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PARTISAN REVIEW
To see the historical modifications which have taken place, it would not seem
indispensible for the authorship to remain constant in form or complexity .
One can well imagine a culture where discourse can exist without authorship.
One would no longer entertain the questions which have been rehashed for so
long: Who is really speaking? Is it really he and not someone else? With what
authenticity, or with what originality? And what has he expressed? But, other
questions like these would arise: What are the modes of existence of this
discourse? Where did it come from? How does it circulate? Who can appro–
priate it? What sites are prepared for possible future subjects? Who can take
over the diverse functions of agency? And behind all these questions one
would hardly notice the stirring of an indifference: "What difference does it
make who is speaking? "
(Translatedfrom the French byJames Venit)
