La dimension diagrammatique de l’écriture littéraire : un formalisme dynamique inscrit dans la sensorialité du langage

After briefly recalling the evolution of the concept of diagram in the philosophical work of Gilles Deleuze, we shall first present the hypothesis that literary and more particularly poetic writing has a diagrammatic dimension. The hypothesis is sustained by a number of resonances between, on the one hand, the features and morpho-dynamic processes which are prominent in the definition of diagram proposed by different disciplines (mathematics, physics, architecture, fine arts, …), and, on the other hand, those which characterize the specific reorganisation of signs and infra-semantic elements of the language which constitute the material of the literary text. This being done, we shall confirm the value of the hypothesis by confronting it to the conclusions drawn from the analysis of two poems : «A une passante» by Charles Baudelaire et «Exultation is…» by Emily Dickinson. We’ll note then, that the diagrammatisation of meaning in a literary text is often the opportunity for the poet or writer to convey a daring or even subversive statement.