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Beckett’splaysareabsurdnotbecauseoftheabsenceofmeaning–thenthey
11
wouldbeirrelevant–butbecausetheydebatemeaning.Theybroachitshis-
tory
.Hisworkisgovernedbytheobsessionwithapositivenothingness,but
alsobyanevolvedandtherebyequallydeservedmeaninglessness,andthat’s
whythisshouldnotbeallowedtobereclaimedasapositivemeaning.14
Buthowcanananalysisofsuchaconcreteanalysisbeperformedbythe
interpreter?Isthereawaywhichwouldallowustoremainwithintherealm
oftheory(theideal)withoutleavingbehindthematerial(thecontingent)?In
thefinalanalysis,thereseemstobeatleastonepointofconvergencehere:
theworksbyBeckett,CelanandNaumanarenotonlymeaningless,theyare
meaninglessnessorganised.15Thisispreciselythetasklefttothecritictoday:
theverytracingofthewaysinwhichmeaningisdismantled.Butthatisnot
all.Althoughthereexistsakindofartthatisjustbabble,thatistosay,art(but
isitart?)thatdismantlesmeaninginapurelyaleatorymanner(Adornocalls
itirrelevant);aformaldismantlingcanneverstopatthesheernegativityof
itsprocess.Wheneversuchanaccomplishmenttakesplace,somenewformal
structuresarecreatedwhoseveryorganisingprincipleisthedeconstructionof
oldreferentialframeworksofmeaningbutwhich,atthesametime,bybeing
accomplishedinanorganisedmanner,converttheefortintosomething
that,althoughitcannotbecalledutterlypositive,atleastisnotexclusively
vapidanddisposable.Ifwewanttocalltheproductofsuchaprocessmean-
ing,itisnotthemeaningweusedtoknow;itissomethingthatcomesfrom
aterritorythatislargelyforeigntous(mainlybecauseitisnottheregion
ofknowledge)andwhosetopographyitisthetaskoftheinterpretertolay
out.Itisjustsucha(tentative)topographyfortheworksofCelan,Beckett
andNaumanthatisundertakeninthiswork.Thetask,however,isofakind
inwhichonecanonlyhintatwhatoneispursuing.AsAdornowritesin
anunpublishedfragment,entitled“OnMetaphysics”:
Iftheabsolutecannotexistwithouttheconditioned,thentheconditioned
hastobepartoftheabsolutewhilestillremainingconditioned.Thisagrees
perfectlywiththefeeling(Lebensgefühl)thateverythinginthislifeisatthe
sametimeabsolutelyinsignificantandinfinitelymeaningful.16
Thisimpossiblegoalofinfinitecriticismiswhatistryingtoputitselfinto
practiseinwhatfollows.Wedonothavetoaddthatitdoessounsuccessfully.
14Adorno,AestheticTheory,pp.220–221.
15Adorno,Notes,p.242.
16QuotedinAlexanderGarciaDüttmann,“IntegralActuality,”whichistheprefaceto
GiorgioAgamben,IdeaofProse,trans.MichaelSullivanandSamWhitsitt(Albany:StateUni-
versityofNewYork,1995),p.25.
