Anamorphic texts : Stendhal, Baudelaire, Lacan, Derrida

Abstract

This thesis proposes that a textual equivalent of pictorial anamorphosis exists. Just as a painting or element within a painting may become suddenly visible when it is viewed at an angle, a written text may need to be read aslant in order to reveal a usually hidden and suppressed dimension of meaning. The introduction takes pictorial anamorphosis as a point of departure for a discussion of what it would mean for a verbal text to be anamorphic. It concludes that the trick would take the form of ironic allegory , and that it would have to be intended by the author. The four chapters of the thesis discuss, in turn, the work of Stendhal. Baudelaire. Lacan, and Derrida. Each of the four writers has tackled the problem of interpreting the visual and the visual arts. Each has also written texts which themselves pose problems for interpretation. The thesis reads these texts in the light of each writer’s treatment of the visual.