ABSTRACT
In the memory of the French Revolution, the passage of authority from violence to writing is marked by the death of Marat. Not all executions released authority to the one who killed. Charlotte Cor-day's assassination of Marat with a table knife has all the makings of a totem meal, but she does not incorporate his authority. She opens his body, but his authority does not flow out to her. In the memory of Marat's assassination the revolution records the triumph of writing over blood.
