Credit

Abstract

Credit corresponds to epi- in the sense of authority. The credit given to the authority of literature and art constitutes an attempt to counterbalance the discredit of fossilised institutions, vain discourses and unequal economies; it aims to expose the overall debt contracted by political, economic and social organisations to the citizens of the world; and it “makes [us] believe” in the possibility that a viable future may yet emerge out of the debt-inheritance and re-enactments of the past. Understood in these terms, credit represents the self-authorisation and credibility of narrative and artistic representation, as in the work of Elfriede Jelinek, Walter Siti, Adam Thirlwell, Péter Esterházy and Florence Aubenas.