longercirculate, no longerimpress;literature is desacralized, institutionsare impotent to defend and imposeit as theimplicit modelofthe human.... Literary semiology is,as itwere,thatjourney whichlandsus a momentof gentleapocalypse, a historical prophetic, momentof the greatest possiblepleasure."'8
16. The situationists alludeto Eisenstein's planto makea film ofMarx'sCapitalas a modelfor their ownemphasis on thefilm medium. Whilea theoretical analysis ofideology is inaccessible to the layman,the same analysis, if filmed, "would becomemuch less complicated." "I am confident thatI could filmThe Decline and Fall of the SpectacleCommodity Economyin a way thatwould be immediately understandable to the proletarians ofWatts whoareignorant oftheconcepts implied in that title"(Situationist, 215). 17. One recent signthatthetimehas cometo reconsider thelessonsofthesixties is, The '60s Without Apology, ed. Sohnya Sayres et al. (Minneapolis: ofMinnesota University Press,1984). 18. RolandBarthes, "Lecture in Inauguration oftheChairofLiterary Semiology, Collegede France," trans. Richard Howard, October8 (1979): 14.
in a countryfree by default....
It is a moment at once decadent and
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makes If we take Barthesseriouslywhen he says that "writing the simknowledge festive" ("Lecture,"7),we maybeginto appreciate The linkis not ilarities relating a textualist witha situationist pedagogy. of therevalorization onlythatBarthes opposedspecialization, callingfor of writing to "a the statusof the "amateur"againstthe confinement with the caste of technicians"("Text," 42), but thathe sympathized parodicmode ofdetournement.19 Therevolutionary of isnottoevict but totransgress. Now, task writing it is necessary to to transgress is at onceto recognize andto invert; to negate andat thesametime it; present theobject to be destroyed this contradiction.... is precisely that which writing permits logical atoncethecorrect and an 'inverted' language Only writing, presenting itscontestation inshort, itsparody), canberevolutionary." (letus say,
[Grain, 491
In the fragment entitled"Play, parody,"Barthesnoted that the only parody he everwrotewas ofPlato's Crito,donewhenhe was a student, "thoughhe oftenwantedto" (Barthes,142). His plan forthe "perfect ofparody:"A bookoflearning book,"thus,reflects thedoublestructure ofall systems, a andofwriting, at oncea perfect system andthemockery a vengeful and tender book,corsummaofintelligence and ofpleasure, in principle shares rosive andpacific"(Barthes, 173).Barthes's textuality thedisrespectful, modeofparody: "The textis (shouldbe)that devaluing uninhibited person who showshis behindto thePoliticalFather"(PleamarksthepoliticsofText: "I wouldsay sure,53). This disrespectfulness a That is to sayI comebeneath thatetymologically, yes,I try to subvert. ofthinking thatexistsandto displaceit a conformism, beneath a fashion a little. To unthicken them. To bit.No revolution, no,buttohedgethings a doubt. render themmoremobile.To introduce Thus,alwaystounsettle thesupposedly natural, theinstalledthing"(Grain,268). Parodyis a desirablemode to workin because meaningand myTextual subversion thologiescannotbe confronted directly, frontally. since the "must still be done with the appearanceof communication, oflanguage to the for a liberation social,historical conditions (inrelation are nowhere ofdiscourse) signifieds, to theproperty yetin place. Hence
ofthespectacle attack on thesociety withthesituationist 19. Barthes's may sympathy I convert to themeat thelevel ofpractice "This veryimportant be seen in thisremark: disalienated, which, a society tocome,totally that I amabletoimagine theory, tothedegree Notablyin the buttheamateur's activities. wouldknownothing on thelevel ofwriting, from theblissof for pleasure, wouldprofit maketexts, order ofthetext. Peoplewouldwrite, else.... Butthere might rousein someone abouttheimagethey writing without worrying thedevelopment of The technical development, ofcivilization. one encounters a problem We are a terribly the divorcebetweendoersand consumers. mass cultureaccentuates andnotat all a society of on thestereotype, ifI daresayso,playing society ofconsumption, in contact with theperson oftheamateur, amateurs" notion putting (Grain, 205).Barthes's for pedagogy. theproduction has important implications oftexts,
GREGORY
L. ULMER
55
whereby it is text....
the present importance of the theoretical (directive) conceptsof parafalsereadability" gram, plagiarism, intertextuality, (Grain,114-15). The is not to win the war of discourse, but to goal of textuality, however, escape fromit, or to neutralizeit. "A ruthlesstopic rules the life of language; language alwayscomesfrom someplace, it is a warrior topos" tobe (Pleasure, 28).Against thistopos, thetextscandalizes byattempting is overcome, atopic: "It is nota jargon, a fiction, in it thesystem undone Fromthis atopia the (thisovercoming, this defection, is signification). to itsreader a strange condition: at once textcatchesand communicates excludedand at peace. There can be tranquilmomentsin the war of languages, and thesemoments are texts"(Pleasure, 29). Here we beginto see moreprecisely thenatureofthepositionBarthes defined alternative to the oppositionbetweendoxa and science: "The Neutralis therefore not the thirdterm-the zero degree-of an link opposition whichis bothsemanticand conflictual; it is, at another of chain oflanguage,thesecondtermofa new paradigm, oftheinfinite is theprimary term" whichviolence(combat, victory, theater, arrogance) arementioned (Barthes, 132).Threestrategies bywhichthetextgetsout of the war of sociolects: "First,the text liquidatesall metalanguage, reference its sociolinguistic contradiction, its own discursive category, (its 'genre'):it is 'the comical thatdoes not make us laugh',the irony
Lastly, the text can, ifit wants, attack the Next, the text destroysutterly,to the point of
theproblem modern how to breachthewall ofutterance, facing writing: thewall oforigin, thewall ofownership?" (S/Z,45). modereveals ofBarthes's To identify theparodicpotential writerly the versatility of the double-collapsed, allegoricaltexts that Barthes " "The Case ofM. Valdemar," sought outin thecanon("Sarrasine, "The of Young Werther," and even A Nightat the Opera). Even if Sorrows theprofunBarthes's ownsensibility was,finally, melancholic, exploring side ofhis operaditiesoflove and death,he also directed us to another in which laughter of tion,the parodicdimension, organizesthe effect third ofthisother sideofthedoubleinscripmeanings. Partoftheinterest tionis thatit opens an alternative withwhich to applyBaroperation and to theclassroom. thes'slessonsto critical writing
ic....
" (Pleasure, canonicalstructure ofthelanguageitself 30-31). in the secondone (thecomicalthat In thesestrategies, particularly ordetourdoesnotmakeus laugh)we find thekeyto thestatusofparody orparody nement device.The problem withirony as tradias a textualist is thatit involvesan explicitquotation, tionally understood necessarily signalsthe sourceof its allusion,and hence reducesits multivalence. Barthesinsistson the necessityof abolishingthese quotationmarks: "The wall ofvoices must be passed through to reachthe writing: this latter and can ofownership thus neverbe ironeschewsanydesignation
What could a parodybe that did not advertiseitselfas such? This is
which does not subjugate....
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The situationists provide theclueindicating howBarthes's project to breachthewall ofownership might be "realized,"keeping in mindthe a style amphibology in "proper" (property andpropriety), bysuggesting of improper behavior.The essence of theirlesson is the introduction of "carnival"("metaphorical revolution") intoacademicsas an antidote to alienation. We may see in this contextthat,when the situationists arneededto be detourned guedthatMarxismitself (Situationist, 171),the MarxBrothers provide at least an allegory for thisdetournement (recallingthattheYippeesweresaidtobe Groucho-Marxists). The situationists claimedthattheir "a newkindof strategy ofa realizedpoetry represented and seriously." The struchumor," one whichhad to be taken"literally to thedetournement tureofcomedy without thelaughmight refer, then, ofparody forexample. to otherends,to thepoliticsofpedagogy, The formation ofa new pedagogy, basedon textuality and thesituaofa realized tionist theprogram will require experience, taking seriously artand thepractice ofdetournement. Again,A Nightat the Opera providesthemodelfor in a realizedform. sucha project, The pointwouldbe notsimply but to watchthefilmand discussits allegorical possibilities, toadoptitsoperations as an experimental detournperformance activity, in the ing other"works"the way Verdi'sWork(Opera)was detourned film. The wall ofutterance will be broken, thus,because one wouldnot refer to theMarxBrothers' one would perform themwithoutquotation marx(ideafora situationist film:the lifeofKarlMarxwiththeleading roleactedin themanner AndwhattheMarxBrothers ofGroucho). show us is thatthethird neither commonsensenorscience,is nonmeaning, theruleofusage.That nonsense,thenonsenseofthegagthatsubverts a teaching made sensemaybe thebestmodality for teaching (atleastfor festive) has been knownsince ancienttimes. "All the sourcesofarguments,"Quintilliannoted,"can also furnish jokes."20 Lettheplayfulness oftheMarxBrothers' withlanguage relationship and objectsserveas an emblemfor whatteachers maydo to realize the classroomas Text. And let Groucho,in his role as Professor Quincy Adams Wagstaff, of Horsefeathers shown at the beginning beingwelcomedas incoming ofHuxleyCollege,serveas a modelfor the President administrators textualist teacherswill need: "Membersofthe faculty,
de l'UniverEditions Le Comiquedu discours 20. Lucie Olbrechts-Tyteca, (Brussels: in Nonsense:AspectsofIntertextuality sityde Bruxelles, 1974),24. Cf. Susan Stewart, University Press, 1978), 206.The whole Johns Hopkins Folklore and Literature (Baltimore: ofpedagogical for thedevelopment provides a majorargument ofStewart's excellent study Problems in theRelationbetween Steiner, The ColorsofRhetoric: nonsense. Cf.Wendy ofChicagoPress,1982).FordiscusModern Literature and Painting (Chicago:University A. Rose, Parsee Margaret mode of our paradigm, sions of parody as the predominant du lieu Lautreamont: CroomHelm,1979), andClaudeBouch6, ody/Meta-fiction (London: Die Gunther Witting, Verweyen, 1974).Cf.Theodor commun a la parodie(Paris:Larousse, Eine Systematische Einfuhrung DeutschenLiteratur: Parodiein derNeueren (Darmstadt: 1979). WissenschAftliche Buchges,
GREGORY
L. ULMER
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faculty members;studentsof Huxley and Huxley students," Wagstaff saysin his address."I guess thatcoverseverything. Well,I thought my razorwas dull untilI heardthisspeech,and thatreminds me ofa story that'sso dirty I'm ashamedto thinkofit myself. As I look out overyour eagerfacesI can readily understand whythiscollegeis flaton its back. The lastcollegeI presided overthings wereslightly different. I was flat on from bad to worse,butwe all putourshoulmyback.Thingskeptgoing dersto thewheel,and it wasn'tlongbefore I was flaton myback again. Anyquestions? Anyanswers? Anyrags, anybones,anybottles today?"2' so Ofcourse, somewould saythatwe have suchadministrators already; whatare we waitingfor?
J.Anobile,ed., Whya Duck? Visual and VerbalGems fromtheMarx 21. Richard Brothers Movies(New York:Avon,1972),98.

A Night at The Text Roland Barthes's Marx Brothers

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A Night at The Text Roland Barthes's Marx Brothers

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"A Night at the Text": Roland Barthes's Marx Brothers Author(s): Gregory L.

"A Nightat the Text": RolandBarthes's Marx Brothers

function being reduced to the rank of artifice or alibi . . . it likewise

Yale French Studies

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bology. [Barthes, 72]

Studies Yale French

HerrGottlieb! Lassparri's disappeared.

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no longer any "representation." [S/Z,163-64]

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professional concepts(concepts produced by the divisionof labor)-

Studies Yale French

In the same spirit, it is also possible

It is a moment at once decadent and

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which does not subjugate....

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