''Tel Quel'' (translated into English as, variously: "as is," "as such," or "unchanged") was a French

avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...

literary magazine published between 1960 and 1982.

History and profile

''Tel Quel'' was founded in 1960 in Paris by

Philippe Sollers Philippe Sollers (; born Philippe Joyaux; 28 November 1936 – 5 May 2023) was a French writer and critic. In 1960 he founded the '' avant garde'' literary journal '' Tel Quel'' (along with writer and art critic Marcelin Pleynet), which was pu ...

and

Jean-Edern Hallier Jean-Edern Hallier (1 March 193612 January 1997) was a French writer, critic and editor. After his exclusion from the literary review '' Tel Quel'', which he co-founded with Philippe Sollers, Hallier went on to publish novels and satirical pam ...

and published by

Éditions du Seuil Éditions du Seuil (), also known as Le Seuil, is a French publishing house established in 1935 by Catholic intellectual Jean Plaquevent (1901–1965), and currently owned by La Martinière Groupe. It owes its name to this goal "The ''seuil'' (th ...

. Important essays working towards

post-structuralism Post-structuralism is a philosophical movement that questions the objectivity or stability of the various interpretive structures that are posited by structuralism and considers them to be constituted by broader systems of Power (social and poli ...

and

deconstruction In philosophy, deconstruction is a loosely-defined set of approaches to understand the relationship between text and meaning. The concept of deconstruction was introduced by the philosopher Jacques Derrida, who described it as a turn away from ...

appeared here. Publication ceased in 1982, and the journal was succeeded by '' L'Infini'' under Sollers's continued editorship. Though the journal originally published essays more in line with what current literary theory calls "

structuralism Structuralism is an intellectual current and methodological approach, primarily in the social sciences, that interprets elements of human culture by way of their relationship to a broader system. It works to uncover the structural patterns t ...

," it would eventually feature work that reflected the revaluation of literary, artistic, and music criticism that began in France in the 1960s. The editors committee included

, Jean-René Huguenin, Jean Ricardou, Jean Thibaudeau, Michel Deguy, Marcelin Pleynet, Denis Roche,

Jean-Louis Baudry Jean-Louis Baudry (March 2, 1930 – October 3, 2015) was a French novelist, '' Tel Quel'' literary editor, and psychoanalytic film theorist. He is best known for "Ideological Effects of the Basic Cinematographic Apparatus" (1970) and "The Appara ...

Jean-Pierre Faye Jean-Pierre Faye (born 19 July 1925) is a French philosopher and writer of fiction and prose poetry. Life and career Faye was born in Paris. He was member of the editing committee of the avant-garde literary review '' Tel Quel'', and later of ' ...

, Jacqueline Risset, François Wahl, and

Julia Kristeva Julia Kristeva (; ; born Yuliya Stoyanova Krasteva, ; on 24 June 1941) is a Bulgarian-French philosopher, literary critic, semiotician, psychoanalyst, feminist, and novelist who has lived in France since the mid-1960s. She has taught at Colum ...

(married to Philippe Sollers since 1967). Authors and collaborators include

Roland Barthes Roland Gérard Barthes (; ; 12 November 1915 – 25 March 1980) was a French literary theorist, essayist, philosopher, critic, and semiotician. His work engaged in the analysis of a variety of sign systems, mainly derived from Western popu ...

Michel Foucault Paul-Michel Foucault ( , ; ; 15 October 192625 June 1984) was a French History of ideas, historian of ideas and Philosophy, philosopher who was also an author, Literary criticism, literary critic, Activism, political activist, and teacher. Fo ...

Maurice Blanchot Maurice Blanchot ( ; ; 22 September 1907 – 20 February 2003) was a French writer, philosopher and literary theorist. His work, exploring a philosophy of death alongside poetic theories of meaning and sense, bore significant influence on pos ...

Pierre Boulez Pierre Louis Joseph Boulez (; 26 March 19255 January 2016) was a French composer, conductor and writer, and the founder of several musical institutions. He was one of the dominant figures of post-war contemporary classical music. Born in Montb ...

Jacques Derrida Jacques Derrida (; ; born Jackie Élie Derrida;Peeters (2013), pp. 12–13. See also 15 July 1930 – 9 October 2004) was a French Algerian philosopher. He developed the philosophy of deconstruction, which he utilized in a number of his texts, ...

, Jean Cayrol,

Shoshana Felman Shoshana Felman is an American literary critic and current Woodruff Professor of Comparative Literature and French at Emory University. She was on the faculty of Yale University from 1970 to 2004, where in 1986 she was awarded the Thomas E. Donn ...

In 1971 the journal broke with the

French Communist Party The French Communist Party (, , PCF) is a Communism, communist list of political parties in France, party in France. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its Member of the European Parliament, MEPs sit with The Left in the ...

and declared its support for

Maoism Maoism, officially Mao Zedong Thought, is a variety of Marxism–Leninism that Mao Zedong developed while trying to realize a socialist revolution in the agricultural, pre-industrial society of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic o ...

. In 1974 the editorial members Philippe Sollers, Marcelin Pleynet, François Wahl, Roland Barthes and Julia Kristeva visited China. The trip, which was tightly organized by Chinese government officials, would later be processed in several essays and books by the participants. In the autumn of 1976 the journal explicitly distanced itself from Maoism. ''Tel Quel'' featured a special section for terrorism in Italy in 1978, and Maria Antonietta Macciocchi and

Leonardo Sciascia Leonardo Sciascia (; 8 January 1921 – 20 November 1989) was an Italian writer, novelist, essayist, playwright, and politician. Some of his works have been made into films, including '' Porte Aperte'' (1990; ''Open Doors''), '' Cadaveri Eccellen ...

were among the contributors of the section.

References

External links

Several articles in English
* ttp://www.taalfilosofie.nl/not_telquel.html ''Tel Quel'' - Notities bij Het plezier van de tekstfrom taalfilosofie.nl (in Dutch)
Plus à propos de Tel Quel sur pileface.com/sollers
(in French) {{Authority control 1960 establishments in France 1982 disestablishments in France Avant-garde magazines Defunct communist magazines Defunct literary magazines published in France Defunct French-language magazines Literary circles Magazines established in 1960 Magazines disestablished in 1982 Defunct magazines published in Paris

History and profile

References

Further reading

External links