1st Edition

Maurice Blanchot The Demand of Writing

Edited By Carolyn Bailey Gill Copyright 1997
    256 Pages
    by Routledge

    256 Pages
    by Routledge

    This timely collection of essays is the first to be written on the work of Maurice Blanchot in English. One of the finest writers of our time, Blanchot is a contemporary of Bataille and Levinas; his writing has influenced the likes of Derrida and Foucault.
    Eminent commentators featured here include: Simon Critchley, Paul Davies, Cristopher Fynsk, Rodolphe Gasche, Leslie Hill, Michael Holland, Jeffery Mehlman, Roger Laporte, Ian Maclachlan, Marie-Claire Ropars-Wuilleumier, Gillian Rose and Ann Smock.
    The essays consider the political implications of Blanchot's questioning the relationship between philosophy and literature. In addition, the provocative issue of Blanchot's politics during the 1930s is clarified by a letter from Blanchot to one of the contributors, published here for the first time.
    Maurice Blanchot: The Demand of Writing is a crucial selection for all students of philosophy, literature or French studies.

    List of Contributors. Acknowledgements. A note on the translations. Introduction Leslie Hill, 1. Roger Laporte, Reader of Blanchot Ian Maclachlan, 2. Maurice Blanchot Today Roger Laporte, 3. The Felicities of Paradox: Blanchot on the Null-Space of Literature Rodolphe Gasche, 4. Crossing the Threshold: on `literature and the Right to Death' Christopher Fynsk, 5. The Work and the Absence of the Work Paul Davies, 6. Il y a - Holding Levinas's Hand to Blanchot's Fire Simon Critchley, 7. Conversation Ann Smock, 8. On Unworking: the Image in Writing According to Blanchot Marie-Claire Ropars-Wuilleumier, 9. The Trace of Trauma: Blindness, Testimony and the Gaze in Blanchot and Derrida Michael Newman, 10. `A Wound to Thought' Michael Holland, 11. Potter's Field: Death Worked and Unworked Gillian Rose, 12. A Letter Maurice Blanchot, 13. Pour Sainte-Beuve: Maurice Blanchot, March 10, 1942 Jeffrey Mehlman

    Biography

    Carolyn Bailey Gill

    'The essays in this collection provide a valuable introduction to the central questions of Blanchot's writing.' - Allan Stoekl, Pennsylvania State University