Les noms secrets

In modem times where neither an « I » nor a «we» are any longer able to refer to the unity of an experience and where the language seems to be like dead and petrified in front of the impacts and pushes of events, we have to know how the unity of an event (an individual life, an historical event, a place or a date) can yet be named and transmitted. The present contribution tries to show, with W. Benjamin's help, that the singularity is neither in the « who » nor in the « what », but in the proper name of a thing. The proper name is obviously not the usual name but it is secret and unknown of its bearer and is disclosed to her or him by the other (man or thing). When this one pronounces or acts, another time, this name, he or she makes the secret demons and angels of the bearer raise up, he or she discloses him or her, his or her real name in an image which is glaring far away in fire characters and, now consumed, is unforgettable for ever.Proust Françoise. Les noms secrets. In: Les Cahiers du GRIF, n°46, 1992. Provenances de la pensée femmes/philosophie. pp. 143-157