Discourse, Figure

Title Page, Copyright, Dedication

discourse, figure also by jean-françois lyotard published by the university of minnesota press The Differend: Phrases in Dispute Heidegger and “the jews” Just Gaming (with Jean-Loup Thébaud) Political Writings The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge The Postmodern Explained Postmodern Fables Signed, Malraux Jean-François Lyotard Translated by Antony Hudek and Mary Lydon Introduction by John Mowitt Dis cour se,Fi gure university of minnesota press minneapolis · london cultural critique books An occasional series of publications in association with the journal Cultural Critique. www.upress.umn.edu/journals/culturalcritique The University of Minnesota Press gratefully acknowledges financial assistance provided by the French Ministry of Culture for the translation of this book. Ouvrage publié avec le concours du Ministère français chargé de la culture—Centre national du livre. “‘The Dream-Work Does Not Think’” was originally published in Oxford Literary Review 6, no. 1 (1983): 3–34; reprinted with permission of Oxford Literary Review. “Fiscourse Digure: The Utopia behind the Scenes of the Phantasy” was originally published in Theatre Journal 35, no. 3 (1983): 333–57; copyright by The Johns Hopkins University Press; reprinted with permission of The Johns Hopkins University Press. “there is a here and” copyright 1940, 1968, 1991 by the Trustees for the E.E. Cummings Trust, from E.E. Cummings, Complete Poems: 1904–1962, ed. George J. Firmage (New York: Liveright Publishing Corporation, 1968); reprinted by permission of Liveright Publishing Corporation. Originally published in French as Discours, figure; copyright 1971 by Klincksieck. Copyright 2011 by the Regents of the University of Minnesota All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Published by the University of Minnesota Press 111 Third Avenue South, Suite 290 Minneapolis, MN 55401-2520 http://www.upress.umn.edu Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Lyotard, Jean-François, 1924–1998. [Discours, figure. English] Discourse, figure / Jean-François Lyotard ; translated by Antony Hudek and Mary Lydon ; introduction by John Mowitt. p. cm. (Cultural critique books) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-8166-4565-7 (hardcover : alk. paper) ISBN 978-0-8166-4566-4 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. General semantics. 2. Form (Aesthetics). 3. Art Philosophy. I. Title. B820.L913 2011 194 dc22 2011016410 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper The University of Minnesota is an equal-opportunity educator and employer. 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 a m a a m This page intentionally left blank To whom is a book due? For the book itself is a modern offspring of Greek tragedy, and, through it, of expiatory sacrifice. Like these, the book is therefore already due to a debt whose insatiable creditor is unnameable. One cannot entertain the hope of extinguishing this debt with acknowledgments. I hereby designate my immediate creditors: S. Boucheron, L. Bovar, the members of the C.N.R.S. Commission de Philosophie, P. Durning, C. Martin, and M. May, without whom this book could not have been realized; the students in the 1967–68 course and 1968–69 seminar at Nanterre, with whom it was conceived; M. Dufrenne, who, without fail and with unconditional generosity, believed in this project. ...