Abstract
Literary Immanence
This essay considers the problem of materialism in literature from
the perspective of linguistic empiricism. It takes as a its point of departure
Paul de Man's treatment of linguistic materiality to argue that a specifically
literary description of agency ought to take into account the event of literature
as such. It then turns to Gilles Deleuze's formulation of immanence to offer a
reading of a key scene in Dicken's Our Mutual Friend that
illustrates how literature stages its coming-alive.