Quitte ou double? Robbe-Grillet et le mythe de l'identité

A reading of Alain Robbe-Grillet’s text brings up to date the force of a demystifying writing, i.e., which empties the representative content. Under the influence of cinema, a new literary practice emerges, which claims the cutting as a narrative resource of its own in the context of a new novel which challenges self-perception; the ultimate montage defines thus the whole gaming space. If the author is dead, so is autobiography. The writer – the scripter – experiences a modern novelistic form in sharp contrast with linear, traditional narratives. Not only has the self ceased to invent itself, but gets emblematically destroyed in the figure of the shattered mirror. The wandering ghost – that of the double, of the one and the multiple – leads to the textual analysis of an identity which the myth assures.Une lecture du texte d’Alain Robbe-Grillet met à jour la force d’une écriture qui démystifie c’est-à-dire qui évacue le contenu représentatif. Sur le mode cinématographique, s’élabore une pratique littéraire qui fait sienne la coupure comme ressort narratif et pour laquelle, dans le cadre d’un nouveau roman qui problématise la perception de soi, le montage définit tout l’espace du jeu; si l’auteur est mort, l’autobiographie aussi. L’écrivain – le scripteur – expérimente une forme romanesque dont la modernité tranche avec la linéarité du récit traditionnel; non seulement le moi ne s’y invente pas, mais il s’y ruine de manière emblématique sous la figure du miroir brisé. La traversée du fantasme, celui du double c’est-à-dire de l’un et du multiple, conduit à l’analyse textuelle d’une identité dont le mythe se porte garant

Albert Camus et Prométhée

The myth of Prometheus talks about rebellion as a beginning. The Titan who stood up to Zeus and stole fire in order to bring it to men became a model of humanity, a figure of a saving rebelliousness and a symbol of hope in human race. It is the story of a gesture in the very middle of wilderness where the hero is tied to a rock from which he is supposed to be untied. Albert Camus’s Prometheus belongs to a laicized story of creation. “What is an artist?” asks the writer, who universalizes a Greek and Oriental myth; the modeling, the titanic mark of the creature, challenges our understanding of reality through art.Le mythe de Prométhée dit la rébellion comme commencement. Le Titan qui tint tête à Zeus et prit le feu pour le donner aux hommes est devenu modèle humain, figure d’un heureux esprit de révolte et symbole d’une foi en l’espèce humaine. C’est l’histoire d’un geste au beau milieu du désert où le héros est lié à un rocher pour être délié. Avec Albert Camus, Prométhée entre dans une histoire laïcisée de la création. “Qu’est-ce qu’un artiste ?” est la question de l’écrivain qui universalise un mythe grec et oriental ; le façonnage, empreinte titanesque de la créature, vaut comme un défi lancé au réel par l’art

Double or Quits? Robbe-Grillet and the Myth of Identity

A reading of Alain Robbe-Grillet’s text brings up to date the force of a demystifying writing, i.e., which empties the representative content. Under the influence of cinema, a new literary practice emerges, which claims the cutting as a narrative resource of its own in the context of a new novel which challenges self-perception; the ultimate montage defines thus the whole gaming space. If the author is dead, so is autobiography. The writer – the scripter – experiences a modern novelistic form in sharp contrast with linear, traditional narratives. Not only has the self ceased to invent itself, but gets emblematically destroyed in the figure of the shattered mirror. The wandering ghost – that of the double, of the one and the multiple – leads to the textual analysis of an identity which the myth assures

High-resolution seismic imaging in deep sea from a joint deep-towed/OBH reflection experiment : application to a Mass Transport Complex offshore Nigeria

International audienceWe assess the feasibility of high-resolution seismic depth imaging in deep water based on a new geophysical approach involving the joint use of a deep-towed seismic device (SYSIF) and ocean bottom hydrophones (OBHs). Source signature measurement enables signature deconvolution to be used to improve the vertical resolution and signal-to-noise ratio. The source signature was also used to precisely determine direct traveltimes that were inverted to relocate source and receiver positions. The very high accuracy of the positioning that was obtained enabled depth imaging and a stack of the OBH data to be performed. The determination of the P-wave velocity distribution was realized by the adaptation of an iterative focusing approach to the specific acquisition geometry. This innovative experiment combined with advanced processing succeeded in reaching lateral and vertical resolution (2.5 and 1 m) in accordance with the objectives of imaging fine scale structures and correlation with in situ measurements. To illustrate the technological and processing advances of the approach, we present a first application performed during the ERIG3D cruise offshore Nigeria with the seismic data acquired over NG1, a buried Mass Transport Complex (MTC) interpreted as a debris flow by conventional data. Evidence for a slide nature of a part of the MTC was provided by the high resolution of the OBH depth images. Rigid behaviour may be inferred from movement of coherent material inside the MTC and thrust structures at the base of the MTC. Furthermore, a silt layer that was disrupted during emplacement but has maintained its stratigraphic position supports a short transport distance

Antiprion drugs 6-aminophenanthridine and guanabenz reduce PABPN1 toxicity and aggregation in oculopharyngeal muscular dystrophy

Oculopharyngeal muscular dystrophy (OPMD) is an adult-onset syndrome characterized by progressive degeneration of specific muscles. OPMD is caused by extension of a polyalanine tract in poly(A) binding protein nuclear 1 (PABPN1). Insoluble nuclear inclusions form in diseased muscles. We have generated a Drosophila model of OPMD that recapitulates the features of the disorder. Here, we show that the antiprion drugs 6-aminophenanthridine (6AP) and guanabenz acetate (GA), which prevent formation of amyloid fibers by prion proteins in cell models, alleviate OPMD phenotypes in Drosophila, including muscle degeneration and nuclear inclusion formation. The large ribosomal RNA and its activity in protein folding were recently identified as a specific cellular target of 6AP and GA. We show that deletions of the ribosomal DNA locus reduce OPMD phenotypes and act synergistically with sub-effective doses of 6AP. In a complementary approach, we demonstrate that ribosomal RNA accelerates in vitro fibril formation of PABPN1 N-terminal domain. These results reveal the conserved role of ribosomal RNA in different protein aggregation disorders and identify 6AP and GA as general anti-aggregation molecules

Assessing BRCA1 activity in DNA damage repair using human induced pluripotent stem cells as an approach to assist classification of BRCA1 variants of uncertain significance.

Funder: King’s College LondonFunder: The European Union Scholarship ProgrammeFunder: National Institute for Health Research (NIHR)Establishing a universally applicable protocol to assess the impact of BRCA1 variants of uncertain significance (VUS) expression is a problem which has yet to be resolved despite major progresses have been made. The numerous difficulties which must be overcome include the choices of cellular models and functional assays. We hypothesised that the use of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells might facilitate the standardisation of protocols for classification, and could better model the disease process. We generated eight iPS cell lines from patient samples expressing either BRCA1 pathogenic variants, non-pathogenic variants, or BRCA1 VUSs. The impact of these variants on DNA damage repair was examined using a ɣH2AX foci formation assay, a Homologous Repair (HR) reporter assay, and a chromosome abnormality assay. Finally, all lines were tested for their ability to differentiate into mammary lineages in vitro. While the results obtained from the two BRCA1 pathogenic variants were consistent with published data, some other variants exhibited differences. The most striking of these was the BRCA1 variant Y856H (classified as benign), which was unexpectedly found to present a faulty HR repair pathway, a finding linked to the presence of an additional variant in the ATM gene. Finally, all lines were able to differentiate first into mammospheres, and then into more advanced mammary lineages expressing luminal- or basal-specific markers. This study stresses that BRCA1 genetic analysis alone is insufficient to establish a reliable and functional classification for assessment of clinical risk, and that it cannot be performed without considering the other genetic aberrations which may be present in patients. The study also provides promising opportunities for elucidating the physiopathology and clinical evolution of breast cancer, by using iPS cells

A volcaniclastic deep-sea fan off La Réunion Island (Indian Ocean): Gradualism versus catastrophism

International audienceA new geophysical data set off La Réunion Island (western Indian Ocean) reveals a large volcaniclastic submarine fan developing in an open-ocean setting. The fan is connected to a torrential river that floods during tropical cyclones. Sediment storage at the coast is limited, suggesting that the sediments are carried directly to the basin. The fan morphology and turbidites in cores lead us to classify it as a sand-rich system mainly fed by hyperpycnal flows. In the ancient geological record, there are many examples of thick volcaniclastic successions, but studies of modern analogues have emphasized mechanisms such as debris avalanches or direct pyroclastic flow into the sea. Because the Cilaos deep-sea fan is isolated from any continental source, it provides information on architecture and noncatastrophic processes in a volcaniclastic deep-sea fan

Primary hepatocytes as targets for hepatitis C virus replication

Much of our current understanding of hepatitis C virus (HCV) replication has hailed from the use of a small number of cloned viral genomes and transformed hepatoma cell lines. Recent evidence suggests that lipoproteins play a key role in the HCV life cycle and virus particles derived from the sera of infected patients exist in association with host lipoproteins. This report will review the literature on HCV replication in primary hepatocytes and transformed cell lines, focusing largely on host factors defining particle entry

Studying Past Deep-ocean Circulation and the Paleoclimate Record in the Gulf of Cadiz

Deep marine currents are strongly influenced by climatic changes. They also deposit, rework, and sort sediment, and can generate kilometer-scale sedimentary bodies (drifts). These drifts are made of thoroughly bioturbated, stacked sedimentary sequences called contourites [Gonthier et al., 1984]. As a consequence, change in the direction or intensity of currents can be recorded in the sediment