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

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

Protein folding activity of ribosomal rna is a selective target of two unrelated antiprion drugs

Background: 6-Aminophenanthridine (6AP) and Guanabenz (GA, a drug currently in use for the treatment of hypertension) were isolated as antiprion drugs using a yeast-based assay. These structurally unrelated molecules are also active against mammalian prion in several cell-based assays and in vivo in a mouse model for prion-based diseases.Methodology/Principal Findings: Here we report the identification of cellular targets of these drugs. Using affinity chromatography matrices for both drugs, we demonstrate an RNA-dependent interaction of 6AP and GA with the ribosome. These specific interactions have no effect on the peptidyl transferase activity of the ribosome or on global translation. In contrast, 6AP and GA specifically inhibit the ribosomal RNA-mediated protein folding activity of the ribosome.Conclusion/Significance: 6AP and GA are therefore the first compounds to selectively inhibit the protein folding activity of the ribosome. They thus constitute precious tools to study the yet largely unexplored biological role of this protein folding activity

Protein Folding Activity of Ribosomal RNA Is a Selective Target of Two Unrelated Antiprion Drugs

International audienceBACKGROUND: 6-Aminophenanthridine (6AP) and Guanabenz (GA, a drug currently in use for the treatment of hypertension) were isolated as antiprion drugs using a yeast-based assay. These structurally unrelated molecules are also active against mammalian prion in several cell-based assays and in vivo in a mouse model for prion-based diseases. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Here we report the identification of cellular targets of these drugs. Using affinity chromatography matrices for both drugs, we demonstrate an RNA-dependent interaction of 6AP and GA with the ribosome. These specific interactions have no effect on the peptidyl transferase activity of the ribosome or on global translation. In contrast, 6AP and GA specifically inhibit the ribosomal RNA-mediated protein folding activity of the ribosome. CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE: 6AP and GA are therefore the first compounds to selectively inhibit the protein folding activity of the ribosome. They thus constitute precious tools to study the yet largely unexplored biological role of this protein folding activity

Antihypertensive Drug Guanabenz Is Active In Vivo against both Yeast and Mammalian Prions

Background: Prion-based diseases are incurable transmissible neurodegenerative disorders affecting animals and humans. [br/] Methodology/Principal Findings: Here we report the discovery of the in vivo antiprion activity of Guanabenz (GA), an agonist of a2-adrenergic receptors routinely used in human medicine as an antihypertensive drug. We isolated GA in a screen for drugs active in vivo against two different yeast prions using a previously described yeast-based two steps assay. GA was then shown to promote ovine PrPSc clearance in a cell-based assay. These effects are very specific as evidenced by the lack of activity of some GA analogues that we generated. GA antiprion activity does not involve its agonist activity on a2-adrenergic receptors as other chemically close anti-hypertensive agents possessing related mechanism of action were found inactive against prions. Finally, GA showed activity in a transgenic mouse-based in vivo assay for ovine prion propagation, prolonging slightly but significantly the survival of treated animals. [br/] Conclusion/Significance: GA thus adds to the short list of compounds active in vivo in animal models for the treatment of prion-based diseases. Because it has been administrated for many years to treat hypertension on a daily basis, without major side-effects, our results suggest that it could be evaluated in human as a potential treatment for prion-based diseases

Un implicite hobbesien : la guerre des sexes. Redéfinir la guerre selon Thomas Hobbes.

Une lecture comparée du traité d'Hugo Grotius sur la guerre avec le texte hobbesien montre que, au lieu d'une vision réductrice et scolastique qui est une vision juridique, Thomas Hobbes déploie une vision anthropologique dont l'originalité met en question les thèses de l'antiquisant. Cette redéfinition moderne de la guerre, qui s'articule à l'axiome d'une égalité naturelle, inscrit l'idée redoutable que les hommes rivalisent avec les femmes pour le contrôle de la reproduction et l'autorité sur les enfants

Violence dans la langue : le cran d'arrêt vu par Roland Barthes

dix-neuf pagesThis study deals with a doctrinal and sensitive matter, it insists on and goes around such a nerve point : "language [...] is fascist; because fascism does not prevent but forces to say". The relations between language and violence, speaking and power, are there detailed ; the famous and provocative Barthesian thesis is explained by a reading of an image : the flick-knife. By this one is denounced the violence of language cutting and murdering a human textualized flesh: a knife's blade going right to the heart.C'est sur un point doctrinal très sensible que se concentre cette lecture, ce autour de quoi elle tourne : "la langue [...] est fasciste; car le fascisme, ce n'est pas d'empêcher de dire, c'est d'obliger à dire". Les rapports de la langue et de la violence, de la parole et du pouvoir, sont ici détaillés en reconsidérant une célèbre thèse barthésienne et en prenant notamment appui sur l'analyse d'une image : le cran d'arrêt. Telle se figure la violence dans la langue, comme ce qui meurtrit la chair d'un corps textualisé : la langue du couteau pénétrant jusqu'au coeur

Chémobiologie à l’

Depuis sa découverte et sa description par Louis Pasteur, la levure Saccharomyces cerevisiae, qui était utilisée de manière empirique depuis des millénaires pour la panification et la fermentation des sucres en alcool, est devenue un organisme modèle eucaryote très populaire. Cet engouement s’explique par la conservation de la plupart des grands mécanismes cellulaires de la levure à l’homme. En outre, au moins 30 % des gènes impliqués dans des pathologies humaines ont un homologue fonctionnel chez la levure. La levure est donc également utilisée pour modéliser et disséquer les mécanismes physiopathologiques humains, ainsi que pour développer des approches de criblage pharmacologique phénotypique. Trois exemples de telles approches de chémobiologie sont présentés