Struggle between speech and writing: three paths to equal rights in writing

[1] [UK] Shakespeare, W. The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Vol. 5). Zhu, S. (trans.) Beijing: People’s Literature Publishing House, 273 (1994).

[2] Shakespeare, Macbeth, ed. A.R. Braunmuller, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997, p. 229.

[3] Maurice Blanchot, A Voice From Elsewhere, trans. Charlotte Mandell, Albany: State University of New York Press, 2007, p. 12.

[4] [5] [6] [7] [32] [France] Steiner, G. Language and Silence:Essays on Language, Literature, and the Inhuman. Li, X. (trans.) Shanghai: Shanghai People’s Publishing House, 34, 36, 64, 64, 45 (2013).

[8] Zhu Guangqian translated Vico’s “speech” into “hiphop” and interpreted it in the annotation as “similar to the Chinese Pinghua(a style of storytelling popular in the Song Dynasty).” However, there is no so-called “hiphop” in the English translation, with “favella” translated into “speech” in English. Zhu Guangqian’s version is not translated from Italian, but from the English translation of Cornell University Press. This paper has made some corrections according to the English version. See: Giambattista Vico, The New Science of Giambattista Vico, trans. Thomas Goddard Bergin & Max Harold Fisch, Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1948, p. 114; [Italy] Vico, G. The New Science (Vol. 1). Zhu, G. (trans.) Beijing: The Commercial Press, 197 (1989).

[9] Friedrich A. Kittler, Gramophone, Film, Typewriter, trans. Geoffrey Winthrop-Young & Michael Wutz, Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1999, p. 198.

[10] This quotation refers to Loeb’s translation and two Chinese translation versions. Wu Shoupeng’s translation notes in the annotation that the content here is related to “the difference between animal voice and speech function.” Yan Yi’s version also notes that the “language” (translated into “speech”) here is “logos,” and explains that “logos” can be translated into “principle, reason and rationality” in different contexts. See: Aristotle, Politics, trans. H. Rackham, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1932, p. 11; [Greece] Aristotle. Politics. Wu, S. (trans.), Beijing: The Commercial Press, 8 (1965); [Greece] Aristotle. Politics. Yan, Y. & Qin, D. (trans.) Beijing: China Renmin University Press, 4 (2003).

[11] [Greece] Plato. Collected Works of Plato (Vol. 2). Wang, X. (trans.) Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 198 (2003).

[12] The translation here refers to four versions, mainly from the Oxford version of Waterfield. Neither Wang Xiaozhao’s nor Zhu Guangqian’s translation uses the word “father,” but the word “author.” Both the Oxford version and the Loeb version use the word “father,” which contributes much to Derrida and Rancière’s interpretation. The Loeb version does not use the sentence “to defend yourself.” See: Plato, Phaedrus, trans. Robin Waterfield, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002, p. 70; Plato, Euthyphro·Apology·Crito·Phaedo·Phaedr us, trans. Harold North Fowler, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1914, p. 567; [Greece] Plato. Collected Works of Plato (Vol. 2). Wang, X. (trans.) 198–199; [Greece] Plato. Plato’s Selected Dialogues on Arts. Zhu, G. (trans.) Beijing: People’s Literature Publishing House, 170 (1963).

[13] Plato, Phaedrus, trans. Robin Waterfield, pp. 103–104.

[14] [21] [22] Jacques Derrida, “Signature Event Context,” in A Derrida Reader：Between the Blinds, ed. Peggy Kamuf, New York: Columbia University Press, 1991, p. 92, p. 109, p. 93.

[15] What’s noteworthy, the ancient Greek words corresponding to the “medicine” in the two quotations are φάρμǎκον (phármakon). In the translation of Waterfield, it is “potion,” in the translation of Loeb, “elixir”, and in the translation of Wang Xiaozhao, “therapy” is in the previous sentence and “medicine” in the next sentence respectively. See: Plato, Phaedrus, trans. Robin Waterfield, pp. 68–69; Plato, Euthyphro·Apology·Crito·Phaedo·Phaedrus, trans. Harold North Fowler, pp. 562–563; [Greece] Plato. Collected Works of Plato (Vol. 2). Wang, X. (trans.) 197.

[16] [18] [19] [20] Jacques Derrida, Dissemination, trans. Barbara Johnson, London: Athlone Press Ltd., 1981, p. 70, p. 75, p. 99, p. 111.

[17] [23] Niall Lucy, A Derrida Dictionary, Malden: Blackwell Publishing Ltd., 2004, p. 90, p. 91.

[24] Michel Foucault, “What is an Author”, in Aesthetics, Method, and Epistemology, ed. James D. Faubion, trans. Robert Hurley et al., New York: The New Press, 1998, p. 209.

[25] Giuseppina Mecchia, “Mute Speech: The Silence of Literature in Rancèire’s Aesthetic Paradigm,” in Understanding Rancière, Understanding Modernism, ed. Patrik M. Bray, London: Bloomsbury, 2017, p. 100.

[26] Jacques Rancière: The Flesh of Words: The Politics of Writing, trans. Charlotte Mandell, Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2004, p. 103; Jacques Rancière, Mute Speech, trans. James Swenson, New York: Columbia University Press, 1998, p. 94.

[27] Plato, Phaedrus, trans. Robin Waterfield, p. 45; [Greece] Plato. Collected Works of Plato (Vol. 2). Wang, X. (trans.) 174.

[28] [America] Jonathan Crary. 24/7. Xu, D. & Shen, Q. (trans.) Beijing: CITIC Press, 18 (2015).

[29] Jacques Rancière, Philosopher and His Poor, Durham: Duke University Press, 2004, p. 42.

[30] In other words, “σχολή”, meaning “leisure time” and “school”, is the etymology of the word “scholar.” See: Luo, N. & Shui, J. 古希腊语汉语词典. Beijing: The Commercial Press, 864 (2004). In Aux Bords du Politique, however, Rancière also mentioned another kind of leisure as a condition for the participation in politics, prosodos, which means: the time surplus that makes it possible for arrival and departure, a kind of surplus that approves the presence at the ecclesia. It is just such time surplus that enables some rich people to attend the ecclesia, while others (such as farmers) cannot. See: [France] Rancière. Aux Bords du Politique. Jiang, Y. (trans.) Shanghai: Shanghai Translation Publishing House, 14 (2007).

[31] The same presentation is seen separately in The Flesh of Words: The Politics of Writing, and Mute Speech. Jacques Rancière, The Flesh of Words: The Politics of Writing, trans. Charlotte Mandell, p. 103; Jacuqes Rancière, Mute Speech, trans. James Swenson, p. 94.

[33] Jacques Rancière, “The Politics of Literature,” Substance, Vol. 33, Issue 103, 2004, p. 15.

[34] Eopuc MuxaanoBHy 3ixeHGayx. in Todorov, T. (ed.). Selected Works of Russian and Soviet Formalism. Cai, H. (trans.) Beijing: China Social Sciences Press, 24 (1989).

[35] [UK] Eagleton, T. Literary Theory: An Introduction. Wu, X. (trans.) Xi’an: Shaanxi Normal University Press, 7 (1987).

[36] According to Zhang Hanliang’s verification, Jakobson’s version of “literaturnost” should be a coinage, especially for Lenin’s “partignost” in the Party’s Organization and Publications. See: Zhang, H. Comparative Literature in China (中国比较文学), (1) (2012).

[37] [38] [39] Jacques Rancière, Mute Speech, trans. James Swenson, pp. 93–94, p. 95, p. 94.

[40] For this paragraph of diary, see: Gabriel Gauny, “Le Travailà la tâche”, in Le Philosophe plébéien, ed. Jacques Rancière, Paris: La Découverte/Presses Universitaires de Vincennes, 1983, pp. 45–46; see also: Jacques Rancière, The Nights of Labour, trans. John Drury, Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1989, p. 81.

[41] [Rome] Augustine. Confessions. Zhou, S. (trans.) Beijing: The Commercial Press, 94 (1953).

[42] [50] [56] [France] Chartier, R. The Order of Books: Readers, Authors, and Libraries in Europe Between the 14th and 18th Centuries. Wu, H. & Zhang, L. (trans.) Beijing: The Commercial Press, 19, 19, 2 (2013).

[43] [45] [Canada] Manguel, A. AHistory of Reading. Wu, C. (trans.) Beijing: The Commercial Press, 75, 142 (2002).

[44] [UK] Finkelstein, D. & McCreary, A. Introduction to Book History. He, C. (trans.) Beijing: The Commercial Press, 60 (2012).

[46] [New Zealand] Fischer, S. R. A History of Reading. Li, R. et al. (trans.) Beijing: The Commercial Press, 40 (2009).

[47] Jacques Rancière, The Ignorant Schoolmaster: Five Lessons on Intellectual Emancipation, trans. Kristin Ross, Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1991, p. 18.

[48] [49] [51] [France] Febvre, L. & Martin, H. The Coming of the Book. Li, H. (trans.) Guilin: Guangxi Normal University Press, 124, 10, 296–297 (2006).

[52] [America] Darnton, R. The Case for Books: Past, Present, and Future. Xiong, X. (trans.) Beijing: CITIC Press, 40 (2011).

[53] Jacques Derrida, Of Grammatology, trans. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1976, pp. 17–18.

[54] Michel Foucault, The Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences, trans. Alan Sheridan, New York: Routledge, 2002, p. 322.

[55] [Germany] Habermas, J. Nachmetaphysisches Denken. Cao, W. (trans.) Nanjing: Yilin Press, 239–240 (2001).