BACHELARD'S LOGOSPHERE AND DERRIDA'S LOGOCENTRISM: IS THERE A "DIFFERANCE?

"
Author(s): Roch C. Smith
Source: French Forum, Vol. 10, No. 2 (May 1985), pp. 225-234
Published by: University of Nebraska Press
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Roch Smith

BACHELARD^ LOGOSPHERE AND DERRIDA'S

LOGOCENTRISM: IS THERE A DIFFERANCE ?

For GastonBachelard,authorof sometwelvebookson thephilosophy of

scienceand anotherelevenvolumeson the imagination, wordshold a very
specialplace. But theirprivileged positionrestsless on Bachelard'sprolific
verbalproduction thanon hisphilosophical outlook.In hisbookson science,
as one mightexpect,words,withtheirbaggageof imprecision, are suspect,
whereasthisveryambiguity is seenas a sourceof theirpowerin hisworkson
theimagination. Yet, thepointforBachelardis notso muchthattheimagina-
tion accords special statusto wordsover quantitativemeasurement, but
ratherthatwordsthemselves are the primary, oftenthe singularmeansof
imagining.Imagination forBachelardis nothing ifnotverbal.
This notionis particularly prevalent in L'Eau et ies rves, thefirstof his
books on the fourelementsto be devotedexclusivelyto the imagination.
Afterdifferentiating betweenthe ratherstatic,picturesqueand superficial
formalimagination and the moredynamic,substantial and internal materia!
imagination in which,as heputsit,"la matireestl'inconscient de ia forme,1'1
Bachelard,borrowing andadaptingfreelyfromdepthpsychology, determines
thatthe mostprofoundwellsprings of the imagination are verbal.If,in the
realmof the imagination, matteris thesubconsciousness of form,the most
directexpressionof the materialimagination cannot be found in those
imaginary worksthatdependon formal,visualqualities,such as painting.
For Bachelard,the materialimagination is mostaccessiblethroughwords,
particularlythrough words that are intended to be readimaginatively. Not
surprisingly, and
literature, especiallypoetry, is the privilegedmedia of the
materialimagination: "Finalement, le vritable domaine pour tudier l'ima-
gination,ce n'estpas la peinture, c'est l'uvrelittraire, c'estle mot,c'estla
phrase"(ER, p. 252). Initially, at least,Bachelardviewsliterature as a means
to thestudyof theimagination ratherthanas theobjectto be studied.
Six yearslater,in La Terreet !es rveries de ia volont}hisemphasishas
shiftedslightly.Literature is stillspokenof as a means,butthistimetheend
is notonlyimagination generally, but specificartforms.Bachelardnowsees

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226 FRENCH FORUM

theliterary imagination as thekeyto ail art,including, theplastic

particularly,
arts:"Il n'y a qu' crirel'uvrepeinte;il n'ya qu' crirela statue.... Par
le biais de imagination littraire
, tous ls artssont ntres."2Such a view
mayseemextreme,ifnot totallysubversive, to a painteror sculptor,
yetone
findsthe engraver, AlbertFlocon, in an exchangeduringthe 1970 Cerisy
colloquiumon Bachelard, comingverycloseto agreeing:
Les peintresd'aujourd'huisonttrsconvaincus que ce qu'ilsfontchappeauxmots.
Personnellement,aprsuneexprience relativement
longue,quiestalledel'abstrait
au
concret, d'unecertaine
je croisque le discours, manire,peuttrsbienrendrecompte
aussidel'image,encorequ'ellenesoitjamais parlui.3
puise

Words,especiallythe wordsof imaginative literature,occupya special

place in the imagination becausetheyare foundat the imagination's source,
in reverie.
That is whyBachelardfindsit possible,indeednecessary, to write
a Potiquede ia rverie.As he explains,"Cette rverieest une rveriequi
s'crit,ou qui, du moins,se prometd'crire."4For Bachelard,theresimply
cannotbe reveriewithoutwords.Borrowing a phrasefromthepoet Henri
Bosco, Bachelardexplainswhat he calls "un des axiomesde la Potiquede
la rverie. . . Tout l'tredu monde,s'il rve,rvequ'il parle"' (PR, p. 161).
Reverieprecedesculturallyacquired knowledge.Unfettered by rational
constraints, reverieis theprimitive,subjectivestatein whichwordslinkthe
dreamerand the world.For Bachelard,all imaginative art stemsfromthis
verbaloriginand all artis thereforeapproachable through words.
Perhapsthe moststriking exampleof Bachelard'sverbalprimacycan be
foundin his 1960 essayon Chagall'sBible.For nowhereelse in hisworkdo
we encountera moresustaineddemonstration of his viewthatvisualarts
mustbe verbalized. Chagallhastransformed thewritten textof theBibleinto
a picturebook,butBachelardinsiststhatthepowerof thesepaintings derives
fromtheirabilityto become words.Bachelarddelightsin Chagall'swork
precisely becausethecycleis complete:wordsbecomepaintings whichagain
are transformed into words.The role of Chagall'spainting,in Bachelard's
view,is to givethe fullestquotientof reverieto words.Thus,it is notjust
that Chagalllit la Bible,et ... . Sous son pinceau,sousson
crayon,la Bible
devient... un livred'images,un livrede portraits."5 For,Chagall'spaintings
also speak: "Les couleursdeviennent des paroles.Qui aime la peinturesait
bienque la peintureest une sourcede paroles,une sourcede pomes"
(DR
p. 16).
As an example,Bachelardpointsto Chagall'sdepictionof Adamand Eve
wherethepainter"caressedu regardles beauxfruits du mondesanslesdta-
cherde l'arbre"(DR, p. 17). FromBachelard'spointof viewthis
painting
suggestsa delegatedtemptation. Inspiredby the painting, one can, ifwe are
to believeBachelard,hear Adam's words:"Adam ne dit-il
pas l'Eve de

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ROCH. SMITH 227

Chagall:'Va, ma belle,connaisla tentation, la tentationseulement. Caresse,

mais ne cueille pas,' ou encore,nuanceplus subtile,'Ne cueillepas, mais
caresse'"(DR, p. 17).
Vet, it is not a questionof Bachelard'sparticular verbalreveriebeingthe
only appropriate one, but of the inevitability of verbal reverieitself:"Les
paroles viennent aux lvres de quiconque rvesur le tableau. On voitla tenta-
tion, donc on la parle, chacun sa manire" (DR, p. 17). Chagall'spaintings
evoke reverieand,as always,reverieforBachelardis inescapably verbal:"A
' It can
de
nous,rveurs, parier ces tableaux' (DR, p. 22). hardly otherwise
be
for a philosopher who regularly associatesthe visualwiththe inauthentic,
superficial, formalimagination andwhofindssubstanceandauthenticity only
inthematerialimagination.
A decade beforehis introduction to Chagall'sBible,Bachelardhad per-
ceived in the global communication of radio certainimplications forthe
imagination. His essay,"Rverieet radio,"can serveas paradigm verbal
a of
primacy inBachelard forherethewordtrulyhasacquiredcosmicproportions.
Faced withthe realization that,thanksto radio,"toutela planteesten train
de parler"(DR, p. 216), Bachelardoffersthe notionof a sphereof words,
akinto thebiosphere, whichhe labelsthe "logosphere."Radio goesbeyond
merecommunication to fulfillon a daily,globalscaletheverbalreverie that,
in Bachelard'sview,is peculiarly human.Unlikethebiosphere whichencom-
passesall livingthings,the logosphere is strictlylimitedto thehumanspecies
and,moreparticularly, to theexpression of thehumanpsyche:"Nousparlons
tous dans la logosphre.Nous sommesdes citoyensde la logosphre"(DR,
p. 216). Accordingto Bachelard,radiocreatesa logosphere thatre-invents
mankindas thevoiceof theworldbyexpressing subconscious reverie:"C'est
donc par l'inconscient que l'on peutralisercettesolidaritdes citoyensde
la logosphre"(DR, p. 218). The logosphereis the resultof a technical
extensionof thepoet'svoicewhich,as Bachelardsuggestsin La Potiquede
ia rverie , is particularly attunedto universalhumanreverie:"La voix du
pote est une voix du monde" (PR, p. 162). Radio bringsintorealitythe
voiceof theworld,it makesuniversal theverbalreveriein whichwe all live.
It is thismaterialization thatBachelardcallsthelogosphere.
Some sixteenyearsafterBachelard'sessay,JacquesDerridaintroduces
the strikingly similarexpressionof "logocentrism" in De ia grammatoiogie.
Like the term"logosphere,"logocentrism refersto the universalprivilege
accordedto thespokenwordin thecontemporary world.Derridadefinesit
as a "mtaphysique de l'criture phontique... qui n'a t en sonfond. . .
que l'thnocentrisme le plusoriginal et le pluspuissant, en passede s'imposer
aujourd'hui la plante."6BothBachelard'sand Derrida'sconceptspointto
whatmightbe calledthematrixof wordswithinwhichmodernmanlives,but
a crucialdifference is thatBachelard'stermis relatedto reverie whileDerrida

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228 FRENCHFORUM

is speakingof theuniversality of traditional Western philosophical discourse.

Bachelard'stermgivesa psychologicalinterpretation to a phenomenon of
technology. Derridaseeksto exposethe logocentric structure of philosophy.
Yet, in thissense,bothlogosphere and logocentrism referto hiddenrealities.
But whereasBachelardsees the logosphere as a positivemanifestation of
mankind'suniversalverbal reveriethroughearly twentieth-century tech-
nology,Derridasees in logocentrism a contemporary philosophical impasse
whichdemandsescape fromwhat mightbe called the established"word-
order."Bachelardcelebratesthe logosphere as a realization of hisownintui-
tions;Derridaseeksto disclosethattheend of thelonglogocentric tradition
is in view.In fact,in a mostfundamental way,Derrida'sentireworkcenters
on therevelation of logocentrism and themeansof transcending it.
Derridasees the firstsignsof a breakwhenthewritten wordfreesitself
fromthe logocentrictradition,when "la sciencede l'criture - la gramma-
tologie-donne les signesde sa libration traversle monde" (G, p. 13).
Grammatology is, in fact,an attackon the veryheartof logocentrism, al-
thoughby no meanstheonlyone. In Margesde la philosophie, forexample,
Derridacontinuesto probeforan exterior vantagepointthatwillpermithim
to examinephilosophy withoutbeingcaughtinthelogocentric webwhenhe
asks: "peut-on,en touterigueur, assigner un lieu non-philosophique, un lieu
d'extriorit ou d'altritdepuislequelon puisseencoretraiter de la philoso-
phie?"1Andina well-known essay,firstpublishedin 1968 and reproduced in
1972 as thefirstchapterof Marges , Derrida offers further examplesofwhat
it meansto escapefromlogocentrism byreturning to thenotionofdiffrance
whichhe had introduced in De ia grammatologie. Continuing to insiston the
of in
centrality writing language,he callsattentionto the "no-graphisme"
(M, p. 3) (no doubtDerridawouldnotbe caughttrafficking inno-logismes)
of thisexpression inwhichthepenultimate vowele hasbeenreplacedbyana.
thetermbrings
Essentially, together thenotionof timeandspace,theidea
of temporizing or deferring and separating or differing: "Diffrance comme
temporisation, diffrance comme espacement"(M, p. 9). The notionallows
Derridato takehiscue, albeitcritically, fromSaussuriansemiologyin order
to attackthephilosophical of
assumptions logocentrism: "D'o ... la transfor-
mationde la smiologie en
gnrale grammatologie, celle-ci oprantun travail
critiquesurtoutce qui, dans la smiologieet jusquedanssonconceptmatri-
ciel-le signe-retenait des prsuppossmtaphysiques incompatibles avec le
motifde la diffrance" p.
(M, 16). Diffrance may thus be of
thought as a
culturalmotifthatsummarizes thewaningof logocentric limits.In thisrespect
it is thepositiveside of the logocentric coin. It leadsto a deconstruction of
logocentric assumptions.
Such a deconstruction is preciselytheobjectof Derrida's1978 book,La
Vriten peinture . As withBachelard,the visualartsacquiresignificance

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ROCH. SMITH 229

through a transformation intothe realmof theverbal,althoughwithDerrida

thesemioticanalysisof the painting's code as wellas of commentary on the
paintingis infinitelymoreidiosyncratic thanBachelard's verbalreverie.
Derrida'spointof departure, in fact,is not a paintingbut thefollowing
statementby Czanne,in a letterto EmileBernard:"'Je vousdois la vrit
en peinture, et je vousla dirai."'8In hisintroductory analysisDerridareveals
the ambiguity of thisstatement whose meaningmayrangefromthedirect
presentation of truthinpainting, thefaithful representationof truthin paint-
ing,truth in as
painting opposed to some other medium,and truthabout
painting.Czanne's key statement opens the way for Derrida'sextended
four-partexamination of painting in which the commondenominator is the
lineand theinevitable limitor margin thatitsuggests:

Le traitcommun de cesquatre fois,c'estpeut-tre . . . Lesdiscours

le trait. surla pein-
turese destinent
peut-tre reproduire quilesconstitue,
la limite etquoiqu'ilsfassent
etquoiqu'ilsdisent:il y a poureuxundedanset undehors de l'uvredslorsqu'ily
a del'uvre.
(VP,p. 16)
We may recognizeherethe limitsof logocentrism and, as usual,Derrida's
purposeis to exploresuchlimitsinorderto probeforan opening:"Un espace
reste entamerpourdonnerlieu la vriten peinture. Ni dedansnidehors,
il s'espace sans se laisserencadrermais il ne se tientpas horscadre" (VP,
p. 16). As an exampleof thiskindof diffrance in painting,I shouldliketo
look at Derrida'slastchapterentitled"Restitutions de la vriten pointure"
[sic] whereinthe threeearlierdirectionsof the book come togetherand
in whichhe concentrates on a particular paintingby Van GoghentitledOld
Shoes.
The interesting pointforDerridais thatthispainting was theobjectof an
analysisbyHeidegger, one with which art historian Meyer Schapiro tookissue.
Heidegger, Derrida recalls,had sought to identify the shoes as thoseof a
peasant man or woman.9 Derrida points out to
that,according Schapiro,10
Heideggererrsin attributing theshoesto peasantry: "Heidegger selonlui se
trompe et de peinture et de chaussures. En les attribuant du paysanou de
la paysanne,il restedans l'erreur, . . . dans la projectionimaginaire, celle-l
mmecontrelaquelleil prtendait nous mettreen garde"(VP, p. 313). As
presented by Derrida,Schapirothusstandsfortheideathattruthin painting
should be representational. In its rejectionof imaginative projectionthis
is
position exactly the opposite of that of Bachelard's verbal reverie.As
Derridahimselfmakesclear,"l'attribution de Schapirorestedansl'esthtique
reprsentative, et mmela plusempiriste" (VP, p. 363).
Heidegger's position,as presented by Derrida,turnsout to be muchcloser
to Bachelard's.For Heidegger, the paintingbecomeswords;it speaks:"Tout
se passe finalement commesi Heidegger n'avaitcertespas parldu tableau.

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230 FRENCH FORUM

Mais loinde s'en vader,il n'en auraitpas parlen vuedele laisserparlerlui-

mme.Non pas faitparlermaislaissparler.Ces chaussures (unefoispeintes)
parlent,cettechose produiteet dtachede son sujetse met (en) parler,
voilce que Heidegger ditun peu aprs"(VP, p. 369).
But Derridais no less criticalof Heidegger's searchforrevealedtruthin
Van Gogh's painting:"Mais de son ct, en disant1Bauernschuhe' sans se
poserde question ce sujet,Heideggerest en de de son discourssurla
vriten peintureet encoreplusnafque Schapiro.. . . C'est que le pas en
arrired'une vritd'adquationversune vritde dvoilement, quelleque
soitsa vritetsa force'critique,'peutaussibienlaisserpratiquement dsarm
devantl'ingnu,le pr-critique, le dogmatique"(VP, p. 363). Derridarejects
the notionthattruthin painting can be reduced,eitherthroughrepresenta-
tion (Schapiro)or revelation(Heidegger)to the signifier of a pre-existing
signified,as the logocentric tradition would demand.
As faras Derridais concerned, Schapiro'sattemptto rectify Heidegger's
thought and Heidegger'sparticularinterpretation of Van Gogh's painting
imposean ideologicalorder,an "arraisonnement idologique"(VP, p. 372),
of the kindhe had denounceda decadeearlierwhenwriting of logocentrism.
Schapiro'sessay is viewedasan to
attempt policeHeidegger's critical discourse
in to
which, turn,attempts police art itself:
"Tout revient un de ces exer-
cices de lecture la loupe qui prtendent tranquillementfaire la loi, tout
contrler, policirement en effet" (VP, p. 372).
Derridaseeksto escapefromthislogocentric orderbysearching fortruth
in thatarea whichencompassesboththeworkand itsmargin, which,inthe
case of painting, Derridacallsthe "parergon"(VP, p. 378). Moreover, justas
the realityof global radio had servedas a paradigmof Bachelard'sverbal
reverie, Van Gogh'spainting, withitsshoelacesweavinginandout,servesas
a paradigm of Derrida'ssearchfor"vriten peinture"and, in thischapter,
"en pointure":"D'autantplusque le parergona peut-tre ici la formede ce
lacetqui rattachele dedansau dehors,si bienque le lacet(dedans-dehors)
moitidfaitdans le tableaufigureaussile rapportdu tableau sondehors"
(VP,p. 378).
The parergon , embodiedhereby Van Gogh'spainting, is Derrida'stenta-
tiveresponseto the logocentric impositionof order.Because it transcends
limitswithoutcuttingitselfoff fromthe work,because it avoids seeing
differences as oppositions, it is a formofdiffrance:
La logiquedu dtachement commecoupure conduit l'opposition,c'estunelogique,
voireunedialectiquede l'opposition.
J'aimontr ailleursqu'elleavaitpoureffet de
relever
la diffrence.
Doncde suturer.La logiquedudtachement comme stricture
est
toutautre.Diffrante:
ellenesuturejamais.Ellepermet icide tenircompte de ce fait:
cessouliers
nesontniattachsnidtachs,
nipleinsnivides.(VP,p. 389)

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ROCH. SMITH 231

In semiotictermstruthin painting is at once inthesignifier

and thesignified.
On a moreconcretelevelit maybe soughtpartlywithintheframeor partly
without,but it is neverto be foundexclusively in one domainor theother:

Quellepertinence
gardentalorslesquestions classiques de description,
d'identification,
d'attribution? savoir
Quelsensy a-t-il de qui,dequoi,aujuste,au plusjuste,onparle
enajustant? savoir
Etsurtout si a se passedansle tableauou horscadre?Il ya dela
ignorer
navet decesquestions.
ledroit Il n'yena pasmoins s'yconfiner.
(VP,p. 393)

Derridademonstrates thatSchapiro's andHeidegger's essayson Van Gogh's

are
painting dogmatic. This is because,despite different approaches,each
seeksa formof referential truthin painting, a literaltruththatcan be fixed
inwords.In Derrida's estimation sucha discourseis inadequateas an approach
to truthinpainting becauseof itsnaivedogmatism.
At thispointDerridamay seem about as farfromBachelardas can be
imagined.Bachelardrevelsin words;Derridarejectslogocentrism. Bachelard
emphasizes verbalreverie; Derrida condemns naive approaches art.Yet,
to
despitethese apparentdifferences, theyshare the goalof avoidingdogmatism,
ofgoingbeyondassumedlimits, oftranscending immediacy. Thisis essentially
themeaningof diffrance forDerrida:"La diffrance estnonseulement irr-
ductible touterappropriation ou
ontologique thologique- onto-thologi-
que- mais,ouvrantmmel'espacedanslequell'onto-thologie- la philosophie
-produit son systme et son histoire,elle la comprend, l'inscritet l'excde
sans retour"(M, p. 6). For Derrida,the marginof anyworkis,infact,nota
limitbut a potentialextensionof thework:"la margen'estplusunevirginit
secondairemaisune inpuisablerserve, l'activitstrographique d'unetout
to
autreoreille"(M, p. xix). By listening this "other ear" when he examines
the questionof truthin painting, Derrida sees Van Gogh's work both as a
particularpainting-the Old Shoes- and as a statementabout art thatgoes
beyondtheimmediacy of thework.
Throughoutmuchof hisworkon scienceBachelardrepeatedly reaffirms
the importanceof transcending immediacyin contemporary physicsand
chemistry. In Le NouvelEspritscientifique , forexample,he reminds us that
"Toute vritnouvellenat malgrl'vidence,toute expriencenouvelle
nat malgrl'exprienceimmdiate."11 A few yearslater,in La Formation
, such immediacywill be labeledan "epistemologica!
de l'espritscientifique
obstacle,"12a notionwhich,like Derrida'slogocentrism, summarizesthe
essentialerrorto be avoidedwhensearching for truth. Such an obstaclemay
take manyforms,accordingto Bachelard, but in all cases it preventsthe
renewalof knowledgeby insisting continuity unity.In Bachelard's
on and
view scienceworksby goingbeyondthe marginsof such assumedunity,
muchin theway Derridawilllaterdescribediffrance. As Bachelardaffirms:

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232 FRENCH FORUM

"Tout l'oppos,le progrsscientifique marqueses plus nettestapesen

abandonnantles facteursphilosophiques d'unification faciletelsque l'unit
d'action du Crateur,l'unitde plan de la Nature,l'unitlogique"(FES,
p. 16). How akinto Bachelardis thequestionDerridaposes in hisintroduc-
tion to Margeswherehe asks: "peut-ontraiterde la philosophie. . . sansse
laisserdj dicter,avec cette prtention l'unitet l'unicit,la totalit
imprenable et imprialed'un ordre?S'il y a des marges,y a-t-ilencoreune
philosophie,la philosophie?" (M,p. ix).
Since Bachelard,in theearlystagesof hisworkon theimagination, insists
that "Les axes de la posie et de la sciencesont d'abord inverses,"13 his
notionof a universal verbalreverie in a
culminating logosphere may at be
first
seenas an egregious example of the logocentrism condemned by Derrida. Yet,
theepistemology of scienceinforms Bachelard'sexamination of theimagina-
tion in verysubtleways. In his laterbooks on the imagination Bachelard
applies a fundamental lesson learned from contemporary science whenhe
insistson the imagination's power to create an existence that transcends
immediacy. In La Terreet les rveries de la volont , forexample,he speaksof
thispoweras a "surexistentialisme [qui] . . . pose l'tredanssa ractioncontre
le donnaussibienexternequ'interne"(TRV, pp. 121-22).Such a "being"
would appearto have moreto do withDerrida'snotionof diffrance than
withlogocentric limits.In fact,sometwentyyearsbeforeDerrida'scommen-
taryon truthin painting,Bachelardhimselfsees in Van Gogha particular
exampleof the imagination's powerto transcendmarginswhenhouseand
nestseemto be associatedin the painter'sreverie: "L'imagela plussimplese
double,elle est elle-mmeet autrechose qu'elle mme.Les chaumires de
Van Gogh sont surcharges de chaume.Une paille paisse,grossirement
tressesoulignela volontd'abriteren dbordantles murs."14 As willbe the
case withDerrida,Bachelardsees a doubleregister inVan Gogh'sapparently
simplepainting:"N'y a-t-ilpas pourl'ildu peintreunredoublement lnt-
rtsi, peignantun nid,il rve la chaumire, si peignantune chaumire, il
rve un nid.A de telsnudsd'images,il semblequ'on rvedeuxfois,qu'on
rvesurdeuxregistres" (PE, p. 98).
If we returnto Bachelard'sstatement on theaxes of poetryand science
we notethathe said theywereinitially opposed,"d'abordopposs."Whatis
to be avoided-andhereI thinkDerridaand Bachelardconverge-isthenaive
applicationof rationalapproachesto art.Thoroughly familiar withcontem-
poraryscientificrevolutions, Bachelardknowsverywellthatscienceitselfhas
discardedunifiedlinearthinkingin its own practiceas the subjectof its
inquiryhas become increasingly ephemeraland undeterminable. The epis-
temologica!challenge inattempting to understand anyformof art,to verbalize
thework,as Bachelardwouldhaveus do, is to be surethattheapproachdoes
not destroythe workby insisting fromthe outseton a conceptual,linear

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ROCH. SMITH 233

'Tout se passe,dans ce domaine,en touchessimpleset dlicates.

criticism:
L'me est si sensible ces simplesimagesque dans une lectureharmonique
elle entendtoutesles rsonances.La lectureau niveaudes conceptsserait
fade,froide,elle seraitlinaire"(PE, p. 99). 15Whilehisstyleand thesources
of histhoughtare vastlydifferent, Derridadrawsthesamefundamental con-
clusionwhen he seeks to explode the constraints of traditional
modesof
thoughtand expression.The explosionremainsverbal;one does not escape
fromthe logosphereany morethanfromthe biospherewithoutencounter-
ingthe void. But withinthe verbalmilieuin whichour mindsoperate,the
workof bothauthorssuggests thatwe mustnotbe boundbythecentripetal
forcesof traditionally rationalistic
methodologies and establishedrealities.
Imagination,even in itsmost verbalform, demands escapefromlogocentrism.
On thisdiffrance Bachelardand Derridaare bothinagreement despitetheir
differences.

ofNorthCarolina,Greensboro
University

1. GastonBachelard, L'Eau et es rves(Paris:Corti,1942),p. 70. Hereafter

citedas ER.
2. GastonBachelard,La Terreet les rveries de ia volont(Paris:Corti,1948),
p.95.Hereafter citedasTRV.
3. Bachelard:
ColloquedeCerisy (Paris:Union Gnrale 1974),p.284.
d'Editions,
La Potique
4. GastonBachelard, dela rverie (Paris:PUF,1960),p.5. Hereafter
citedasPR.
5. GastonBachelard, "Introduction la Biblede Chagall," inLe Droitde rver
(Paris:PUF,1970),p. 14.References toessays from thiscollection
hereaftercitedas DR.
6. Jacques De la grammatologie
Derrida, (Paris:Minuit,1967),pp.11-12.Here-
after citedasG. (Emphasis
mine.)
7. Jacques Marges
Derrida, delaphilosophie Minuit,
(Paris: 1972),p. iii.Hereafter
citedasM.
8. Jacques La Vrit
Derrida, enpeinture (Paris:Flammarion, 1978),p. 6. Here-
after citedasVP.
9. Martin Heidegger,"TheOrigin of theWorkof Art,"inBasicWritings , ed.
DavidFarrell Krell(NewYork:Harper & Row,1977).pp.143-87.
10. Meyer "TheStillLifeas a Personal
Schapiro, Object-A Noteon Heidegger
andVanGogh,"inTheReachofMind:EssaysinMemory ofKurtGoldstein, ed.Mari-
anneL. Simmel (New York:
Springer, 1968), pp. 203-09.
11. GastonBachelard,LeNouvel Espritscientifique (1934;rpt.Paris:PUF,1968),
p. 7.
12. GastonBachelard, La Formation de l'esprit (1938;rpt.Paris:
scientifique
Vrin, 1972),pp.13-22.Hereafter citedas FES.
13.Gaston La Psychanalyse
Bachelard, dufeu(1938;rpt.Paris: Gallimard, 1949),
p. 10.
14. GastonBachelard, La Potiquede l'espace(Paris:PUF,1957),p. 98. Here-
after citedasPE.

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234 FRENCH FORUM

15. RecentlyLouisMarin hasattempted toestablish between

parallels and
verbal
iconictechniquesofcommunication. See LouisMarin, "Toward a TheoryofReading in
theVisualArts:Poussin'sTheArcadian Shepherds ," inTheReaderin theText:Essays
on Audience , ed.SusanR. Suleiman
andInterpretation andIngef>0ssman (Princeton:
Princeton Univ.Press,1980),pp. 293-324,and his"On Reading Pictures:Poussin's
LetteronManna"CCrit, 4 (1982),3-18.Such"readings" ofvisualartrelyontheiden-
of structures
tification drawn from language butcommon to eachmedium. Bachelard,
ontheotherhand,clearly givesa privileged towords
status themselves,thatistoseman-
ticratherthansemiotic elements, as thenecessary means ofimagining.However, as I
haveargued elsewhere,Bachelard's determination to avoidtechnical,
"linear" readings
doesnotpreclude orinvalidatemoreconceptual methods, provided theseareattempted
separatelyand are nottheinitialmeansof approaching thework.See my"Gaston
BachelardandCritical
Discourse:ThePhilosopher ofScience as Reader,"SFR,5 (1981),
217-28,andmyGasto n Bachelard (Boston:Tway ne,1982),136-37.

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