The Seventh Function of Language

Lang sighs. Simon and Bayard wait. Mitterrand is president. Lang can tell them now. And in all probability, Simon thinks, Lang wants to tell them.

He organized a lunch with Barthes because he knew that Barthes was in possession of Jakobson’s manuscript.

“How?” asks Simon.

“How what?” says Lang. “How did Barthes come into possession of the manuscript or how did I know that he had?”

Simon is calm, but he knows that Bayard often has a hard time containing his impatience. As he doesn’t want his policeman friend to threaten to gouge out Jack Lang’s eyeballs with a coffee spoon, he says softly: “Both.”

Jack Lang does not know how Barthes came into possession of the manuscript, but in any case his extraordinary network of contacts in cultural circles enabled Lang to become aware of this fact. It was Debray, after talking about it with Derrida, who convinced him of the document’s importance. So they decided to organize the lunch with Barthes in order to steal it from him. During the meal, Lang discreetly pilfered the sheet of paper that was in Barthes’s jacket pocket and gave it to Debray, who was waiting, hidden, in the entrance hall. Debray ran off to hand the document to Derrida, who fabricated a false function based on the original text, which Debray took back to Lang, who slipped it into Barthes’s pocket before lunch was over. The timing of the operation was extremely precise; Derrida had to write the false function in record time, based on the real one, so that it would be credible but would not actually work.

Simon is amazed: “But what was the point? Barthes knew the text. He would have realized straight away.”

Lang explains: “We banked on the assumption that if we were aware of the existence of this document, we weren’t the only ones, and that it would be bound to arouse keen interest.”

Bayard interrupts him: “You anticipated that Sollers and Kristeva would steal it from him?”

Simon replies on Lang’s behalf: “No, they thought Giscard would try to get hold of it. And they weren’t wrong, were they, as that was precisely the mission he gave you? Except that, contrary to what they had supposed, when Barthes was knocked over by the laundry van, Giscard wasn’t yet aware of the seventh function’s existence.” He turns to Lang: “Seems his network of cultural informers was not as efficient as yours…”

Lang cannot conceal a faint smile of vanity: “In fact, the whole operation was based on what I must say was a fairly audacious gamble: that Barthes would have the false document stolen from him before he noticed the substitution, so that the thieves would believe they had the real seventh function and, additionally, so that we would remain beyond suspicion.”

Bayard: “And that’s exactly what happened. Except that it wasn’t Giscard, but Sollers and Kristeva who were behind the theft.”

Lang: “Ultimately, that didn’t make much difference to us. It would have been nice to play a trick on Giscard, to make him think he had a secret weapon. But the essential thing was that we had the seventh function—the real one.”

Bayard asks: “But why was Barthes killed?”

Lang had never expected things to go that far. They had had no intention whatsoever of killing anyone. It was immaterial to them that others should possess and even use the seventh function, as long as it wasn’t Giscard.

Simon understands. Mitterrand’s objective was purely short-term: to beat Giscard in the debate. But Sollers, in a way, was aiming higher. He wanted to take Eco’s title as the Great Protagoras of the Logos Club, and for that he needed the seventh function, which would have given him a decisive rhetorical advantage. But in order to preserve the position once it was his, he would have to make sure that no one else got to know about it, in case they challenged him. Hence the Bulgarian assassins hired by Kristeva to track down all the copies: it was imperative that the seventh function remain the exclusive property of Sollers, and Sollers alone. So Barthes had to die, as did all those who had been in possession of the document and who might either use it or disseminate it.

Simon asks if Mitterrand had approved Operation Seventh Function.

Lang does not reply in so many words, but the answer is obvious, so he doesn’t attempt to deny it: “Mitterrand was not convinced that it would work until the very last minute. It took him a little while to master the function. But when it came down to it, he crushed Giscard.” The future minister of culture smiles wolfishly.

“And Derrida?”

“Derrida wanted Giscard to lose. Like Jakobson, he would have preferred no one to possess the seventh function, but he was not in any position to prevent Mitterrand from getting it, and he liked the idea of the false function. He asked me to make the president promise to keep the seventh function for his exclusive use and not share it with anyone.” Lang smiles again. “A promise that the president, I feel absolutely certain, will have no trouble keeping.”

“What about you?” Bayard asks. “Did you see it?”