Abstract
The canonization of literary works has the dual effect of remedying a past oversight and preventing a future one. The selection it induces, which consists in giving an eminent place to certain works by eliminating others, creates a past in which the canonized work occupies an exceptional place, which it did not have at the outset.
This creation of a past can go even further, as shown by the figure of Ezra in the Bible. The prophet is presented as the restorer of a forgotten Law. But this may well be a myth, designed to push the canonization of the Law further back in time, so as to make the true originators of the Law seem like mere heirs, when they may in fact have been innovators. This way of making the constitution of the canon older than it actually is is what we'll call theantiquization of the canon.
But canonization, as a tool of memory, leaves out forgotten works. In his Petits traités, Pascal Quignard questions the idea of sorting through time : " On ne tremble pas assez à l'idée de ce que l'on n'a pas. " This will be the focus of this year's lecture.
