"Circus": An Exercise in Semiotics

Abstract

In the opening pages of La dissemination Derrida notices that: la forme du livre est d6sormais soumise ' une turbulence g6nerale.1 This remark is most fitting for Circus by Maurice Roche.2 At first glance, Circus might appear to be a display of various types of writing (alphabetical, ideographic, and scientific) or perhaps a collection of concrete poems.3 A closer look, however, reveals that the book is an impressive juxtaposition, mixing, and meshing of various types of signs. It is possible to recognize both dead and spoken languages in their original script-Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Aztec glyphs, Egyptian hieroglyphs; artificial languages in their appropriate representation-road signs, chemical formulas, mathematical and physical symbols and formulae, short hand, proof reading symbols, labels of products, extracts of pieces of music, symbols of the Michelin guide, signs of the Zodiac. In addition Circus is a typographical festival featuring various kinds of printing such as italics; bold face, large, small and capital letters, horizontal, vertical, and side-ways writing; parentheses; underlining; passages put in brackets, braces, and boxes; arrows; oscillograms; etc. As in a circus where one can observe an heterogenous spectacle composed of wild animals and their tamers, tightrope walkers, horse-back riders, trapeze artists, and clowns; all appearing successively on stage with fast tempo, and exhibiting stunt, virtuosity, and prowess; Circus offers a succession of pages which contain various linguistic juxtapositions and various types of typographical and spatial organization. The whole book is a continuous display of such virtuosity; but is it a semiotic Babel? Is it just tricks and gimmicks? Is it just an entertaining linguistic and typographical exhibition? A closer interrogation of the turbulence inflicted within this book will answer these questions.