Iconicité, discontinuité et digression

Abstract

Does the rupture of the discursive linearity generated by the iconic elements of a text constitute a digressive phenomenon? Taking into account that the defining feature of writing, as plot marked by ruptures, fragmentations and varied semiotic interactions, is its discontinuous aspect, consideration should be given to the processes whereby a new coherence could be generated from discontinuity. The fluctuation between the iconic and the discursive observed in non-linear writings of modernity could be a symptom of subjective instability. This leads us to explore certain forms of inscription of the subject, or traits that may reveal an impossible inscription thereof. We commence from texts that manifest different types of iconic- -textual processes and substantiate our observations and arguments on approaches related to Lacanian theory and to Peirces Theory of Signs. Initially examined from a historical or general perspective in relation to prose, the complex nature of the digression to which the iconic gives rise required us to pay particular attention to poetry. Hence, precedence was given to two examples: St phane Mallarms Coup de dós and the poem Tour Eijjel by Vicente Huidobro, which we compare to the Cubist experience in painting through an analysis of the canvas Vue sur la baie by Juan Gris. The tension between the discursive and the iconic, correlative to the articulation of the analytical and synthetic devices of Cubism and to the function itself of the metaphor, allows us to focus our hypotheses and contributes to addressing the problem of digression. This approach, which implies a primacy of the signifier and involves a problemisation of the immanent notion of sense, would be a means by which to underscore the contingent nature of the digression concept.