Post on 02-Jun-2018
8/11/2019 Michel de Certeau, The Practice of Everyday Life
1/12
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Berkele.t'LosAngeles Lotulott
THE
PRACTICE
OF'
E,VERYDAY
IFE
Michel
de Certeau
Tianslated
y
StevenRendall
I
t _ l
8/11/2019 Michel de Certeau, The Practice of Everyday Life
2/12
rarrer
s
arready
t
work.
Thus
t
is
exemprary
hat
D6tienne
nd
vernant
hould
have
made
hemselves
he
storyt l l lers
f
this
, labyrinthine
intel-
igence"
"inrelligen('e
en
elddales"),
s
Frangoise
rontisi
so
well
erms
lr.J?:discursive
practice
f
the
story
l,histoire)
is
both
ts
arr
and
ts
At
bottom,
his
s
ai l
a
very
ord
story.
when
he grew
ord,
Aristotre,
who
s
not
generai ly
onsiaerea
xactly
t ightrope
ancer,
iked
o
rose
imsel f
n
the
most
abyr in th ine
nd
subt le
f
d iscourses.
e
had
he n
rr ived
at
the
age
of
nt?t is:
Th.,.more
ol i tary
nd
solated
become,
the
more
conre
o
l ike
stor ies. , , r5
e
h; ; ; ;p1^ined
he
eason
dmir_
ably:
as n theorderFreud, t wasa connoisseur,sdmirat ion
or
he
ac t
hat
composed
armonies
nd
for
i ts
ar t
of
do ing
t
by
surpr ise:
.The
f] | :Jr:
Tyth
is
n
a
sense
lover
of
wisdom,
or
myth
s
composed
f
Part
II
Spatial
Practices
Chapter
VII
Walkirg
in
the
City
EEING
Manhat tan
f rom
the
l lO th
f loor
o f
the
wor ld
- l - rade
center.
Beneath
he
haz-e
t i rred
up
by
the
winds,
the
urban
'\ - ,
is land,
a sea
n the
middle
of
the
sea,
i f ts
up
the
skyscrapers
ve r
wa l l St reet , i nksdown at Greenwich ,hen r i sesaga in o the crests f
Midtown,
qu ie t l y
passes
ver
Cent ra l
Park
and
f inal ly
undu la tes
f f
into
the
d is tance
beyond
Harlem.
A
wave
of
ver t i ca ls .
t s
agi tat ion
is
momentari ly
rrested
y
vision.
The
gigant ic
mass
s
mmobi l ized
before
the
eyes.
t
is
t ransformed
nto
a
texturology
in
which
ext remes
co inc ide-ext remes
f
ambi t ion
and
degradat ion ,
ru ta r
oppos i t i ons
f
races
nd
styles,
ont rasts
etween
esterday's
ui ld ings,
al ready
rans_
formed
nto
t rash
cans,
and
today 's
urban
r rup t ions
hat
b lock
out
i ts
space.
n l i ke
Rome,
New
york
has
never
earned
he
ar t
o f
g rowing
o ld
by
playing
on
al l i ts pasts.
ts present
nvents
tsel f ,
rom
hour
to
hour,
in
the
act
of
throwing
away
ts
previous
ccompl ishmehts
nd
chal lenging
the
uture'A ci ty composed f paroxysmal laces n monumental el iefs.
The
specta tor
an
ead
n
i t
a un iverse
hat
s
constan t l y
xp lod ing .
n
it
are
inscribed
the
architectural
f igures
of
the
coinc, iclario
pltr, t .sirsrunr
fo rmer l y
drawn
in
min ia tu res
nd
myst i car
extures.
n
th is
s tage
of
concre te ,
tee l
nd g lass,
ut
ou t
between
wo
oceans
the
A t lan t i c
an d
the
American)
by
a f r ig id
body
of
water,
he
tal lest
et ters
n
the
world
compose
a
g igant i c
hetor i c
of
excess
n
both
expend i tu re
and
pro_
duct ion . r
9 l
8/11/2019 Michel de Certeau, The Practice of Everyday Life
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92
WA
LKING IN
THE CITY
IvA
LKING IN
TH
E CITI,
9 3
V
ct.yt
11
.v
o
w
a
k
e
'
To
what
ero t i cs o f
knowledge
does
the
ecstasy
f read ing
such a
cosmos
be long?Having
aken
a vo lup tuous
leasure
n
i t , I wonderwhat
i s
the
sourceof th is
p leasure
f
"see ing
he
whole , "
o f l ook ingdown on,
to ta l i z - ing
he
most mmoderate
f
human
exts .
To be l i f ted to the summit of the World Trade Center s to be l i f ted
out
of the ci ty 's
grasp.
One's
body is no longer
clasped
by the st reets
th; i
iu i l 'and return
it
according
ro an
anonymous arv;
nor is i t
pos-
sessed, hether
as
player
or played,
by the rumble
of so many
di f ferences
and
by
the
nervousness
f New
York t raf f ic. When
one
goes
up
there,he
leaves
ehind he
mass
hat
carr iesoff
and mixesup
in i tsel fany dent i ty
of authors
or spectators.
An lcarus
f ly ing above hesewaters,
he can
ignore
the
dev ices
of Daeda lus n
mobi le and end less
abyr in ths ar
below. His
elevat ion ransf igures
him into
a
voyeur.
lt
puts
him at a
distance. t
t ransforms
the bewitching
world by which
one
was
"pos-
seised" nto
a text
that l ies
before one's
eyes.
t a l lows
one o read t, to
be a solar Eye, ooking down l i ke a god. The exa l ta t ion f a scop ic nd
gnost ic
dr ive: the f ict ion o[ knowledge
s related o this
lust to be a
v iewpo in t
and no in ing
more .
Must
one f inal ly
fal l back into the
dark
space
where crowds
move
back and forth, crowds hat ,
though
visible
rom
on
high, are hemselves
unable o
seedown be low?An l car ian
al l . On
the
l tOth f loor,a
poster ,
sph inx- l i ke , ddresses
n en igmat i c
messageo
the
pedest r ian
ho s o r
an instant t ransformed into
a visionarv:
I t 's
hard to be dow,n
when
.l,ou're
up .
The
desire o see
he
ci ty
preceded
he
meansof sat isfying
t. Medieval
or
Renaissance
ainters
epresented
he ci ty as seen n a
perspect ive
ha t
no eye had yet enjoyed.2 his f ict ion al readymade he medieval pec-
tator
into a
celest ia leye. l t created
gods.
Have things
changed ince
technical
procedures
aveorganiz-ed
n
"al l -seeing ower"?l
The
total iz-
ing eye magined
by the
painters
of
ear l ier
imes ives
on in
our
achieve-
ments. The
same scopicdr ive haunts usersof archi tectural
roduct ions
by mater ia l iz ing oday
the utopia that
yesterday
was only
painted.
Th e
1370 oot
high tower that
serves s
a
prow
for Marfhat tan
cont inues
o
const ruct
the f ict ion that creates
eaders,makes he
complexi ty
of the
ci ty
readable,nd immobi l iz-es
ts opaquemobi l i ty
n a t ransparent
ext .
I s t he
immense
exturo logy
spread
out beforeone 's
eyesanyth ing
more than a representa t ion ,
n
opt i ca l
a r t i f ac t?
t is
the ana logue f
' t .he
a loo f ,
by the
space
lanner
rban is t , i t y p lanner
or
car tographer .
he
panorama-c i t y
s a
" theore t i ca l "
that
s ,
v i sua l )
s imu lacrum, n
sho i t a
p ic tu re ,
whose
cond i t i on
of
poss ib i l i t y
s
an ob l i v ion
and
a misunder-
t ""dl t r_9{_prag i9es.
The
voyeur-god
created
by
this
f ict ion,
who,
l ike
Schreber 's
God, knows only
cadavers.u ust disentangle imsel f rom
the
murky n ter tw in ing
a i l y
behav iors nd
make
himsel f l i en o them.
The ordinary pract i t ioners f the ci ty l ive "down below," below the
thresholds
t which visibi l i ty
begins.They walk-an elementary
orm
of
this
experience
f the ci ty:
they
are walkers. l l /andersrni inner, hose
bod ies o l low
he
h icks
and
h ins
of an urban
text"
they wr i t e rv i t hout
beingable o
rtudl t -
f i tese
pract i t ioners
make
useof spaces
hat
cannot
be
seen; he i r knowledge
f
them
is
as
b l ind
as tha t
of
lovers n each
other 's
arms.The
paths
hat
cor respond n th i s i n te r tw in ing . n recog-
nized poems
n
which each
body
is
an element
signedby
many others.
elud_g
egib_i l i ty.t
is as though
the
pract ices
rganizing
a
bust l ing
ci ty
were
character ized
y thei r b l indness. 'The networks of thesemoving,
r1te11gct ing
r i t ings
compose
a
manifold
story
that
has
nei ther author
nor spectator, hapedout of f ragments f t ra jector ies nd al terat ions f
spaces:
n relat ion
o representat ions.t remainsdai ly and
indef in i te ly
other.
Escapinghe maginary otal izat ions
roduced
by
the eye. he everyday
hai
a iertalnTtrari-fe-ni:sitrat
does not surface,or whose surface
s
only
its
upper
imit,
out l in ing
tselfagainst
he visible.
Within
this
ensemble,
sha l l
ry t o loca te
he
pract i ces
hat
are ore ign
o the
"geomet r i ca l "
r
"geograph ica l "
paceof
v i sua l ,
panopt i c ,
o r
theore t i ca l
onst ruc t ions.
These
practicbs-6f
pace efer o
a
specif ic orm
of
operariorrs
"ways
of
opera t ing" ) , o
"another
spat ia l i t y "u
un "an thropo log ica l. " oe t i c
an d
mythic experience f space), nd to an opaqueand
bl ind nrobi l i ty
char-
acter ist ic f the bust l ing,ci ty,A nr igrat ional , r metaphorical . i ty thus
sl ips
nto
the
clear ext of the
planned
and
readable
i ty.
l . Front the concept
of
the cit t ' o urban
pra(t ircs
The
World
Trade
Center
s only the
most
monumental igure
of
Western
urban
development . he
atopiq-utopia
of
opt ical
knowledge
has
long
had
the ambit ion of
surmount ing and
art iculat ing he cont radict ions
arising rom urban
agglomerat ion,
t is
a
quest ion
of managing
a
growth
of human
agglomerat ion
r
accumulat ion.
The
ci ty is a
huge monas-
te r , . "
a idErasmus. e rspect i ve
is ion
and
prospect i ve
is ion
const i t u te
8/11/2019 Michel de Certeau, The Practice of Everyday Life
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8/11/2019 Michel de Certeau, The Practice of Everyday Life
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96
W'A
KING
IN
TH
E CITY
was
threatened
by
the very
changes
hat
af fected
heir ideologies
nd
the i r
pos i t i ons.
They
t ransmute
he
mis for tuneof
the i r t heor ies
nt o
theories
of
misfortune.
When
they t ransform
their bewi lderment
nt o
"ca tast rophes, "
hen. they
seek o enc lose
he
peop le
n the
"pan ic"
of
thei r
discourses,
re hey
once more
necessari ly
ight?
Rather
than
remainingwi thin the
f ie ld of a discourse
hat
upholds ts
pr ivi lege
by invert ing
ts
content
(speaking
f
catast rophe
nd
no longer
of progress) , ne can t ry another pa th : one can t ry anotherpath: on e
can
analyze
the
microbe-l ike,
singular and
plural pract ices
which
an
urban is t i c
system
was supposed
o administer
or suppress, ut wh ich
have
out l ived i ts decay;
one can
fol low
the
swarming act iv i ty of these
procedures
hat , far f rom being
regulated or
el iminated
by
panopt ic
administ rat ion,
have
einforced hemselvesn a
prol i ferat ing
l legi t imacy,
developed
and insinuated
hemselves
nto the networks of survei l lance,
and combined n
accord
wi th
unreadab le
u t s tab le
act i cs o the
po in t
of const i tut ing
everyday regulat ions
and
surrept i t ious reat iv i t ies hat
are
merely concealed
by the
f rant ic mechanisms nd discourses f the
observat ional
rganizat ion.
This pathway could be inscr ibedas a consequence, ut also as the
reciprocal ,
of
.Foucaul t 's
analysisof
the
st ructures f
power.
H. moved
it in the direct ion of mechanismsand
technical
procedures,
minor
inst rumental i t ies"
apable,
merely
by thei r organizat ion
of
"detai ls, "of
t ransform ing
a
human mul t ip l ic i ty nto a
"d isc ip l i nary"
oc ie t y nd
of
managing,
dif ferentiat ing,
classifying, and hierarchizing
all deviances
concern ing
pprent i cesh ip ,
eal th,
us t i ce ,
he army,
or work . to
These
I
often
miniscule
ruses
of discipl ine, "
hese
minor
but
f lawless"mecha-
nisms,
draw
their
ef f icacy rom
a relat ionshipbetween
procedures
nd
the
space
hat t hey
red is t r i bu ten order o makean
"opera tor "ou t
of
i t.
But what spat ia l
prat ' t ices
correspond,
n the area where discipl ine
s
manipulated, o theseapparatuseshat producea discipl inary pace?n
the
present
onjuncture,
which is marked by
a
contradict ion etween
he
col lect ive mode of administ rat ion
and an
individual mode
of reappro-
pr iat ion,
this
quest ion
s
no
less
mportant , f one admits
that
spat ia l
pract ices
n
fact secret ly
st ructure
he determining
condi t ions
of social
l i fe.
I would l ike
to fol low out a few
of these
mult i form.
resistance.
t r icky and stubborn
procedures hat elude
discipl ine
wi thout
being
out-
side
the
f ie ld
in
which
it
is
exercised,
nd
which should
lead us
to
a
i
theory
o[
everyday
pract ices,
f l ived space,
f the disquiet ing
amil iarity
'
o f t he c i t v .
WALKING
IN
THE
CITI'
2.
The chorus
of
idle.footsteps
"The
goddess
an
be
recognized
y
her
step"
Virgi l ,
Aeneid, l ,
405
Their story
beginson
ground
evel ,
wi th
footsteps.
hey are myriad, but
do not compose
series.
hey cannot be countedbecause
achuni t
ha s
a
qual i tat ive
character:
style
of tact i le
apprehension
nd kinesthet ic
appropriat ion.
Their swarming
mass s an
innumerablecol lect ion
of
singular i t ies.
hei r intertwined
paths
give
thei r shape
o spaces.
he y
weave
places
ogether.
n that respect .
edest r ian
movements
orm
one'
of
these
real
systems
hoseexistencen
fact makes
up
the
ci ty. "" T l ' t .y
ai i
not toiai ized;
t
is rather they
that
spat ia l ize.
They
are no
more
inserted
within a container han those
Chinese
haracters
peakers
ketch
out on thei rhandswi th thei r inget t ips.
I t i s rue
hat
the
opera t ions f
wa lk ingon
can
be
racedon
c i t y maps
in
such a
way as
to t ranscr ibe
heir
paths here
wel l - t rodden,
here
very
faint ) and
thei r
rajector ies
going
his way and
not that ) . But
these hick
or
thin curves
only'refer,
ike words, o the absence
f
what
has'passed
by.
Surveys
of routes miss
what was: he act i tself
of
passing
by.
Th e
opera t ionof
wa lk ing , wander ing ,or
"w indow
shopp ing . "
hat
i s .
th e
act ivi ty of
passers-by,
s
t ransformed nto
points that draw a
total iz ing
and reversible
ine on the
map.
They al low
us to
grasp
only
a rel ic set
n
the
nowhen of
a
surface
f
project ion.
tsel f v isib le, t
has the
ef fect
of
making
invisible he operat ion
hat made
it
possible.These ixat ions
const i tute
rocedures
or forget t ing,The
trace ef t behind
s subst i tuted
for the
practice.
t exhibits he
(voracious) roperty
hat
the
geographical
sys tem
as
of
be ingab le
o t ransform
ct ion n to
eg ib i l i t y , u t
in do ing
so
t causes way of being n the
world
to
be
forgot ten.
Pedestrian peech
ct s
A
comparisonwi th the speech
ct wi l l
a l low us to
go
furtherr2
and
no t
l imi t ourselveso
the
cr i t ique
of
graphic
epresentat ions
lone,
ooking
f rom the shoresof legibi l i ty oward
an inaccessible
eyond.
The
act
of
walking s to
the
urban system
what the speech
ct
is to language
r
to
the statements t tered.13
t
the most
elementary
evel ,
t has
a
ff i iple
"enunciat ive" function: i t
is
a
process
of appropriat ion
of
the topo-
graphical
system
on
the
part
of the
pedest r ian
ust
as
the speaker
91
8/11/2019 Michel de Certeau, The Practice of Everyday Life
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WA
LKING
IN
TH
E
CITY
appropriates
and takes
on the
language);
t
is a spat ia l
act ing-out
of
th e
place
fiust
as
the
speech
act
is an acousticiCiinfonTitT
iarigu@);
and it
impl ies relat ions
among
di f ferent iated
posi t ions,
hat
is,
among
prag-
matic
"cont racts"
in
the
form
of movements
ust
as verbal
enunciat ion
is an
"al locut ion,"
"posi ts another
opposi te"
he
speaker nd
puts
con-
t racts
between nter locutors
nto
act ion). ro t thus
seems
ossible
o
give
a prel iminarydef in i t ionof walkingas a space f enunciat ion.
We could
moreoverextend
this
problemat ic
o the
relat ions
etween
the
act
o f wr i t i ng and
the
wr i t t en tex t ,
and even ranspose
t to the
rel i t ionships
between
he
"hand';
l the
touch
and
the
tale of the
paint-
brush
lte
er la
ge.ste
A;"i;";raul)
and the
finished
paint ing (forms,
colors,
etc.).
At f irst
isolated
n the
area-of vGibil-comiirt iri ibat ion, he
speech
ct
turns
out
to f ind only
one of
i ts appl icat ionshere,
nd ts in-
guist ic
modal i ty is
merely he f i rst determinat ion
f a
much
more
general
, dist inct ion
between the
forms
used n a system and itre wayJ
of using
' I"
',
th is
system
(i .e. ,
rules),
hat
is,
between wo "di f ferent worlds, "
since
"the
same hings"
are considered
rom two opposi te ormal
viewpoints.
Considered rom this angle, he pedest r ian peech ct has hreechar-
acter ist ics
which dist inguish t
at the outset
rom the spat ia l
Eystem:
he
present ,
he
discrete, he
"phat ic. "
F i rst ,
if
it
is t rue
that a
spat ia l order organizes
n
ensemble
f
possi -
b i l i t i es
e.g. ,
by
a
p lace
n wh ich
one can move)and in te rd ic t ions
e.g . ,
by a
wall
that
prevents
one
from
going
further), then
the wii[er actual-
izessome
of these
possibi l i t ies.
n that way,
he makes hem
exist
as wel l
as
emerge. But he also moves hem about
and he invents
others,since
the
crossing,
dr i f t ing
away, or improvisat ionof walking
privi lege,
rans-
form
or abandon
spat ia l
elements.
hus Charl ie
Chapl in
mri t l ip i ies he
possibi l i t ies
f
his
cane:he doesother
things
wi th the same
hing
and he
goes
beyond the l imi ts that the determinantsof the object set on its
ut i l izat ion.
In the same
way, the
lvafkel
1g1s[orms
eachspat ia l igni f ier
into
somethingelse.And if
on the one
hand
he actual izes nly a
few
of
the possibi l i t ies
ixed
by the
const ructedorder
(he
goes
only here and
not there),
on
the
other he increases
he number of
possibi l i t ies
fo r
example,
by creat ing
shortcuts and detours)
and
prohibi t ions
for
ex -
ample,
he forbids
himself to
take
paths general ly
onsidered ccessible
I
or euen
obl igatory). He thus
makesa
select ion.
The
user
of a
ci ty
picks
i
out certain
fragments of the statement in order to actualize hem
in
i s e c r e t . " l 5
. .
,
. .
i .
He thus createsa discreteness,
hether by
making choices
mong he
WALKING
IN
THE
CITI'
signif iers
9f .t_h..
patial
language"
or
by displacing
hem
through the
us e
he makesof them. He
condemns ertain
places
o inert ia
or disappear-
anceand
composes i t t ' t othersspat ia l
turns
of
phrase" hat are
"rare, "
"accidental"
or i l legit imate.But
that al ready
leads nto a
rhetor ic
of
walking.
- I i i
Th-e
ramework of
enunciat ion, he
walker const i tutes.
n relat ion
o
his posi t ion,both a near and a far, a here and a there.To the fact that
the
adverbs ere and here
are the
indicatorsof
the locut ionary
seat
n
verbal
communicat ion'u-a
coincidence
hat reinforces
he
paral le l ism
between
inguist ic
and
pedest r ian
nunciat ion-we
must add
that
this
locat ion
here-there)
(necessari ly
mpl ied by
walking
and indicat ive
of
a
present
ppropr ia t ion
of space
by an
" l " )
a l so
has the funct ion
of
in t roduc ing n o ther
n re la t ion
o
th is
"1"
and o f
thus
estab l i sh ing
conjunct ive nd
disjunct ive r t iculat ion
of
places.
would
st ress
art icu-
lar ly the
"phat ic-"aspect ,
by
which I mean
the
funct ion,
isolated
by
Mal inowski and Jakobson,
of
terms hat
init iate, maintain,
or
interrupt
contact , uch
as
"he l lo , "
wel l , wel l . "
e t c . l t
Walk ing .
wh ich
a l te rna te ly
foitows a path and has fol lowers,createsa mobi le organici ty n th e
env i ronment ,
sequencef
phat i c
oyso i .
nd i f i t
i s rue ha t
the
phat ic
function,
whichl i
an
ef fort
o ensure
ommunication.
s
al ready
charac-
ter ist icof the
language f ta lking
birds,
ust
as i t const i tutes
he
"f i rst
verbal
funct ion
acquired
by
chi ldren,"
t is not
surpr ising
hat
i t a lso
gambols ,
oes
on,
a l l f ours ,
dances.
nd wa lks
about ,
wi th
a l ight or
heavy
tep, ike
a ser ies
f
"he l los"
n
an echo ing
abyr in th ,
an ter io r
or
parallel
ouip{o.rmativepeech.
The moi ia l i t ies f
pedest r ian nunciat ion
which a
plane
epresentat iot t
on a
map br ings
out
cou ld be
ana lyzed.
They
inc lude
he
k inds
of
relat ionship
his enunciat ion
ntertains
wi th
part icular
paths
(or
"state-
ments") by according hem a t ruth value ("alethic" modal i t iesof
th e
necessary ,
he mposs ib le ,
he 'poss ib le ,
r t he
cont ingent ) ,
n
ep is temo-
logical
value
("epistemic"
modal i t ies
of the
certain,
he
excluded.
he
f lausible,
or the
quest ionable)
r
f inal ly
an
ethicalor
legal
value
("de-
ont ic"
modal i t ies
f the
obl igatory,
he
forbidden,
he
permitted,or
th e
opt ional) . ' t
Walking af f i rms,
suspects,
r ies
out ,
t ransgresses,
espects.
etc., the
trajdctci i ies
i
"speaks."
All
the
modalit ies
sing
a
part in
this
Ehri ius,
hanging
rom step
to
step,
stepping
n
through
proport ions.
sequences,,nd
intensi t ieswhich
vary according
o the t ime,
the
path
taken
and
the walker.
Theseenunciatory
perat ions
re of
an
unlimited
diversi ty. hey
herefore annot
be
reduced
o thei r
graphic
rai l .
98
99
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r00
WA
LKING
IN
TH
E
CITY
Walk ing
rhetor i cs
F
The
walking
of
passers-by
ffers
a
seriesof turns
(tours)
and
detours
that can
be
compared
o
"turns
of
phrase"
or
"styl ist ic
igures."
There
s
a
rhetor ic
of walking.
The art
of
"turning"
phrases
inds
an equivalentn
an
art of composing
a
path
(tourner
un
parcours).
Like
ordinary an-
guage, 'e
his
art
impl ies
and combines tyles
and uses._t4-p.ci fies
"a
l inguist icst ructure that manifestson the symbol ic evel . . an individ-
ual 's
fundamental
way
of being n the world";zo
t connotes singular.
Use
def ines
the social
phenomenon
hrough which
a system
of
com-
fi i inicat ion
manifests
tself
in
actual
fact; i t refers o a norm.
Style
an d
use
both have
to
do
wi th
a
"way
of operat ing"
(of
speaking,walking,
etc. ) ,
but style involves
a
pecul iar
processing
f the symbol ic,whi le use
refers
o
elementsof a
code. They ntersect
o form a style
of
use,
a
wa y
of
be ingand a way
of opera t ing .2r
In
int roducing
the not ion
of
a
"residing
hetor ic"
("rhetor ique
habi-
tante"\ ,
the
fert i le
pathway
opened
up by
n.
Meciain22nd
systemat ized
by
S.
Ostrowetrky" and
J.-F.
Augoyard,2'we assume
hat
the
"t ropes"
cataloguedby rhetor ic urnish modelsand hypothesesor the analysis f
ways
of appropriat ing
places.
Two
postulates
eem o me to underl ie he
val id i ty
of th is appl icat ion:
l)
it
is assumed hat
pract ices
f space
ls o
correspond o
manipulat ions
of
the basicelements f a constructed rder;
2) i t is assumed
hat they are,
l ike
the t ropes
n
rhetor ic, deviat ions
relat ive
o
a sort of
" l i teral
meaning" def ined
by
the urbanist ic
ystem.
There
would thus
be
a homology
between
erbal iguresand the f igures
of
walking
(a
styl ized
select ion mong
the lat ter s al ready
ound in the
f igures
of danc ing) nso faras bo th cons is t
n
" t rea tments"
r
opera t ions
bear ing
n
iso la tab le n i t s ,25
nd n
"ambiguous
ispos i t i ons"
hat d i ver t
and d isp lacemean ing n the d i rec t ionof equ ivoca lness26n
the
way a
t remulous image confusesand mul t ip l ies he photographedobject . n
these
two
modes, the analogy can
be
accepted.
would add that
th e
geometr ical
pace
of urbanistsand archi tects eems
o
have he
status
of
the
"proper
meaning"const ructed y
grammarians
nd
l inguists
n order
to
have
a
normal
and
normative level
to which they
can compare
he
drif t ing of
"f igurat ive" languagb.
n reality,
this faceless
proper"
mean-
ing
(c'e
propre"
sans.f igure\
annot
be
found n currentuse,
whether
verbal
or
pedestr ian,
t is merely
he f ict ion
produced y a
use
hat
s
also
part icular, he meial inguist ic
se
of
scief ice
hat
dist inguishestself
by
thatveryd is t inct ion.2T
WALKING
N
THE
CITY
The long p_oem
f wa lk ing man ipu la tes pa t ia l o rgan iza t ions, o
mat terhow
panopt i c
hey
may be:
t i s ne i ther o re ign
o
them
( i t
can
take
p lace
on ly w i th in them) nor in conform i t y
wi th
them
(i t
does
not
receivets dint i ty
f rom them).
t
creates
hadows
nd ambigui t ies
within
them. I t inser ts ts
mul t i t ud inous e ferences
nd
c i ta t ions n to
them
(social
models, ul tural mores,
personal
actors).
Within them i t is i tsel f
the
ef fectof successivencounters nd occasions
hat constant lyal ter
t
and make it the other's blazon:
in
other
rvords.
it
is l ike ^
-d.8aiei. '
,
carrying
somethingsurpr ising,
ransverse r
at t ract ive
compared
with
the
usual
choice.
These
diverseaspects
rovide the
basis
of a
rhetor ic.
They can even
be said
o define t.
By analyzing his
"modern
art of everyday
xpression"
s t
appears n
accounts
f spat ia l
pract ices, t *
. -F.
Augoyard
discerns
n i t t rvo
espe-
cial ly
undamental
tyl ist ic igures: ynecdoche
nd asyndeton.
he
pre-
dominance
of these
wo f iguresseems
o
me
to indicate.
n
relat ion o
two complementary
oles,
a formal st ructure
of
these
pract ices.
. t 'ner ' -
doche
cons is t s n
"us ing
a
word in a
sense
which
is
par t
o f
another
meaningof the same
word."2e n essence.t names
a
part insteadof the
whole which ncludes
t.
Thus
"sai l "
is taken or
"ship"
n the
expression
"a
flbet of f i f ty sa ils";
n the
sameway, a br ick shel ter
or
a hi l l
is taken
for the
park in the narrat ion of a t rajectory.As. t 'ndeton
s the suppres-
s ion o f l i nk ing words such
as con junct ions
nd
adverbs,
i t her
wi th in a
sentence
r between entences.
n
the same
way, n walking
t selects
nd
f ragments he
space raversed;t skips
over
inks
and whole
parts hat
it
omi ts.From this
point
o f
view,
every
walk constan t l y
eaps,
r
sk ips
ike
a
chi ld,
hopping
on
one
oot . I t
pract iceshe el l ipsis
f conjunct ive
oci .
In real i ty, hese
wo
pedest r ian
igures
are related. Synecdoche
x-
pands
a
spat ia l
element
n order to make
t
play
the role of
a
"more"
(a
total i ty)
and ake
ts
place
the
bicycle
or the
piece
of
furni ture
n a store
window stands or a whole st reet or neighborhood).Asyndeton, by
el is ion, reates
"less, "
opens
gaps
n the spatial
cont inuum,
and retains
only selected
arts
of i t that
amount almost
to rel ics. Synecdoche
e-
places
otal i t iesby f ragments
a
/ess n
the
place
of
a ntore);
asyndeton
disconnects
hem by el iminating the
conjunct ive or
the consecut ive
(nothing
n
place
of something).
Synecdoche
makesmore
dense:
t am-
pl i f ies
the
detai l and miniatur izes
he whole. Asyndeton
cuts
out :
it
undoes ont inui ty and undercuts
ts
plausibi l i ty.
A space
reated
n this
way and shaped
by
pract ices
s t ransformed
nto
enlargedsingular i -
t ies and
separate
slands.s0
hrough these
swel l ings,
hr inkings,
an d
l 0 l
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t02
IYALKING
IN
THE
CITY
fragmentat ions,
hat
is,
through
these
rhetor ical
operat ions
a
spat ia l
phrasing
f
an analogical
composed
f
juxtaposed
i tat ionsl
nai i t ipt ical
(made
of
gaps,
i ipses, and
al lusions)
ype is
created.
For the
techni l
logical
system
of
a coherent
and total iz ing
space
hat
is
" l inked"
an d
simul taneous,
he f igures
of
pedest r ian
hetor ic
subst i tute rajector ies'
that have
a
mythical st ructure,
at least f
one understands y
' lmyth"
a
discourse
elat ive o
the place/
nowhere
or
or ig in) of concrete
xistence,
a s to ry er ry-bu i l t ou t of elementsaken rom commonsay ings, n a l l u -
sive
and
fragmentary
story whose
gaps
meshwith
the social
pract ices
t
symbol i zes.
Flg-greq re
the
acts of this styl ist ic metamorphosis
f space.Or
rather,
as Ri lke
puts
i t , they are
moving
"t rees
of
gestures."
hey
moveeven he
r igid
and
contr ived
terr i tor ies
of
the
medico-pedagogical
nst i tute n
which retarded
chi ldren find a
place
to
play
and
dance
heir
"spat ia l
stor ies. "3r
These
"t rees
of
gestures"
re
in
movement
everywhere.
hei r
forests
walk
through
the st reets.They t ransform the scene, ut
they
cannot
be
f ixed
in a
certain
place
by
images.
f
in
spi te of that an
i l lus-
t rat ion
were required,
we
could ment ion the f leet ing
mages,
el lowish-
green and metal l ic blue cal l igraphies hat howl wi thout raising hei r
voices
and emblaz-on hemselves
n
the
subterranean
assages
f
th e
ci ty,
"embroider ies"composed
of
let tersand numbers,
perfect
gestures
of
v io lencepa in ted
wi th
a
pistol ,
Sh ivas
made of
wr i t t en characters ,
dancing
graphics
whose f leet ing
appari t ions are
accompanied y
th e
rumble
of subway
rains:
New
York
graf f i t i .
I f i t is
true
that
.fore.st ' i-
f-lrsrures
^r. manifest
n
the
streets, heir
movement cannot be captured
n a
picture,
nor
can he meaning f thei r
movements
be
ci rcumscribed
n a
text . Their rhetor ical
ransplantat ion
carr ies
away and displaces
he analyt ical , oherent
proper
meanings
f
urbanism; i t const i tutesa
"wandering
of
the semant ic"r2
roduced
by
masseshat make somepartsof the ci ty disappear nd exaggerate thers,
,
distort ing t ,
fragmenting
t , and divert ing
t
f rom i ts mmobi le
order.
3.
Myths:
what
"mokes
h ings
go "
The f igures of these
movements
synecdoches,
l l ipses,
tc. )character ize
both
a
"symbolic
order
of
the
unconscious"
nd
"certain
ypical
processes
of
subject ivity manifested
n
discourse."rr
The
similarity
between
dis-
,,
course"so nd dreamsls
has to do
wi th
theiiuse-oit t t .
s imL " i ty l ist ic
---*..*
proi.au.es";
it
therefore
ncludes
pedestrian
prait ices as well.
The
"an-
,
cient .ui i iog
of
i;;;;;;' that fiom
Freud
to Benveniste
as urnished
an
appropriate
nventory
or the
rhetor ic
of
the i rst t rvo egisters f expres-
sion s equal ly
val id for the thi rd. l f
there
s
a
paral le l ism,
t
is
not
only
because
nunciat ion s dominant
in these
hree areas,
but
also
because
i ts
discursive
verbal ized,
reamed. r walked)developments organized
as a
relat ion between he
place
rom which
i t proceeds
an
origin)
an d
the
nowhere t
produces
a
way of
"going
by").
F rom th is
point
o f
v iew,a f te r hav ing
compared
pedest r ian rocesses
to l i ngu is t i c
ormat ions,
we
can br ing
hem back down
in the d i rec t ion
of
oneir ic igurat ion, or at
least
discover
on
that
other side
what,
in a
spat ia l
pract ice,
s
inseparable
rom the dreamed
place.
To
walk is to
lack
a
p lace.
t i s
the
ndef in i te
rocess
f be ing
absent
nd in search
f
a
proper . -The
moving
about t ha t
the ci ty mul t ip l ies
nd concent ra tes
makei
the city
tsel f
an
immense ocial
experience
f
lackinga
place-an
experienoe
hat s, - io b. ,ur. , broken
up into
count less
iny deportat ions
(displacements
nd
walks), compensated
or
by
the
relat ionships
nd
in tersect ions
f
theseexoduses
hat
in te r tw ineand crea te
an
urban
fabr ic, and
p laced
under he s ign o f
what
ought
to
be,
ul t imately.
he
p lace
ut
i s
on ly a name, he C i t y .
The dent i t y u rn ished
y
th is
p lace
s
a l l t he
more symbol i c
named)
ecause.
n
sp i teo f
the inequa l i t yof i ts
c i t i zens ' os i t i ons
nd
pro f i t s .
here s
on ly a
pu l lu la t ion
f
passer -by,
ne twork
o f res idencesemporar i l y
ppropr ia ted y
pedest r ian
raf f ic,a
shuf f l ing among
pretenses
f
the
proper.
a universe
of
rented spaces
haunted
y
a nowhere r by dreamed-of
laces.
Namesand
symbols
An ind ica t ionof
the re la t ionsh ip
hat spat ia l
p ract i ces n ter ta in
wi th
that
alsgl rg
is
furnished
precisely
y
thei r
manipulat ions
of
and
with
"proper"
names.The relat ionships
etween
he di rect ion
of
a walk
(/ e
sens e Ia ntarche)and
,the
meaning of words (_le ens 1
lno1l
situate
twJiort i of uppurent ly
ont rary
movements.
ne ext rovert
to
walk
is
to
go
outside),
he
other
int rovert
(a
mobil i ty
under
the stabi l i ty
of
th e
signi f ier) .
Walking is in fact determined
by semant ic
ropisms;
it
is
at t racted
and
repel led
by
nominat ions
wl tose meaning
is
not
clear,
whereas he ci ty,
for i ts
part ,
is
t ransformed
or
many
people nto a
"desert "
n which the meaningless,
ndeed
he terr i fy ing,
no
longer
akes
the
form
of shadowsbut
becomes,
s in
Genet 's
plays,
an
implacable
l ight
that
produces
his urban
text wi thout
obscuri t ies,
hich
is
created
by a
technocrat ic
power
everywhere
nd
which
puts
the ci ty-dwel ler
under cont rol
(under
the cont rol of
what? No one
knows):
"The
ci ty
WALKING
IN
THE
CITI'
r0 3
r)-r
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r05
04
VVA
.KING
IN
TH
E CITY'
keeps
us
under
its
gaze,
which
one
cannot
bear
without
feel ing
dizzy, "
says
a res ident
f
Rouen. 'o
n
the
spaces
ru ta l l y
i t
by an
a l ien
eason,
proper
namescarve
out
pockets
f h idden
and
fami l i a r
mean ings.
he y
"maGTer ise" ;
in
o iher
words,
hey
are
the impetus
of
movements,
ik e
vocat ions
and
cal ls
hat
turn
or divert
an i t inerary
by
giving
t
a
meaning'
(or
a
di rect ion)
. ren. r)
hat
was
previously
nforeseen.
hese
ames reate
a
nowhere
n
places;
hey change
hem
nto passages.
A f r i end who l i ves n the c i t y of Sdvres r i f t s , when he is in Par i s ,
toward
the rue
des
Saints-Pire. r
nd the
rue
de
S?r 'res, ven
hough
he
s
go ing
o
see
h is
mother
n anotherpar t
o f
town:
hese
ames
r t i cu la te
sentence
hat
h is
s teps
compose
without
h is knowing
i t . Numbered
st ree ts
nd
st ree t
numbers
l l2 th
St . , or
9 rue
Sa in t -Char les)
r ient
he
magnet i c
ie ld
of t ra jec tor ies
ust
as they
can
haunt
dreams.
Another
f r i end
unconsc ious ly
epresses
he
st ree ts h i ch
have
names
nd,by th i s
fact , t ransmit
her -orders
or
ident i t i es
n
the
sameway
as
summonses
and
c lass i f i ca t ion .s ;
he
goes
nstead
long
paths
hat
have
no name
or
s ignature .
But
her wa lk ing
is t hus
st i l l
con t ro l l ed
egat i ve ly
y
proper
names.
What is i t t hen tha t they spe l l ou t? D isposed n conste l l a t ionshat
h ie rarch iz-e
nd semant i ca l l y
rder
the sur face
of the
c i t y , opera t ing
chrono log ica l
a r rangements
nd
h is to r i ca l
us t i f i ca t ions,
hesewords
(Borrdgc. t ,
lotzar i . r ,
Bougaint, i l le.. .
)
slowly lose, ike
worn coins,
he
y3 9
_ery11ygd
n th9m,
but thei r
abi l i ty
to
signi fyout l ives ts
i rst def i -
ni t iorr .
Srr in/ .1 '-
i re: ; ,
Corent in
Cel ton, Recl
Square...
these
ames
make
\
themselves
vai lable
o
the
diverse
meanings
given
hem by
passerr-by:
',
hey
detach
hemselves
rom the
places
hey were
supposed
o definean d
\
i ser t 'e
as
lmag lnary
meet ing-po in t s
n i t i nerar ies h ich ,
as
metaphors ,
i
t hey
determine
or reasons
hat
are
fore ign o
thei r
o r ig in 'a l a lue
br j t
I
rnoy
be
recogniz-ed
r not
by
passers-by.
st range oponymy
that is
detached from actual placesand f l ies high over the ci ty l ike a foggy
geography
of
"mean ings"
he ld in
suspens ion ,
i rec t ing
he
phys ica l
deambulat ions
below: Pla
8/11/2019 Michel de Certeau, The Practice of Everyday Life
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8/11/2019 Michel de Certeau, The Practice of Everyday Life
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l0t t
WALKING
N
THE CITY
seems
hat today
there is rather
a
st rat i f icat ion:stor ies
are becoming
pr i va te
and s ink in to the
sec luded
laces
n ne ighborhoods,ami l i es ,
r
ind iv idua ls ,
wh i le
the rumors propagated
y the med iacover
every th ing
and, gathered
under the f igure
of the Ci ty, the masterwoici
T
an anony-
.
mous
aw, the subst i t u te
or
a l l
p roper
names, hey w ipe
out o r
combat
any
supers t i t i ons
u i l t y
of st i l l
res i s t i ng
he
igure
The
d ispers ion
f s to r ies
o in t s
o the
d ispers ion
f the memorable
s
wel l .
And in fact
memory s
a sor t o f
an t i -museum:t is
not
oca l i zab le .
Fragments
of i t
come out
in
legends.
bjects
nd words ai i i j
f iavehol low
places
n which
a
past
sleeps, s n the everyday cts of
walking,eat ing,
go ing
o bed,
n
which anc ien t
evo lu t ions lumber .A memory
s
on ly
a
Prince
Charming who stays
ust
long
enough
to awaken
he
Sleeping
Bcauties of our wordless
stories.
"_ _t.f-u,
here
used to
be
a bakery."
"That ' . r
where
o ld
lady Dupu is used
o
l i ve . "
t i s s t r ik ing
here
hat the
p laces
eop le
ive
n are
ike the
presences
f
d iverse bsences.
ha t
can
be
seendesignates
what is
no longer here:
you
see,here hereused o
be .
.
.
,"
but i t can
no
longer
be seen. Demonstrat ives
ndicate he
in -
v i s ib le
dent i t ies
f
the visible:
t i s
he very
def in i t i on
f a
p lace,
n
fac t ,
that i t is composedby theseseries f displacements nd ef fects mong
the
f ragmented st rata
that
form i t
and that
it
p lays
on these
moving
Iaye s.
"Memor ies
t ie us
to that
p lace .
. .
I t ' s
persona l ,
o t
in te rest ingo
anyone else,
but after
al l
that 's
what
gives
a neighborhood
ts
char-
acter. "48 here
is no
place
hat is not haunted
by many di f ferentspi r i ts
h idden
here
n
s i lence,
p i r i t sone
can
" invoke"
or no t .
Haunted
p laces
are the only ones
people can
l ive in-and this
nverts he schema
f the
Panopt i< 'on. ut l ike he
goth ic
scu lp tures
f
k ingsand
queens
hat
once
adorned Notre-Dame
and have been bur ied
for
two centur ies
n the
basement
of
^ building
in the rue de
la
Chauss6e-d'Ant in,a '
hese
"spi r i ts, " hemselves roken into piecesn l ike manner,do not speakan y
more than
they
. ree. his
is
a sort of
knowledge
hat remains
i lent .Only
hints
of
what is known but unrevealed
re
passed
n
'Just
between
ou
a n d
me. "
Places re
f ragmentary
and inward-turning
histor ies,
asts hat others
ur i
n"t u l lowed to read.
accumulated
imes
hat
can be unfolded
but l ike
stor ies
held
in
reserve,
emaining
n
an
enigmat ic
tate,
symbol izat ions
encysted n the
pain
or
pleasure
of
the
body.
' : l
feel
good
hi ie" ' ro
th e
wel l -being
under-expressedn
the
language
t appears
n
l ike a f leet ing
gl immer
s
a
spat ia l
rac t i ce .
I+'ALKING
N
THE
CITI'
Chi ldhood
and
metaphors
f
places
Metaphor
ons is t s
n
g iv ing
he
h ing
a
nanre
hat
be longs
o
someth ing
e lse .
I :
Ar istot le.
poer i cs
1457b
Tlgg:gggbl_.
tS tha which can be drearnedabout a place. In this
place
hat
is
a
pal impsest ,
ubject iv i ty
s
al ready
inked
to
the
absence
that
s t ruc tures
t
u t - . * i r i . nce
and
makes
t
"be
there , "
L)ase i r t . u t
as we
have
seen,
h is
be ing- t 9 re
cts
on ly
n
spat ia lp ract i ces.
ha t i s ,
n x,a. l , . t
of nroving
nro
tornrt ' i i i r ig 'df f i rent
(ntanibres
le
passet .
l 'aule).
It
mt i i t -u i t imately
be
seen
as the
repet i t i on ,
n
d iverse
netaphors .
f
a
dec is i ve
nd
or ig inary
xper ience,
hat
of the
ch i ld 's
i f f e ren t ia t ion
rom
the
mothA 'S -bbd i r .
t i s t h rough
hat
exper ience
hat
the
poss ib i l i t y
f
space-A ;a-o f
loca l i za t ion
a
"not
every th ing" )
of the sub ject
s in -
augurated.
We
need
not
return
to the
fanrous
analysis
F19ud
nrade
of
this
matr ix-experience
y fol lowing
the
game
played
by
his
eighteen-
month-old randson, ho threwa reel way ronrhimsel f , ry ingoh-oh-
oh in
p leasure ,
. fort l .
i .e. ,
over
there . "
gone, "
or
"no
nrore" )
and then
pul led
it
back
wi th
the
piece
of
st r ing
at tached o
it
rvi th
a
del ighred
dat
( i .e. ,
"here, " "back
again");51
t
suf f ices
here
to remember
t l i is
(per i lous
and
sat isf ied)
rocess
f detachment
rorn
indi f ferenr iar ion
n
the
mother 's
ody, whose
subst i t u te
s
the
spoo l :
h i s depar tu re
f t he
mother
sometimes
he
disappears
y
hersel f ,
omet imeshe
chi ld
nrakes
her
d isappear )
onst i t u tes
oca l i za t ion
nd
exter io r i t y
ga ins t he
back-
ground
of
an
absence.
here
s
a
oyfu l
man ipu la t ion
hat can
make
he
rnaternal
bject
go
away"
and
make
onesel f '
isappear
insofar
as one
cons iders
f iese l f
dent i ca l
w i th
tha t
ob jec t ) .
mak ing
t
poss ib le
o
be
there because) ' i thout he other but in a necessaryelat ion o wliat ha s
d isappeared;
h is
manipu la t ion
s
an
"or ig ina l
spat ia l
t ruc ture . "
No
doubt
one
could
t race
his
di f ferent iat ion
urther
back.
as f -aras
the
naming
that
separates
he foetus
dentif ied
as
mascul ine
rom his
mother-but
how about he
emale
oetus.
who
is f rom
this very
moment
int roduced
nto
another
relat ionship
o
space' l n
the in i t iatory
game,
just
as n
the
"joyful
act iv i ty"
of the
chi ld
who,
standing
before
a mirror,
sees
tsel f
as
one
(it
is
sl re
or
he, seen
as
a
whole)
but onorher
rhat,-An
image
wi th
wh ich
he
ch i ld
dent i f i es
tsel f ; .s2
hat
counts s he
process
of
th i s spat ia l
ap ta t ion"
hat
nscr ibes
he
passage
oward he
other
as
r0 9
I
I t
, l
, l
l
I
I
;\
,rr\
8/11/2019 Michel de Certeau, The Practice of Everyday Life
12/12
il 0
the aw
of
be ing
and the
aw
of
.y
the
oyful
and
si lent
experience
ond to
move toward
the
other.
IYALKING
N THE
CITY
place.
o
practice
pace
s hus
o
repeat
of
chi ldhooO;
t is,
n a
place;o
6e other
i
- -
l
. '
. r
T \
' 1
L T
' - '
, '
Kailway
l\avlgauon
hus
begins he
walk
that
Freud
compares
o the
trampling
underfoot
of the
mother- land.53
his
relat ionship
f
onesel f o
onesel f
overns
he
internal
al terat ions
of the
place the
relat ions
among
i ts st rata)
or the
pedest r ian
nfolding
of the stor ies
ccumulated
n a
place moving
about
t6e ci ty nd t ravel l ing).The chi ldhoodexperiencehat determinespatial
pract ices
ater
develops ts ef fects, rol i ferates,
loods
private
and
public
spaces,
ndoes
thei r readable
surfaces,
nd creates
wi thin
the
planned
ci ty
a
"metaphorical"
or
mobi le ci ty,
ike the
one Kandinsky
dreamed f :
"a
great
ci ty
built
according
to
al l
the
rules
of archi tecture
nd then
suddenly
shaken
by a force
hat
def ies
l l calculat ion."5a
Chapter
VIII
and
ncarceration
TRAVELLINGNCARCERATIon-.
mnrob i le
ns ide
l ie
t ra in . see ing
immobi le h ings l i p
by.
What s happer r ing?
oth ing
s nrov ing
ins ide
r ou ts ide he ra in .
The unchang ingrave l le r
s
p igeonho led . umbered.
nd regu la ted
n
the
gr id
of
the
a i lway
ar,
wh ich s a
per fec t
c tua l i za t io r r
l ' t he
at iona l
utopia.
Control
and food move
rom
pigeonhole o
pigeorrhole:
Tickets,
please
.
.
"
"sandwiches?
eer '? of fee'?
. .
"'
Only
the
rest rooms
of'fer
an escape
rom
the closedsystem.
They
are
a
lovers'
phantarsm.
wl ly
out for the l l , an escapadeor ch i ld ren "Wee-wee " ) -a l i t t l e space f
i r rat ional i ty, ike love
af fai rsand sewers
rr
the
Ll tctpias
f
ear l ier
inres.
Except
or
th i s apse
iven
over
o
excesses.very th ing
as
ts
p lace n a
i
g r idwork .
On ly
a ra t iona l i zed
e l l t rave ls .A
bubb le
of
panopt i cand
r
classi fying
ower,
a module
of
inrpr isonnrent
hat
makes
possible
he
'
p roduct ion
of an
order ,
a c losed
and
autononrous
nsu lar i t y - tha t
i s
i
what
can raverse pace
nd
make
tse l f
ndependent
f
l oca l
oo ts .
Ins ide ,
here s he
mmobi l i tyo f
an order .
Here
estand
dreanrs
e ign
supreme.
here
s
not f i lng
o do,
one
s
n the
stote
of reason.Everythi rrg
is
in i ts
place,
as
in Hegel 'sPhi losoph. t 'ct . l '
ight.
Every being
s
placed
there ike a
piece
of
pr inter 's
ype
on a
page
arranged
n
mi l i tary
order.
This order,an organizat ional ystem, he quietudeof a certat ineason, s
the
condi t ion of both
a rai lway
car 's and
a text 's
movement
rom
on e
place
o another.
Outs ide ,
here
s another
mmobi l i ty,
ha t o f
th ings.
ower ing
moun-
ta ins ,
t re t ches
f
green
ie ldand forest .
r res ted
i l l ages,
o lonnades
f
bui ld ings, black urban si lhouet tes
gainst
he
pink evening sky.
th e
twinkl ing
of nocturnal
ights on
a sea
that
precedes r succeeds
ur
histor ies. he t rain
general izes
i . i rer 'sMelanchol ia,
a
speculat ive
x-
per ience
of
the world:
being
outside
of these
hings
that stay there,
detached nd absolute,
hat
leave
us wi thout
having
anything
o do
rvi th