Powers Of Horror: An Essay On Abjection (european Perspectives: A Series In Social Thought & Cultural Ctiticism)


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•• " POWERS OF HORROR Ii An Essay on Abjection t; ,: I " 11.' 'II ,ali, EUROPEAN PERSPECTIVES: A Series of the Columbia University Press POWERS OF HORROR I( An Essay on Abjection ~ JULIA KRISTEVA Translated by LEON S. ROUDIEZ I,., . I ~. i" .~~ ,f 'I , I·."· " ~ ,..I,~ I', COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS New York 1982 -.'.'.' I j SLj:5, qJZ Cgtfz, Ktf~ Contents I. I Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Kristeva, Julia, 1941­ Powers of horror. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. I I. (European perspectives) Translation of: Pouvoirs de I'horreur. I. Celine, Louis-Ferdinand, 1894-1961­ Criticism and interpretation. 2. Horror in literature. 3. Abjection in literature. I. Title. II. Series. 843'.9 12 82-4481 PQ2607·E834Z73413 AACR2 ISBN 0-231-05346-0 Translator's Note Approaching Abjection Something To Be Scared Of From Filth to Defilement Semiotics of Biblical Abomination . . . Qui T ollis Peccata Mundi Celine: Neither Actor nor Martyr· Suffering and Horror Those Females Who Can Wreck the Infinite "Ours To Jew or Die" In the Beginning and Without End " .. Powers of Horror Notes ,qi'z, Vll I 32 56 9° 113 133 14° 157 174 188 207 211 Columbia University Press New York Guildford, Surrey Copyright © 1982 Columbia University Press Pouvoiys de l'horreuy © 1980 Editions du Seuil All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America Clothbound editions of Columbia University Press books are Smyth­ sewn and printed on permanent and durable acid-free paper. ." , !:,.I f .:'i'£_ ~!.: ,:\~ f ,:& \.\-,,·t;. ·11',",..· Translator' s Note i1' When the original version of this book was published in France in 1980, critics sensed that it marked a turning point in Julia Kristeva's writing. Her concerns seemed less arcane, her presentation more appealingly worked out; as Guy Scarpetta put it in Le Nouvel Observateur (May 19, 1980), she now intro­ duced into "theoretical rigor an effective measure of seduction. " Actually, no sudden change has taken place: the features that are noticeable in Powers of Horror were already in evidence in several earlier essays, some of which have been translated in Desire in Language (Columbia University Press, 1980). She her­ self pointed out in the preface to that collection, "Readers will also notice that a change in writing takes place as the work progresses" (p. ix). One would assume such a change has made the translator's task less arduous; in one sense it has, but it also produced a different set of difficulties. As sentences become more meta­ phorical, more "literary" if you wish, one is liable to forget that they still are conceptually very precise. In other words, meaning emerges out of both the standard denotation(s) and the connotations suggested by the material shape of a given word. And it emerges not solely because of the reader's crea­ tivity, as happens in poetic language, but because it was put there in the first place. For instance, "un etre altere" means either a changed, adulterated being or an avid, thirsty being; mindful, however, of the unchanged presence of the Latin root, alter, Kristeva also intends it to mean "being for the other." This gives the phrase a special twist, and it takes a reader more imaginative than I am to catch it. As Kristeva's writing evolves, it also displays a greater variety \ ~~ TRANSLATOR'S NOTE viii IX TRANSLATOR'S NOTE in tone. In this essay it includes the colloquial and the formal, the lyrical and th
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