Even Silence Speaks

As a class we were instructed to read Pierre Macherey's A Theory of Literary Production before our next meeting. Something interesting that I found after doing a little background check on this Macherey character was that this piece was his first and most famous work. One key idea or question that looms over A Theory of Literary Production's entirety is the notion of who is more important - the reader or the writer? Macherey focuses just as much on the reader as he does the writer, claiming that even the very act of reading is a form of production by itself that normally formulates interpretation and various conclusions that are beyond the control of the author once his/her work goes to print. I liked that idea a lot because frankly it's true, Baudelaire can't sit behind me while I read The Painter of Modern Life and tell me what he meant in each paragraph, if he could that'd be great and I would've been a star on Tuesday but the fact is that everyone takes in new information differently. A Theory of Literary Production was certainly new information when it was released in 1966, and although it challenged previous wisdom it made Macherey a crucial figure in Literary Theory.

Macherey claims that the important pieces in any literary work are whats left out and not included in the actual text - I've never heard that before but i'd say it's true because the underlying meaning (not specific passages and quotes) is often what the reader takes to heart anyway...and even then different people can take different things for the same reading. Because everyone else talked about his notion of 'silence' I figured I would too. As we have learned, silence isn't always awkward or bad. Silence that occurs as a result of taking in new information can be used for judgemental and interpretive purposes so that whatever the subject is can be further understood. Silence can follow after questions, arguments, conversations, awkward moments, etc. however for the most part it's constructively used for comprehension. There are times even when silence can have a louder voice than spoken words...sometimes silence can even be used as a source of strength and responsibility. Silence can be polite, rude, or mutual however its necessary for understanding topics, questions, themes, writings, and information because if you cant understand silence you cant understand words.


I like how Katy spotlighted Macherey's concept of the 'gap' which serves as the space left for analysis between the author and the critic. Because text is subject to multiple interpretations, more often that not the reader can be confused as to certain topics or claims that an author makes which (especially if they happen to be critics) can result in a negative attitude/opinion towards that particular work. Unfortunately, in the world of critics there are too many variables for every critique to be taken seriously...the critic could've not had his coffee that morning, or broke up with his girlfriend or gotten in a car accident etc. which can (and is) reflected in each critic or individual's stance on any give number of works. In the end, although i'm not a pro when dealing with Literary Theory, Macherey certainly helped me feel informed and helped clear up a rather hard read.

"On my honor I have not given, nor received, nor witnessed any unauthorized assistance on this work"