À CONTRE-FIL / Against the grain

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Modifié le 7 mars 2007

par gg

ÉTYMOLOGIE / Philology

From the German gegen den Strich, an expression used in 1940 by the German philosopher Walter Benjamin and translated as against the grain in English and à contre-fil, à rebours, à contre-courant in French.

ÉTUDE SÉMANTIQUE / Definitions (jmg)

1. (Generally). In the direction contrary to the normal, usual, smooth way.

2. (History). Said of the attempt to understand historical facts as they were contrary to the way they were construed later generally to serve ideological interests.

3. (Postcolonial studies. Gender studies. Feminism). Deconstruction of the structures of power (colonialism, imperialism, patriarchy, gender stereotypes, etc.) embedded in the language and commonly accepted by society.

4. reading against the grain / lecture à contre-fil : A way of construeing a text against its naturalization by defamiliarizing it.

Texte fondateur de WB:

To historians who wish to relive an era, Fustel de Coulanges recommends that they blot out everything they know about the later course of history. There is no better way of characterising the method with which historical materialism has broken. It is a process of empathy whose origin is the indolence of the heart, acedia, which despairs of grasping and holding the genuine historical image as it flares up briefly. Among medieval theologians it was regarded as the root cause of sadness. Flaubert, who was familiar with it, wrote: ‘Peu de gens devineront combien il a fallu être triste pour ressusciter Carthage.’* The nature of this sadness stands out more clearly if one asks with whom the adherents of historicism actually empathize. The answer is inevitable: with the victor. And all rulers are the heirs of those who conquered before them. Hence, empathy with the victor invariably benefits the rulers. Historical materialists know what that means. Whoever has emerged victorious participates to this day in the triumphal procession in which the present rulers step over those who are lying prostrate. According to traditional practice, the spoils are carried along in the procession. They are called cultural treasures, and a historical materialist views them with cautious detachment. For without exception the cultural treasures he surveys have an origin which he cannot contemplate without horror. They owe their existence not only to the efforts of the great minds and talents who have created them, but also to the anonymous toil of their contemporaries. There is no document of civilization which is not at the same time a document of barbarism. And just as such a document is not free of barbarism, barbarism taints also the manner in which it was transmitted from one owner to another. A historical materialist therefore dissociates himself from it as far as possible. He regards it as his task to brush history against the grain.» Ed de 1973, 258-9.

Note

To refuse to subscribe fully to this realist fantasy of the “live” broadcast and to watch television the way that wishes to read the image of history itself—that is, “,” against the grain—can be a decisively political act that will not content itself with older models of merely content-based Ideologiekritik that often disregard the presentational specificity of the medium with which they engage.

CORRÉLATS / Collocations

À REBOURS/Backwards, ABSENCE/ Absence, ACÉDIE/Acedia, ANALYSE DU DISCOURS/Discourse analysis, ANOMAL/Anomalous, ANTIMODERNE/Antimodern, APORIE/Aporia, AUTEUR/Author, AUTRE/Other,

CONTRAIRE/Contrary, CONTRESENS/Wrong way;Mistranslation, Construe, CONTREPOINT/Couterpoint,

DÉCONSTRUCTION/Deconstruction, DÉFAMILIARISATION/Defamiliarization, DÉVIATION/Deviation, DIRECTION/Direction, DOXA,

EMPATHIE/Empathy,

GRAIN/Grain,

HISTOIRE/History, HISTORICISME/Historicism, HISTORIOGRAPHIE/Historiography,

IDÉE REÇUE/Received idea, IDENTITÉ/Identity, IDÉOLOGIE/Ideology, IDEOLOGIEKRITIK, INTERPRÉTATION/Interpretation, INVERSE/Reverse,

LECTURE/Reading, LECTURE À CONTRE-FIL/Reading against the grain, LECTURE EN CONTRE-POINT/Contrapuntal reading,

MATÉRIALISME CULTUREL/Cultural materialism, MATÉRIALISME HISTORIQUE/Historical materialism, MŒURS/Manners,

NATURALISATION/Naturalization,

OPPOSITION/Opposition, ORIGINE/Origin,

PARADOXE/Paradox, PATRIARCAT/Patriarchy, POSTURE/Posture, POUVOIR/Power,

RÉACTION/Reaction, REJET/Rejection, RÉSISTANCE/Resistance, RÉVISION/Revision,

SENSE/Sense, STÉRÉOTYPE/Stereotype, STRATÉGIE TRANSGRESSIVE/Transgressive strategy, SURRÉALISME/Surrealism,

TRANSMISSION/Transmission,

VIOLENCE/Violence.

NOMENCLATURES / Families of terms

ATTITUDES/Standpoint,

COMPORTEMENT/Behaviour,

DERRIDA (Jacques),

HERMÉNEUTIQUE/Interpretation,

IDENTITÉ/Selfness,

MÉTHODOLOGIE/Methods,

RÉCEPTION/Reader-response.

MOTS-CLÉS

À l’encontre, À l’envers, Absence, Aporie, Auteur, Autre,

Barbarie,

Civilisation, Contre-pied, Contrepoil, Contre-pente, Contrepoint, Défamiliarisation, Désolidariser,Dissocier,

Génocide,

Herméneutique,

Identité, Image de l’histoire, Impérialisme,

Lecture,

Matérialisme culturel, Mœurs,

Naturalisation, Non-conformisme, Normal,

Opinion,

Paradoxe,

Raboter à conrefil, Rebrousse-poil, Réception, Refus,

Sens naturel,

Victoire.

Keywords

Absence, Aporia, Auteur, Author,

Barbarism, Brush against the grain,

Cultural materialism,

Defamiliarization,

Inclination, Identity, Interpretation,

Manners,

Naturalization,

Other,

Paradox, Political act,

Reader-response, Reading, Refusal,

Selfness.

ÉQUIVALENTS / Correspondences

Allemand / German : gegen den Strich (eponymous term by Walter Benjamin).

Anglais / English : against the grain.

Arabe / Arabic :

Chinois / Chinese :

Coréen / Korean :

Danois / Danish :

Espagnol / Spanish : a contrapelo, al redropelo, prepóstero.

Français / French : à rebours, à contrefil, à contre-courant; lecture à contre fil, à rebrousse-poil.

Grec / Greek :

Hongrois / Hungarian :

Italien / Italian :

Hébreu / Hebrew :

Japonais / Japanese :

Latin : retro, sursum versus, contrarie .

Néerlandais / Dutch :

Persan / Farsi :

Polonais / Polish :

Portugais / Portuguese :

Roumain / Romanian :

Russe / Russian : задом наперед zadom napered, противоположно protivopolojno, против шерсти protiv šersti.

Viêtnamien / Vietnamese :

COMMENTAIRE / Analysis

Bibliographie / References

Cooper, Brenda.– Weary Sons of Conrad. White Fiction Against the Grain of Africa’s Dark Heart.– New York; Bern : Peter Lang, 2002.

Derrida, Jacques– De la grammatologie.– Paris: Seuil

Translated as Of grammatology.–

Dobles Oropeza, Ignacio.– «Walter Benjamin: Las tesis sobre la historia y la influencia del surrealismo», in Ciencias sociales, 100, 2003 (II), 49-60.

Eichner, Hans.– Against the Grain: Selected Essays / Gegen den Strich: Ausgewählte Aufsätze. Kanadische Studien zur deutschen Sprache und Literatur, Vol. 47. Ed. Rodney Symington.– Bern: Peter Lang, 2003.

Said, Edward W.– Out of place.– New York : Vintage books edition, 2000.

A contre-voie : mémoires, trad. de l’anglais par Brigitte Caland et Isabelle Genet.– Paris : Le Serpent à plumes , 2002 .