Butor, as a writer and artist, finds himself in a somewhat awkward position. On the one hand, he subscribes to the theory that his ideal reader must be encouraged and/or coerced to participate actively in the work of art: the reader's effort must be commensurate with that of the author, and Butor finds himself open to accusations of literary elitism and hermeticism. On the other hand, Butor does not accept the human condition as it stands, socio-politically or intellectually. Echoing Rimbaud, Butor insists that life be "changed": "Any literature which does not help us toward this end is eventually, and inevitably, condemned," Ironically, a single theme, that of alchemy, suffices to emblematize the contradictory dictates of hermeticism and didacticism.

Butor, like most modern scholars, sees alchemy … as a tradition of knowledge into which one must first be initiated in order to become, ultimately, an adept. The transformation...