“Ce qui m’intéresse c’est ce qui fait l’œuvre“

Paul Valéry and Literary Interpretation between Form and Diachrony

Abstract

Paul Valéry and literary interpretation: form, history, diacrony. The paper aims to address the dialectic between morphology and diacrony canon based on the theoretical reflections of Paul Valéry. The paper will start by observing his project of generalized morphology – the premises of which recall the Goethian studies – which remained incomplete but carried forward in different works and forms through all his intellectual work and his reflections. Starting with a few examples, the paper will measure how the analysis of form, understood as Bildung, runs through all of Valéry's intellectual work from the Cahiers to his public speeches. Valéry’s reflections still offer interesting insights and open up to reflection on very lively issues in the current debate around literature.