Access
Publication Rights
Reproduction Restriction
Preferred Citation
Acquisition Information
Processing History
Processing Note
Historical Background
Biographical/Historical note
Collection Scope and Content Summary
Collection Arrangement
Separation Note
Bibliography
Contributing Institution:
Special Collections and Archives, University of California, Irvine Libraries
Title: Paul de Man papers
Creator:
De Man, Paul
Identifier/Call Number: MS.C.004
Physical Description:
11.8 Linear Feet
(25 boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1948-1999
Abstract: This collection contains the personal and professional papers of Paul de Man documenting his career as a scholar and literary
theorist in the field of comparative literature, and as an academic in the United States. Files primarily contain his manuscripts
and typescripts related to literary criticism, rhetoric, and critical theory, and reflect his general interests in Romanticism.
In particular, materials document his approach to literary texts that became known as deconstruction. His works focus on writers
and philosophers such as Hegel, Hölderlin, Mallarmé, Nietzsche, Rousseau, Wordsworth, and Yeats. The collection also contains
published and unpublished writings, student papers, notes, teaching notebooks, and related materials.
Language of Material:
English
.
Access
The collection is open for research. Access to student record material is restricted for 75 years from the latest date of
the materials in those files. Restrictions are noted at the file level.
Publication Rights
Property rights reside with the University of California. Literary rights are retained by the creators of the records and
their heirs. For permissions to reproduce or to publish, please contact the Head of Special Collections and Archives.
Reproduction Restriction
All reproduction of materials written by Jacques Derrida must be authorized by designates of his heirs. Contact Special Collections
and Archives for more information.
Preferred Citation
Paul de Man papers. MS-C004. Special Collections and Archives, The UC Irvine Libraries, Irvine, California. Date accessed.
For the benefit of current and future researchers, please cite any additional information about sources consulted in this
collection, including permanent URLs, item or folder descriptions, and box/folder locations.
Acquisition Information
Gift of Patricia de Man in 1993 and 1997 via Andrzej Warminski.
Processing History
Processed by Jeffrey Atteberry in 1997 and Kurt Ozment in 2001. Preliminary processing by Eddie Yeghiayan, Andrzej Warminski,
and Laura Clark Brown in 1993 and 1997. Guide compiled by Jeffrey Atteberry and edited by Laura Clark Brown. Additional processing
completed by Alexandra M. Bisio in 2015.
Processing Note
The organization of the collection begins with the material that reflects de Man's own career as a scholar and a teacher and
ends with the items that pertain more to his personal life. The first three series reflect general phases of de Man's scholarly
career: student papers, early critical works, and later theoretical work; these series are arranged chronologically. The next
two series represent other aspects of de Man's career, including his work as an editor and a teacher. The remainder of the
collection consists of correspondence and miscellaneous notes and items.
When relevant, the series are subdivided according to the publishing history of de Man's major volumes, and the order of individual
works within the subseries has been determined according to the date of initial publication of each item. The sequence of
publication for individual items has been deduced from Tom Keenan's "Bibliography of Texts by Paul de Man," in
Blindness and Insight (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, 1986). Furthermore, in cases where there are numerous drafts or versions of the same
work, individual items are arranged chronologically according to the sequence of composition. Items which cannot be placed
definitively within such a chronology appear at the end of the sequence.
De Man's draft manuscripts frequently had variant titles distinct from the published title. Titles of publications are represented
in italics. Dates of individual items are included whenever possible.
Historical Background
Paul de Man was a prominent and influential literary critic, scholar, and teacher best known as one of the principle theorists
behind an approach to literary texts that became known as deconstruction. This approach to literary texts, which had a profound
effect upon the field of literary studies, was developed throughout his career in the numerous essays that appear in the collection.
A biographical overview of de Man is provided, followed by a more detailed chronology of significant events and periods in
de Man's career.
Paul Adolph Michel de Man was born in Antwerp, Belgium, on December 6, 1919. He matriculated in the Free University of Brussels
in 1939 as a student of chemistry. While a student, he began a career in journalism by joining the editorial board of
Cahiers du Libre Examen, a student publication that addressed social and political issues from a liberal and democratic position. When the German
army invaded Belgium in May 1940, he fled to southern France, where his exodus was brought to a sudden halt when he was prevented
from entering Spain.
De Man returned to Brussels in August and found employment writing a cultural column for
Le Soir; between December 1940 and December 1942, he wrote a total of 170 literary and cultural articles for this collaborationist
newspaper. After ceasing his column for
Le Soir, de Man went to work for the publisher Agence Dechenne. He was fired in 1943 for aiding in the publication of
Exercice du silence, an issue of the journal
Messages that published the work of various writers associated with the French resistance. De Man spent the rest of World War II in
Antwerp, translating
Moby Dick into Flemish.
At the end of the war, de Man and three partners began a publishing house, Editions Hermès, dedicated to the production of
fine press books about art. Immediately following the war, de Man was called before the Auditeur Général and questioned about
his activities during the occupation; no charges were ever filed against him. By 1948, the publishing house was experiencing
financial difficulties, and de Man went to New York City with the intention of establishing business contacts. He took a job
at the Doubleday bookstore. Hermès collapsed in 1949, and de Man remained in the United States for the rest of his life.
De Man began his career as an academic in 1949, teaching French at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. He entered
the graduate program at Harvard University in 1952 and received his doctoral degree in Comparative Literature in 1960 with
a dissertation entitled "Mallarmé, Yeats, and the Post-Romantic Predicament." While enrolled at Harvard, de Man held a position
as a lecturer and was a member of the Harvard Society of Fellows.
After receiving his degree, de Man accepted a position at Cornell University. The beginning of this period constitutes what
may be considered de Man's critical phase, represented by essays such as "Mme de Staël et J.J. Rouseau." During the later
years at Cornell, de Man's concerns shifted to more theoretical issues and resulted in the first edition of
Blindness and Insight.
In 1968, de Man became a professor of Humanities at John Hopkins University. In 1970, he left Hopkins and joined the faculty
at Yale University, where he spent the rest of his career. While at Yale, alongside Geoffrey Hartman, J. Hillis Miller, and
Jacques Derrida, de Man articulated an approach to linguistic texts that came to be known as deconstruction. Focusing primarily
on works by Nietzsche and Rousseau, de Man developed in
Allegories of Reading a practice of rhetorical reading that provided the methodological framework for all his subsequent work.
De Man spent the rest of his career simultaneously pursuing two different paths. First, he undertook an evaluation of the
contemporary theoretical environment and explored why the practice of rhetorical reading was resisted so strongly. At the
same time, he addressed the nineteenth-century German philosophical tradition and examined the irreducible role of linguistic
materiality in the disruption of aesthetic ideologies. Neither of these projects was completed, but both were reconstructed
and published posthumously as
The Resistance to Theory and Aesthetic Ideology.
Paul de Man died of cancer on December 21, 1983.
Biographical/Historical note
Chronology
1919 |
Paul Adolph Michel de Man born in Antwerp on December 6th. |
1937 |
Enters L'Ecole Polytechnique at the University of Brussels to study engineering. |
1938 |
Transfers to the Faculty of Sciences at the Free University to study chemistry. |
1939 |
Cahiers du Libre Examen |
1940 |
Blitzkrieg invasion of Belgium. Paul de Man flees to Southern France. |
1940 |
Cahiers du Libre Examen |
1940 |
Returns to Brussels after being refused entry into Spain. |
1940 |
Le Soir |
1942 |
Le Soir |
1943 |
Exercice du silence |
1943 |
Moby Dick |
1945 |
Starts a publishing house called Editions Hermès, which specialized in fine press editions of art books. |
1945 |
Called before the tribunal established to investigate wrongdoing during the war. No charges filed against de Man. |
1948 |
Arrives in New York City and takes job at Doubleday Bookstore in Grand Central Station. |
1949 |
Begins teaching French at Bard College, where he remained until 1951. |
1951 |
Teaches French at Berlitz School in Boston. |
1952 |
Enters Harvard Graduate School. |
1954 |
Receives M.A. from Harvard. |
1954 |
Becomes Junior Fellow in Harvard's Society of Fellows. |
1954 |
Teaches courses as a lecturer. |
1960 |
Receives Ph. D. from Harvard with a dissertation entitled "Mallarmé, Yeats, and the Post-Romantic Predicament." |
1960 |
Moves to Cornell to accept a faculty position. Remains associated with Cornell until 1969. |
1963 |
Becomes Ordinarius for Comparative Literature at the University of Zurich and works with Emil Staiger and Georges Poulet.
Holds this position until 1970.
|
1965 |
Delivers "Heaven and Earth in Wordsworth and Holderlin" at Modern Language Association panel, entitled "Romanticism and Religion,"
chaired by Geoffrey Hartman.
|
1967 |
Delivers "The Gauss Seminar" at Princeton University: |
1967 April 6 |
"Romanticism and Demystification" |
1967 April 13 |
"Rousseau and the Transcendence of Self" |
1967 April 20 |
"The Problem of Aesthetic Totality in Holderlin" |
1967 April 27 |
"Nature and History in Wordsworth" |
1967 May 4 |
"Natural Imagery and Figural Diction" |
1967 May 11 |
"The Romantic Heritage: Allegory and Irony in Baudelaire" |
1968 |
Becomes Professor of Humanities at Johns Hopkins University. |
1970 |
Leaves Hopkins and joins faculty at Yale University in the Department of French. |
1971 |
Blindness and Insight: Essays in the Rhetoric of Contemporary Criticism |
1973 |
On leave in Zurich for the academic year on Senior Faculty Fellowship. |
1974 |
Begins a three-year appointment as Chairman of Yale's Department of French. |
1975 |
Jacques Derrida joins the faculty at Yale. |
1977 |
Delivers "The Concept of Irony" at Ohio State University on April 4. |
1978 |
Delivers "Shelly Disfigured" in Geneva. |
1979 |
Allegories of Reading: Figural Language in Rousseau, Nietzsche, Rilke, and Proust |
1979 |
Teaches a course at University of Chicago during the spring semester. |
1979 |
Appointed Sterling Professor of Comparative Literature and French at Yale. |
1980 |
Aesthetics |
1981 |
Trilling Seminar at Columbia University. Frank Kermode delivered "To Keep the Road Open," followed by responses by M.H.
Abrams and Paul de Man, "Blocking the Road: A Response to Frank Kermode."
|
1981 |
Delivers "Murray Krieger: A Commentary" at Northwestern University. |
1981 |
Delivers "Kant and the Problem of the Aesthetic" at the Modern Language Association convention in New York City. |
1982 |
Aesthetics |
1983 |
über das Marionettentheater |
1983 |
Blindness and Insight: Essays in the Rhetoric of Contemporary Criticism |
1983 |
Dies of cancer on December 21st. |
1984 |
The Rhetoric of Romanticism |
1986 |
The Resistance to Theory is published in series
Theory and History of Literature
|
1989 |
Critical Writings 1953-1978. Edited by Lindsay Waters.
Theory and History of Literature
|
1993 |
Romanticism and Contemporary Criticism: The Gauss Seminars and Other Papers |
1996 |
Aesthetic Ideology. Edited by Andrzej Warminski.
Theory and History of Literature
|
Collection Scope and Content Summary
This collection contains the personal and professional papers of Paul de Man documenting his career as a scholar and literary
theorist in the field of comparative literature, and as an academic in the United States. Files primarily contain his manuscripts
and typescripts related to literary criticism, rhetoric, and critical theory, and reflect his general interests in Romanticism.
In particular, materials document his approach to literary texts that became known as deconstruction. His works focus on writers
and philosophers such as Hegel, Hölderlin, Mallarmé, Nietzsche, Rousseau, Wordsworth, and Yeats. The collection also contains
published and unpublished writings, student papers, notes, teaching notebooks, books by fellow authors inscribed to de Man,
and other related materials. The bulk of the materials are in English and some are in French and German.
Original manuscripts of de Man's numerous published essays constitute the vast majority of the collection, but a substantial
amount of teaching material is also present. In general, his writings address the various critical and theoretical issues
pertinent to literary study. Two book-length unpublished manuscripts,
Textual Allegories and
The Portable Rousseau, can be accessed through
Calisphere .
Although the collections presents a nearly comprehensive view of de Man's most important work as a literary theorist, a few
periods of his career are either sparsely represented or altogether absent. In particular, no material from the wartime writings
in
Le Soir appear in the collection. The earliest item in the collection, an essay entitled "The Drawings of Paul Valéry," is the only
piece of writing from the period between the war and his entry into Harvard University. Furthermore, apart from the dissertation,
his days as a graduate student at Harvard are represented by only a few items, and the collection contains a relatively small
portion of the published material that corresponds to the earliest phase of his career as a literary critic.
This collection also contains posthumously received correspondence.
Collection Arrangement
This collection is arranged in seven series.
- Series 1. Student work, circa 1952-circa 1960. 1.2 linear feet
- Series 2. Early writings, 1948-1982. 1.0 linear feet
- Series 3. Later writings, circa 1972-1983. 1.2 linear feet
- Series 4. Editorial work, 1965-1983. 0.4 linear feet
- Series 5. Teaching files, 1957-1983. 3.4 linear feet
- Series 6. Correspondence, 1955-1984. 1.2 linear feet
- Series 7. Topical files, circa 1950-1983. 0.6 linear feet
Separation Note
The following publications were removed from this collection and cataloged separately in Special Collections and Archives:
- Some offprints and monographs by other authors were removed to the Critical Theory Offprint Collection (MS-C07) or have been
cataloged separately in Special Collections and Archives.
Much of the biographical information used in the chronology was taken from "Paul de Man: A Chronology, 1919-1949," in
Responses On Paul de Man's Wartime Journalism, Werner Hamacher, Neil Hertz, and Thomas Keenan, eds. (Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press, 1989).
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Critical theory -- Archives.
Deconstruction
Literature -- History and criticism
Criticism -- History -- Sources
German literature -- History and criticism
French literature -- History and criticism
Romanticism
Theorists.
Literary critics.
Teaching notebooks.
Photographic prints
De Man, Paul -- Archives