Typographic Characters: Tension Between Text and Drawing
Author(s): Jean-Gérard Lapacherie and Anna Lehmann
Reviewed work(s):
Source: Yale French Studies, No. 84, Boundaries: Writing & Drawing (1994), pp. 63-77
Published by: Yale University Press
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JEAN-GERARD LAPACHERIE
TypographicCharacters:
TensionbetweenTextand Drawing
First,accountsbywriters.
In the 1930s,Queneau studiedthe worksofwriterswhom ninehad proclaimed"fouslitteraires"[literteenth-century
psychiatrists
arymadmen].Theirallegedmadnessshowedin "the excessiveuse of
invertedquotationmarks,commas,ellipses,uppercase letters,and
hyphens,etc."' This diagnosisrestson prejudicesrelatedto punctext.The misuseoftypography
tuation,writtensigns,and theliterary
is so widespreadthat one would have to qualifyas "mad" almost
all nineteenthand twentieth-century
writers.Queneau quotesa sciHistoiremerveilleusede Bun des
ence fictionnovel by Defontenay,
mondesde 1espace (1854),in whichwordsareseparatedbybigblanks
drawingattentionto the strangenessof the "outerspace" universe
described.He also quotes "typographic
poetry"whichuses "thevery
fabricof printinga matteras a source both of reveriesand suggestions"; forexampleUn Coup de des jamais n'abolirale hasard,"in
itself(becomes)a poeticelement";or Calligrames,
whichtypography
whichrevivesthepoeticgenreof "figurative
verse,"(Dd1iretypographique,286).
Leirisestablishesa parallelbetweensongsandtypographic
artifice:
"Sentencessaturatedwithmusic acquirea speciallusterwhichseparatesthemfromcommonlanguageandhallowsthemwithprestigious
isolation."2Typographic
devices (italic type,largeprint,footnotes,
asterisks,blanks)producean identicaleffect.
Theyare "luresforthe
1. RaymondQueneau,"D61iretypographique,"
inBatons,chiffres
etlettres(Paris:
285.
Gallimard),
2. MichelLeiris,Biffures
(Paris:Gallimard,1982),18.
YFS 84, Boundaries: Writing& Drawing, ed. M. Reid, C 1994 by Yale University.
63
64
YaleFrenchStudies
18)which"allowwrittenwordstoloomeyeandthemind"(Biffures,
ofthepage-with theirdenser,moreactivechemfromtheinvisibility
ical substances,so thattheyareat theverybirth"(ibid.,19).A pageis
meantto be read.It is not meantto be lookedat. Printedwordson a
of
pagearebarelynoticeable.As soonas readingbegins,ourperception
artificesforcethereaderto look at the
ends.Typographic
typography
text.Theymake it visibleas a thingand as a thingendowedwithan
existenceofits own.
charactersare signswhichare "ofa particulardesign
Typographic
oftexts."3 Theyaresigns
orstyleusefulforthecompositionorprinting
in the ancientsense ofthe word"aliquid statproalique" [onething
whichstandsforanother].Theylack autonomy,since theyrepresent
to thephoneticuses ofthe
lettersofthealphabet,thuscorresponding
discourse.
language.Theyare,first,meantto be readand to represent
and
Suchis theirfunction-thereasonfortheirbeingdrawn,engraved,
meltedintothemetal.
as is a pane ofglasswhichthe
Butthesesignsare not transparent
eyecrosseswithoutnoticingin ordertograspexternalobjects.In other
in
words,theyarenotmerereferential
signs,noremptyones,different
thisrespectfromthesymbolofthealphabetwhetherphoneticornot,
devoid of any intrinsicmeaning.Charactersare indeed drawings,
sometimesbeautifuluntothemselves.Greatartistshavedrawnthem:
Bodoni,Auriol,Garamond,Alde Manuce, AlbertDurer,Leonardde
Vinci,Geoffroy
Tory,etc.... The romanlettersof Toryare "of an
inimitablepurityofformand unsurpassedelegance."14As drawings,
arecomposedofa graphicsignifier
thesecharacters
(thedrawingitself,
specificto this
the lines, the tracing)and of an iconic signification
with
Of
"mechanical"
serifs,
drawing.5
characters,
thick,rectangular
typographers
saythey"indicatean origin,thatofa timeofvictorious
and
mechanization,the rise of industryand bourgeoisdemocracy"6
theyspeak ofthemas "stable,""persuasive,""convincing,""industrial," "mechanical,"(Lindekens,32).
Overtheyears,and especiallyafter1830,tensofthousandsoftypoin design,height,andtype
werecreated.Theydiffer
graphiccharacters
3. Petit Larousse en couleurs (Paris: Larousse, 1989).
(Paris:Au Bureaude l'Edition,
4. FrancisThibaudeau,La Lettred'imprimerie
1921).
5. Ren6Lindekens,Essai de semiotique visuelle(Paris:Klincksieck,1976).
6. John
DreyfusandFrancoisRichaudeau,Article"mecanes,"La Choseimprim~e
(Paris:Retz-CEPL,1976).
JEAN-GERARD
LAPACHERIE
65
thickness:thicknessof lines which determinesa gradation,from
white to lightgrayand deep black. These typesare so variedthat
typographers
classifythemin distinctrubrics,definedbyformalpropwiththeinfinitevarietyof
erties,thewayliterarycritics,confronted
the workstheystudy,classifythese into genres.Thereexistseveral
classifications.
Placinghis relianceon theshapeofserifs(rectangular,
triangular,
filiform,
absenceofa serif),Thibaudeau(1860-1925)distinguishesfourclasses.Fromthestylesandthedatesatwhichthecharacterswerecreated,Vox (1894-1974) distinguishesnine,to whichhe
addsGothiclettersand romanforms.
Typographic
charactersare marks,in the sense giventhewordby
Peirceand Eco:7 thatis to say,signswhich are contiguousto their
object.Charactersaresuperposedon letters;theycoverthemup withoutmakingthemdisappear;theyarespatiallyclose to themand completethemwithmeaning.Blacktypethicknessis themarkofa title;
italics,marksofdoublemeaningorirony,etc....
At the same time, signs and drawings,representing
lettersand
oftheirrepresentation
endowedwitha signified
independent
respond
to purposesat oppositepoles fromone another:readingand contemplation;a substitutionforunitsoflanguageand the transmission
of
iconicsignifications
foreignto language.
The rulesgoverning
visualperception,
however,
aresuchthatreadinga textand lookingat it are mutuallyexclusive.It is impossibleto
read a textin a sustainedfashionand at the same time look at the
"The attentiongiventheone (readability)
printedcharacters.
excludes
"8
theattentiongiventheother(visibility). Thereis thenan embryonic,
"latent"ifyou will, conflictbetweencharactersconsideredas signs
representing
units of languageand these same characterswhichare
also drawingsendowedwitha properand autonomousmeaning;betweena textto be readand a textto be lookedat; betweenreadingand
looking.
Some writers,besides Valery,Queneau, or Leiris,became aware
thattypography
and page setting)had a dual ifnotcontra(characters
at least conflicting
modeofexistence.Reverdy
dictory,
amongothers:
"While some (i.e., the dadaists)practicedtypographic
arrangements
whoseplasticformsintroducea foreignelementinto literature,
and
7. CharlesPeirce,Ecritssurle signe(Paris:Le Seuil,1978);UmbertoEco,Semiotique etphilosophiedu langage(Paris:PUF, 1988).
8. Paul Vakry,"Les Deux vertusd'un livre," GEuvrescompletes (Paris: Gallimard,
La Plkiade, 1957-1960), vol. 2, 1246.
66
Yale FrenchStudies
I createdan arrangein reading,
creatinga deplorabledifficulty
thereby
a
raisond'etrewas thenoveltyofrhythms,
mentwhosepurelyliterary
clearerindication forreading. . . . "9 Accordingto Reverdy,the conflict
opposeson theone hand "plasticlayout"(thisadjectiverefersto imalso belongs)and,on
plasticarts-to whichtypography
age,drawing,
theotherhand,"literaryarrangement"
(thisadjectiverefersto signs,
ofreading"and "clearerindicawords,language);or again "difficulty
chartionsforreading";lookingandreading;visibilityandreadability;
actersas drawingsand charactersas signs.
In the historyof the "Western"text,this conflictbreaksout on
severaloccasions:in Restifde la Bretonne;in the1830s-1840s,during
revolution;at theend ofthenineteenth
the "Romantic"typographic
in "modernstyle"
ofthetwentieth
century,
andthebeginning
century
typography
(pagesareless textsto be readthantheyare "complicated
puzzles,"realdrawings"[Thibaudeau,op. cit.]);in theworksofdada,
and surrealistpoets.
futurist,
It is the different
aspectsof this conflictwhichI analyzein this
harmony;therefusalof"congearticle:thesuppressionoftypographic
afterwhichI will
"ready-mades";
typographic
niality"[congenialit6];
is unrecognized,
neglected,or judgedto be
explainwhy typography
insignificant.
II
harmonyis the resultof using charactersof the same
Typographic
design,height,and typethickness.
ToryimGeoffroy
Fromthe beginningof the sixteenthcentury,
he wrote
poses the followingconventionin a treatiseon typography
and printedin 1529: Champfleury.'O
Toryshareswiththehumanistsofhis daytheambitionof
Geoffroy
as well
dignityto theFrenchlanguage,and typography
givingliterary
in its image.He desince a literarylanguagedemandsa typography
formsand
signsromantypes,takingthehumanbody,withitsperfect
as a model."Our Atticletters(i.e.,"romantype")are so
proportions,
to naturethattheyagreein measureandproportion
wellproportioned
set: arranged"into
withthe humanbody" (ibid.).Theyare perfectly
et autreskcits sur Part (1917-1926)
Nord-Sud,Self-Defense
9. PierreReverdy,
1975).
(Paris:Flammarion,
(TheHague:Mouton,1970).
reprinted
10. Geoffroy
Tory,Champfleury,
JEAN-GERARD
LAPACHERIE
67
tabletsorin visibleplaces,so thateachlettercan be seenandreadin a
and in good order,"(ibid.).Theyare not instraightline,in frontally
vertedor crookedas was oftenthecase. The widthofspacesbetween
lettersandbetweenlinesis standardized;
betweenletters,thewidthis
thatofani; betweenlines,theheightofani. Toryalso prohibits
mixing
charactersof different
height,design,and typethickness.He never
juxtaposessmall and largeprint,Gothic lettersand romantypewhichwas a commonpracticein thesixteenthcenturybecauseofthe
cases.
shortageoftypesofthesame familyin printing
FromToryon, theprintedtextwas standardized.
Littlebylittleit
tookon theuniform
aspectto whichwe areaccustomedandwhich,in
fact,has allowedprintedtextstobe readsilently,
quickly,andunambiguously.
On secondthought,the so-calledconventionof typographic
harwiththeprintedtext.
monycannotbe,in spiteofitsname,inharmony
texts.The contents(themes,ideas,articuIndeed,thereareno uniform
lation,characters,
etc . . . ) varyconstantly,
especiallyin workswhich
do notbelongtofixedgenresortogenreswithconstraining
rules,such
as tragedy
orepic poems.In orderto grasptheircontentand represent
withdifferent
them,one wouldhaveto use characters
designs,height,
andprintthickness,adaptedto thediscursiveand stylisticvariations
ofthetexts.
and printedhis own
Restifde la Bretonne,who was a typographer
thefirstto haveunderstoodtheambiguitiesof
books,is undoubtedly
"His systemwas to use in thesame volume
typographic
conformity:
of
different
sizes
whichhe variedaccordingtothepresumed
characters
importanceofa particularperiod.""
In MonsieurNicolas,12an autobiographical
novel,he variesthe
in height,and thisin functionofthestylehe adopts.Thus,
characters
passionateorimportant
passages,in whichthedestinyoftheherois at
stakeandwhicharewrittenin an exaltedandloftystyle,areprintedin
"fromelevento twelvepoints
pica ["cicero"]:ratherlargecharacters,
dependingon the printingpresses."'3Passagesin which the author
and whichare writtenin
observesthe moresof his contemporaries
mediumstyleareprintedin brevier:averageheightcharacters.
Finally,
11. Gerardde Nerval,Les Illumines(Paris:Gamier,1959),149-50.
12. Restifde la Bretonne,
MonsieurNicolas ou le coeurhumaindevoile(Paris,1796
and 1797),17 volumes.
13. Emile Littr6,Dictionnairede la languefrangaise(Paris:Hachetteand Gallimard,1970).
68
Yale FrenchStudies
oflowlycondition(shepherds,
realistpassages,whichstagecharacters
are
written
in a lowerstyle,withnuand
which
workers,servants)
merousmeticulousdetails,areprintedin "smallromantype":a chartype.
actersmallerthanthebrevieror eight-point
theold theoryof
century,
Duringthesecondhalfoftheeighteenth
ofgenresand styles,
threestylesis stillalive.It postulatesa hierarchy
epic,noblestyle)to thelowest,ridicufromthemostelevated(tragedy,
low style,realism).14
Restifde la
lous anddespised(novel,comicstory,
In so doing,he substiBretonnetransposesthistheoryto typography.
tutesmimeticnecessityto harmonicconvention.In its graphicand
its stylisticfluctuations.
visualforms,theprintedtextrepresents
Or further,
againin MonsieurNicolas, he printsthesame wordin
capitallettersin themiddleoflowercase letters,violatingtheconvenHe represents
tionoftypographic
phonicfactsmimetically,
harmony.
such as theassumeddurationofcertainsyllables.A syllablethatthe
wouldhavestressed(oraccented),ifhe hadsaiditaloud,is
typographer
set in capital letters,even if it is in the middleof a word.A short
syllable,or supposedto be so, oran unaccentedone,is printedin tiny
lowercase letters.
betweenphonicsenrelationship
Thusheestablishesa synaesthetic
sationswhichareperceivedbythe earand visuallyperceivedgraphic
sensations.The spokentextis renderedvisible.
the questionof typoAt the beginningof the twentiethcentury,
graphicharmonyis raised once again. Marinettiand Apollinaire,
amongothers,insistthatit be doneawaywith:Marinettiin Imagination sans filet les mots en liberte,15Apollinairein LAntitradition
futurists,
(ibid.,119).Andin some oftheirworkstheyabolishit: Marinettiin Les Mots en liberteandApollinairein certainCaligrammes
poems.
The arguments
putforthbyMarinettito justifythesuppressionof
consistencycomeunderthesamemimeticlogicas thatof
typographic
in practice:"My (typoeveniftheyare different
Restifde la Bretonne,
graphic)revolutionis also directedagainstwhatis calledtypographic
to theebbandflowofstyleunfurled
on
whichis contrary
consistency,
thesefluctuations,
he recthepage,"(ibid.,146).In orderto represent
colorsofink
ommendsusingon thesame page "threeorfourdifferent
ifnecessary,"(ibid.).Marinettiapplies
characters
and twentydifferent
Mimesis(Paris:Gallimard,1977).
14. ErichAuerbach,
15. GiovanniLista,Futuristie(Lausanne:L'Aged'Homme,1973).
JEAN-GERARD
LAPACHERIE
69
himselfto graspingthemostdiversenoisesoftheoutsideworld,from
fromone another
themostviolentto the slightest,and whichdiffer
accordingto acousticproperties:intensity,
stridency,
pitch,rapidity.
He representsthemnot as theyare (whichis impossibleexceptby
recordingthe poem insteadof printingit),but synaesthetically,
by
mimingtheworld'snoises withgraphicand visual equivalents:type
Blockletters,
thickness,design,height,and dispositionofcharacters.
of "violent"
big,thick,and black are reservedforthe representation
whichseemto be
auditorysensations;italics,fine,leaningcharacters
tracedbyhand,are forrapidsensations.
Marinetti,and to a lesserdegreeApollinaire,thuschoosemimesis
at the expenseof typographic
agreement,especiallyin "instantaneous" poemswherethicknesses,designs,and heightsallow fortheexpressionofthelyricismofmatterexaltedbyMarinettiwhenhe grasps
cacophonousnoises(explodingshells,sputtering
arms,machines,motors,etc ... ) and showsthemhic etnunc on thepage.
The questionoftypographic
consistencyis againraised,although
fromthose of Marinetti,in Paradisl6 by Philippe
in termsdifferent
Sollers.
standardizes
Buteveniftypographic
consistency
printedtexts,they
are nevertotallyuniform.CapitalsA, B, or E, amongothers,do not
lowercases: a, b, e....
have the same designas theircorresponding
Froma semiologicalpointofview,punctuationmarks,underlining,
numbers,blanks (and othertypographic
devices)are verydifferent
fromlettersand standat theoppositepole fromthealphabet.Theydo
notreplaceanyunitoflanguage.Theyhaveno value (inthesensethat
a
theydo not standfora unit),but theysignala meaning,a rupture,
As
a
text
an
a
which
retains
hierarchy, analysis.
result, printed
punctuationmarks,blanks,uppercases, etc . . ., cannotbe uniformbecause it is madeup ofheterogeneous
signs.'7
Such is not the case forParadis. There are neithercapitals,nor
indentedlines, nor paragraphs,nor punctuationmarks.Sollers re? " by the words"comma," "period,""semi-colon,"
places ", .
"colon," "questionmark,"so that,exceptforblanksbetweenwords,
thetextofParadis is uniform.Such an enterprise
belongsto the "deconstruction"
ofthe"Westerntext,"as it was constituted
byprinting
16. PhilippeSollers,Paradis(Paris:Le Seuil,1978).
in Poetique84 (Paris:Le Seuil,
17. Cf.my article,"Poly-,hetero-,exo-graphies,"
1990).
70
Yale FrenchStudies
or inand silentreading.Paradis is in italic typewithoutparagraphs
dentedlines.Ifitis readsilentlyandonlywiththeeyes,itis incomprehensible.On the otherhand,ifreadaloud,meaningcomes through.
notlookedat.In deconstructing
the
Paradisis meanttobe read(orally),
formsofthewrittentext,Sollersrenewstieswiththemedievalforms
oftextswhichare meaningful
onlyiftheyare spoken.
III
Congenialityis the agreementbetweencharacters(their"signified")
and themeaningoftheprintedtext.
"Eachcharacter
reallydoeshaveits ownexpression.One can use it
in accordancewith the meaningof the text,or rather,to achievean
ironicorhumorouscontrast.In eithercase, it shouldbe respected."'18
such as Jan
Congenialitywas forcedupon great typographers
Tschichold,Massin,Faucheux;butformanyitsnecessitywas notfelt:
use charactersas if theywere a
"All too often,alas!, typographers
neutralmaterial,"(ibid.)all themorebecause editinghabits(a single
paste-upforbooks publishedwithinthe same collection,etc. ...
makecongeniality
impossible.
It was morean artisticexigencythana (semiological)convention:
fromtypographicconsistency,conin which it doubtlessdiffered
textsand has undoubtedlycontribhas
standardized
sistencywhich
uted to thisfastand unimpededreading.On the otherhand,congethemeaningof
niality,by makingtypeand textconverge,reinforces
texts.
thatit shouldbe
Congeniality
beingwhatit is, it is notsurprising
consciouslyrepudiatedin dada texts,insofaras dadapoetshadas their
avowedobjective,in the yearsfrom1917 to 1921, the abolitionof
meaningand theend ofliterature.
On thecoverpageofnumber12of391,a brieftextsignedbyPicabia
is inscribedwithina blackframe.It is presentedto theeyeas a death
notice since in "urban"worksor standardprintingworks,obituary
noticesare set in thatmanner.In pointoffact,congeniality
is made
butconsciouslyrefused.
impossible,playfully
The typeof Une Nuit d'echecsgrasbyTzara'9 has everypossible
des caracteres,"
La Choseimpnimee,
18. WilhelmOvink,"Psychologie
op. cit.
19. FrancisPicabia,391, 14 (Paris:Le Terrainvague,1920).
JEAN-GERARD
LAPACHERIE
71
design,height,and thickness.In the "manuscriptpaste-up"of that
Thesevariapage,Tzara specified:"printin all possiblecharacters."20
to
other
than
the
tionsdo notadhere anyrule
fantasyandthearbitrariconventionsarerejected:typographic
nessoftheauthor.Printing
conthe distinctionbetweenurbanworksand individualworks.
sistency,
ofcongeniality.
The same goesfortherequirements
It is an "advertising forthe sale of dada publications"(391, 14). Contentsare fairly
uniform:titlesofworks,propernames,prices.As a result,the type
used shouldhavebeen thesame had Tzara triedto allygraphicforms
withthemeaningofthetext.As itis,all availablesignsin thecasesare
used: romantype,italics,typeswith or withoutserif,"typographic
have transformed
artifice,"etc.... Typographers
the natureof conventionalmarks:signscontiguousto theirobjectand whichcomplementtheirmeaning.Byrefusing
congeniality,
Tzara "desindicialise"
He takes away its conventionalsignifications.
typography.
What is
important
is notthecodifiedmeaningoftypography,
oreventhetextto
beprinted,
butthetypein itself,as a form,
itsdesign,thickness,
height,
withwhichTzara playslike otherpoetsplay
puregraphicsignifiers,
withthesoundsoflanguage.
has a codifiedmeaning.An important
The thicknessofcharacters
word,titles,subtitlesare printedin darkertypethanthe restof the
text,whichpointseitherto theimportance
giventhewordsortostatus
as titles.In UneNuitd'e6checs
gras,thetype'sthicknessvarieswithout
ofthisvariation:white,lightfaced,
boldjustification
semi-bold-faced,
faced,black.The title"CANNIBALE,""391" arein blacktype;"Vente
de publicationsdada" [dadapublicationsforsale] in bold-face;"Page
composeepar TristanTzara" [page composedby TristanTzara] in
not to
semi-bold;"Vaginmystique"[mysticalVagina]is lightfaced;
mentionwithineach ofthesetypethicknessesothervariationsthat
could perceive: quarter-bold,
only a typographer
semi-bold,three
quarters-bold,
bold,extra-bold. . .
Tzara uses all characters.Theyare there,on the page,shownfor
Theiruse,governed
themselves.
bynoneofthetypographic
conventions,
who playsand laughsat ("HIHIHIHIHI")
obeysonlyTzara's fantasy,
theseconventions,refusingthemmeaningand therebyemphasizing
ofthetexts.A textis aboveall madeup ofletters,
themateriality
ofink,
ofblanks,ofdashes.Withoutthat,therewouldbe no "literature,"
nor
20. Cf.MichelSanouillet,391 (Paris:Le Terrainvague,1961).
72
YaleFrenchStudies
poetry.These letters,precisely,
are neverlookedat, since,uponreading,signsare abolishedand readingand lookingare mutuallyexclusive.Tzarashowsup materiality
(ink,designs,devices)forwhatitis in
itself:self-evident,
meaningless.It is thedomainofabsolutearbitrariness; a textwhichis made to be seen is independentofwhatis read.
Fromnumber12on,thetypeusedin 391 changesconstantly;
variationsunlikewhatwe see in MonsieurNicolas orLes Mots en liberte,
thesevariationshave no relationshipwiththetexts.
In #12,page4, one ofPicabia'spoemsis published.The titleis not
madeup ofwordsbutofsevenpunctuationmarkswhicharetherefor
themselves,not forthe meaningstheycarryin a sentence.Theyare
at thetop,abovethepoem;theyareseparatedfromthetextby
arranged
a line,as is the adjoiningpoem on thesame poem on the same page,
signedby Ribemont-Dessaignes
("Un PromptTu" [A PromptYou]),
printedin an elevatedtypebodyand blackthickness.Theyare juxtaposed and followone another,withoutrelationto the text.Theyare
an exclamationmark,placedupside downbeneaththe writtenline,
a period,a dash, an exclamationmark,a colon, a comma,ellipses:
is impossiblesince thereis no text.
Congeniality
A "poem" byMan Ray,publishedin 391, #17,in June1924,illustratesthispreeminenceoftypography
overtext.This "poem" is not
made up ofwords,norletters,but of thickblack dashes,ofvariable
length,eachone ofwhichis supposedto standfora word.It is arranged
thewaypoemsusuallyare: witha title(madeup ofthreedashes)and
seventeenlines ofunequal length,whichare dividedintofourgroups
or stanzas:a tercet,twoquintils,a quatrain.It retainsthevisual and
graphicappearanceofa "poem": thatis to sayan arrangement
in lines
of unequal lengthand in stanzas. By reducingthe "poem" to black
dashes,Man Rayexpresseshis defianceofwordsas thedadapoetsdid.
Withderisionhe remindsus ofthistruth,thatpoetry,
whichtodayhas
hardlyanyexistenceexceptwrittenandprinted,
is laidouton thepage
in a codified,specific,visual,and immediatelyrecognizablemanner.
IV
in 1914,MarcelDuchamp exhibitedmanufactured
Beginning
objects
in the middleof paintings(firsta bottle-rack).
He thus givesit the
ridiculousstatusofworkofart.
In the 1920s,poetsinsert"ready-mades"
intotheirworks.Breton
JEAN-GERARD
LAPACHERIE
73
forexamplecollectsat leastonein Clair de Terre:2'"PSTT,"a listofall
theBretonsin thephonebook.Otherready-mades
havea problematic
status.TheyareILE and MEMOIRES D'UN EXTRAIT DES ACTIONS
DE CHEMINS. Of all the poems in the collection,theyare the only
onesnotto havetitles."ILE" and "MEMOIRES D'UN EXTRAIT DES
ACTIONS DE CHEMINS. ", as theyarereferred
toabove,arenottitles,
buttheunabridged
textone can readon thepage.Thus,"ILE" amounts
to the singleword "ILE"-although it is perhapssomethingother
thana "word":simplythreelettersorthelast threelettersofa word,
the beginningof which mightnot have been printed.Similarly,
the
to as "MEMOIRES D'UN EXTRAIT DES ACTIONS DE
poemreferred
CHEMINS. ", is a bitlongerthantheone beforeit, sinceit is composed
of eightwordsthat do not make up a sentence(althoughtheyare
followedbya period)and maynotbelongto thesame sentence.
These "poems" can be distinguished
fromtheotherpoemsin the
collectionbytheirtypography.
Theyareprintedin verybigblacktype.
MEMOIRES is laid out in fourlines as follows:
MEMOIRES D'UN
EXTRAIT DES
ACTIONS DE
CHEMINS.
The lines are of the same lengthand occupythe widthof the page.
thelast twolines have fewerlettersthanthefirsttwo;but
Certainly,
theyare printedin largersizes of typewhich,in any case, regularly
increasefrombeginningto end.
The threelettersofILE arearranged
butin thedirechorizontally,
tionoftheheightofthepage.I, L, E arein hugetypebody,morethan
fourcentimetersin heightand width,so thatbetweenthe threeof
them,theyoccupya good thirdof the page. Furthermore
theyare
characterswhich Thibaudeau classifiesas "caracteresde fantaisie"
ofthistypeis thatit is neverused to
[fancytype].The characteristic
text.
printa textto be readin a sustainedfashion,muchless a literary
to
since
are
to
call
the
Theyarerelated urbanworkand,
they designed
attentionofpassersby,
theyare sometimesused forpostersor advertisements.Theyare shadedcharactersin relief,whichcan be seen by
ofperspective,
in threedimensions:height,width,andthickan effect
ness.Theyare also luminoustype.Insidetheletter,in the enormous
21. AndreBreton,Paris (Gallimard,Collection"Poesie,"1924).
74
Yale FrenchStudies
inkblotdrawnon thepaper,appearin whitethecontoursoftheletters
I, L,E. Finally,thefirstletter,I, has beenplacedupsidedown.This can
or
be seen bytheshadowit castswhichstandsout in thebackground
on the left,while the shadows are thrownin frontof the other
characters.
These two "texts"have beendescribed.It is nowa matterofinterpretingthem.
PSST, the list of Bretonsin the phone book, is a "ready-made,"
whichobeysthe "rules"laid downbyMarcel
eitherverbalorliterary,
is a manufactured
a
object-a bottle-rack,
Duchamp.A "ready-made"
and sold as a utilitarian
streeturinal,etc . . . , producedin a factory
object.It is "non-art"whichis exhibitedin the middleofpaintings.
Marcel Duchamp,it would seem, promptsspectatorsto reexamine
criticallythe almostreligiousconceptiontheyhave ofart;and also,
sinceit was thetimeofderision,his intentis to criticizeartitself,by
showingthatperhapsit maynot deserveto be revered.
Charactersare manufactured
objects: metal blocks,producedin
ForILE, Bretonchose thicktypes(mecanes),witha heavy
foundries.
design,big serifs,whichhave somethingindustrialin theiroutline,
and are used, in theory,onlyforordinaryworks,so-calledworksof
labor.
ILE and MEMOIRES D'UN EXTRAIT DES ACTIONS DE CHE" The emphasisis placednot
MINS. aretwotypographic
"ready-mades.
onthetext(thereisn'tone),buton theverytypesthemselveswhichare
themintoa collectionofpoems,Breton
madevisible.By integrating
promptsus to look at them,to contemplatethemforthemselves,as
objects-or tracesof objects-having a surfacearea,a form,lines,a
substancefullofink.In thesetwopages,as in Une Nuit d'echecsgras
sinceitis unconnected
byTzara,thetypeis devoidofanysignification,
witha textorits contents.Theyareno longersignsofanything.
They
arethereas materialobjects,or substance.
V
is misunderstood.
Typography
The plotofthenovelEl Ard[TheEarth]byAbderramane
Charkaoui
takesplace in ruralEgyptin the 1930s.22It is also a "modem" text:
page6 numberseighteenindentedlines and sixteenellipses.The En22. Abderramane
Charkaoui,El Ard(Cairo:Dar El Cha'ab, 1954).
JEAN-GERARD
LAPACHERIE
75
glishtranslation23
reducestheindentedlinesto elevenandtheellipses
createsa visualrhythm.
The
to one. In theArabtext,thetypography
The stressfallsonlyon the
Englishversionleaves out theseeffects.
realisticand rusticsignifications
ofthenovel.
In thesameway,thefirsteditionsofSarrazinebyHonorede Balzac
includemanyhyphens,ellipses,indentedlines.Theywereprintedat a
was veryinventive.In subsequenteditimewhenFrenchtypography
tions,printedduringBalzac's lifetime(includingtheone used byRoofSarrazinein S/Z),everything
easylandBarthesforhis commentary
indented
going,new,"modern"(hyphens,
ellipses,
lines)is leftout,and
thetextis a massive,heavy,and austerecompactblock.
Typography
is not dependenton languagebut on thegraphicarts.
Literatureis the privilegeddomain of the word.Withinit, graphic
questionsoccupyonlya marginalspace.Moreover,ourconceptionof
the author-a "unique" individual,whose presencevouchesforthe
forit-pretext,the onlyauthoritycapable of takingresponsibility
intoaccountsinceit assumesthereis notone
ventstakingtypography
singleauthor,buttwo:theauthorofthetextand thatofthebook;the
the
novelistand the typographer
(orthepersonin chargeofprinting,
or thedesigner),
has
artisticdirector,
who has chosenthe characters,
guidedthewriter'schoices.That is whyin Litanied'eau byButoror
Conversation-Sinfonietta
by Tardieu,thereis, next to the writer's
name,thenameofthetypographer
(FaucheuxandMassin)whoparticipatedin the creationof the work,its coauthor.Like a film,but to a
workbecomes"collective":thework
lesserdegree,theprintedliterary
of severalauthorswhich goes counterto the romanticmythof the
genius,creatorofa universe,in theimageofGod.
To speak of typography
requiresprecisetechnicaland historical
knowledge.
from1917 to 1920.Literary
criticsproConsiderdada typography
"It
claim it "innovative,""free,""full of daring,""revolutionary."
and a typography
subvertstraditionalcodes." It is "a page-setting
forthe time."24In the above quoted judgwhich are revolutionary
ments,theemphasisis placedon therupturescreatedbythosetypographicalmarks.Buttheseopinionsarenotfoundedon anysystematic
trafrom1830to 1917.Furthermore,
typographic
studyoftypography
dition,which dada is supposedto "revolutionize,"is implicitlyas23. Abderramane
Charkaoui,TheEgyptianEarth(London:Heinemann,1962).
24. M6lusine,4: "Le Livresurrealiste"(Paris:L'Aged'Homme,1982),25.
76
Yale FrenchStudies
and rigid.Whatdoes it consistof
sumedto be academic,conservative,
exactly?
is thenineteenthcentury,
"centuryof
The greatera oftypography
completefreedom,"accordingto Thibaudeau(op. cit.).Beginningin
characters.
1830,printers,
graphicartists,inventorsoftypediversify
This is an essentialpoint,forthe typeofanygiventextacquiressighavehundredsofdifferent
nificationonlyfromthetimetypographers
typefontsat theirdisposal to printthe text.Innovationsalso have
to do withpage-setting,
covers,titlepages,
line-setting,
illustrations,
printedadvertisements,
cataloguesofprintedbooks,and postersfor
stores.
department
In fact,the boldnesshastilyattributedto dada poets and writers
revoThe first"typographic
werethedeedof"romantic"typographers.
convenlutions"concernthetitlepagesofbooks.There,typographic
tionsaredoneawaywith,a centurybeforeMarinettiandApollinaire.
The characters
usedhavea design,a height,anda typethicknesswhich
in everyone ofthelinesofthetitle."Typographic
aredifferent
cacophonyis at itsheight!Titleshavebecomeveritablespecimensofcharacterswhereall the genresalternateand blendinto one another:it is
miscellanyelevatedto a principle"(ibid.,364). These innovationsgo
notion:"theconditionofunityofstyleofthe
counterto theprevailing
languagemustbe
assembledelements,syntaxofuniversaltypographic
realized"(ibid.,preface,xix).
Sometimein thenineteenthcenturybooksbecomea commodity
and,as a result,theyhave marketvalue and not just use value. They
are sold in the windowsof bookshops.Circulationincreases;prices
go down;hardcoversare replacedby paperbacks.The coverand the
titlepageattracttheattentionofcustomers;theybecomeadvertising
images.
whichthetypographers
Comparedwithreal"revolutions"through
of 1830-1900 revolutionizethe artof the book,its organization,
its
Tzara
andPicabiahardlyinnovateat all.
typography,
strictly
speaking,
The blendingof body types,the suppressionof typographicconarepracticedas earlyas 1830,and
therefusalofcongeniality
sistency,
this in a generalizedfashion.Yet, even if Tzara and Picabia do not
createa newtypography,
cacophony"from
theymovethe"typographic
thetitlepage orfromposters,whereit had been confined,
to thetext
fromit.In dada texts,variaitself,whichhad generallybeenpreserved
ofthe
tionsin typedo not obeyanyruleotherthanthe arbitrariness
For
authorsandarenotjustifiedbyanysemioticoraestheticnecessity.
JEAN-GERARD
LAPACHERIE
77
oftypogradadapoets,it is morea matterofdenyingthesignifications
not as semantic
phythanofcreatingnew ones and usingcharacters,
complementsto thetext,butas pureforms.
wellbefore
Otherinnovationstookplacein thenineteenth
century,
revolution.Theyfirsttookplace in advertising
thedada typographic
print.Thus it is withdevices"jete de texte"or "jete de groupe"[haphazardarrangements].
Thispagesettingwas inventedbya greattypographer,
Motteroz,in 1889.In a printer's
catalogue,insteadofarranging
on eitherside ofthecentralaxis,he
thewordsoftitlessymmetrically
eitherinrelation
"throws"themon thepage,withoutanyjustification
to themargins,orin relationto thecenter.Thus thename giventhis
device:"As he had doneforthetradeofnew publicationsand Christmas giftbooks,Motterozinnovates,forthecurrent
librarycatalogues,
forexample,which would lead to the
some originalarrangements,
liberationfromthe secularjustificationof the titlewiththe central
axis" (ibid.).This haphazardset-upis thatof Un Coup de des jamais
n'abolirale hasardbyMallarme,publishedforthefirsttimein 1897.A
greatmanylines ofthispoem areprintedneitherflushleft,norflush
right-whichgoeswithoutsayingforversethatendswhenitsinternal
numberhas been exhausted-nor centered,as titles generallyare.
Theselines,sometimesmadeup ofa singleword("que" [that],"etale"
forexampleinthesecondpageofthepoem),arealignedneither
[spread],
on themargins,noron theverticalaxis. Theyarethrownon thepage,
as Motterozdid withlibrarycataloguesand as dice can be tossedcast-on a gamblingtable.
-Translated byAnnaLehmann