Introduction

This chapter argues for the intrinsic relation between shame and writing, while also reflecting on the pronounced tendency in the contemporary moment towards nominating "shame" as a phenomenon worthy of analysis. The first seeks to identify shame in existing writing practices by acknowledging an economy of affective transfer between writer, reader and text, operating in excess of representation. At one level, this economy is manifested through the anecdotes of writerly subjectivity: reflective inhibition, intense frustration, the abjection of the body encountering an impossible task, useless feelings (common to poet and bureaucrat) when confronted with the empty page and the command to write. The second one is concerned with the descriptive purchase of the word shame today when thinking about the fact and force of writing-as-exteriorization. The chapter further presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.