Clandestine Encounters

Description

Maurice Blanchot is perhaps best known as a major French intellectual of the twentieth century: the man who countered Sartre's views on literature, who affirmed the work of Sade and Lautréamont, who gave eloquent voice to the generation of '68, and whose philosophical and literary work influenced the writing of, among others, Jacques Derrida, Gilles Deleuze, and Michel Foucault. He is also regarded as one of the most acute narrative writers in France since Marcel Proust.

In Clandestine Encounters, Kevin Hart has gathered together major literary critics in Britain, France, and the United States to engage with Blanchot's immense, fascinating, and difficult body of creative work. Hart's substantial introduction usefully places Blanchot as a significant contributor to the tradition of the French philosophical novel, beginning with Voltaire's Candide in 1759, and best known through the works of Sartre. Clandestine Encounters considers a selection of Blanchot's narrative writings over the course of almost sixty years, from stories written in the mid-1930s to L'instant de ma mort (1994). Collectively, the contributors' close readings of Blanchot's novels, recits, and stories illuminate the close relationship between philosophy and narrative in his work while underscoring the variety and complexity of these narratives.

Contributors: Christophe Bident, Arthur Cools, Thomas S. Davis, Christopher Fynsk, Rodolphe Gasché, Kevin Hart, Leslie Hill, Michael Holland, Stephen E. Lewis, Vivian Liska, Caroline Sheaffer-Jones, Christopher A. Strathman, Alain Toumayan

Sujets

• Literary Criticism
• PHILOSOPHY
• Vivian Liska
• Leslie Hill
• Kevin Hart
• Rodolphe Gasché
• Christopher Fynsk
• General officer
• General
• European
• French
• Maurice Blanchot

Informations

• Publié par: University of Notre Dame Press
• Date de parution: 15 novembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780268081720
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

C L A N D E S T I N E

E N C O U N T E R S

CLANDESTINE

philosophy in the narratives of M A U R I C E B L A N C H O T

ENCOUNTERS

edited by K E V I N H A R T

University of Notre Dame Press

Notre Dame, Indiana

Copyright ©2010by University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, Indiana46556 www.undpress.nd.edu

All Rights Reserved

Manufactured in the United States of America

Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data

Clandestine encounters : philosophy in the narratives of Maurice Blanchot / edited by Kevin Hart.  p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN13: 9780268030926(pbk. : alk. paper) ISBN10: 0268030928(pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Blanchot, Maurice—Criticism and interpretation.2—. Blanchot, Maurice Philosophy.3. Philosophy in literature. I. Hart, Kevin,1954– PQ2603.L3343Z572 2010 843'.912—dc22 2010024332

 This book is printed on recycled paper.

for Geoffrey Hartman

C O N T E N T S

Acknowledgments

one .

two .

Introduction: Philosophy and the Philosophical Kevin Hart

The Glory and the Abyss:Le ressassement éternel Vivian Liska and Arthur Cools

The Neutral Reduction:Thomas l’obscur Kevin Hart

three .Aminadab:Quest for the Origin of the Work of Art Christopher A. Strathman

four .

five .

A Law without Flesh: Reading Erotic Phenomena inLe TrèsHaut Stephen E. Lewis

The Haunted House of Being: Part II ofL’arrêt de mort Alain Toumayan

ix

1

32

61

91

119

156

viii

six .

Contents

seven .

Writing and Sovereignty:La folie du jour Christopher Fynsk

On Minor Reading Events: Orality and Spacing in the Opening ofAu moment voulu Christophe Bident

eight . The Imperative of Transparency:Celui qui ne  m’accompagnait pas Rodolphe Gasché

nine .Though with a New Beginning”: “As Le dernier homme Caroline SheafferJones

ten .

Space and Beyond:L’attente l’oubli Michael Holland

eleven . Weary Words:L’entretien infini Leslie Hill

twelve . Neutral War:L’instant de ma mort Thomas S. Davis

Bibliography of Writings by Maurice Blanchot

Notes on Contributors

Index

178

196

216

241

263

282

304

327

331

335

A C K N O W L E D G M E N T S

I would like to thank Christophe Bident and JeanLuc Nancy for answering questions about Maurice Blanchot that I put to them while editing this collection of essays. As always, the Comité de Rédaction Espace Maurice Blanchot supplied exact information and sound advice. Marianne Perac chio translated Christophe Bident’s essay, and Alain Toumayan helped to bring it to a high polish in English. I am indebted to both of them. Jean Louis Giovannoni generously gave permission for several lines from his poems to be translated into English and to appear in Christophe Bident’s essay onAu moment voulu.Claire Lyu kindly answered my questions about some French idioms in Blanchot. From the very beginning, when I pro posed this collection of essays to her over lunch, Barbara Hanrahan, direc tor of the University of Notre Dame Press, has been supportive. Her ability to tell what will be a good book from a few words about it, along with her insight into making books and her creativity in publishing them, make her a beacon in the world of university presses in North America. Rebecca DeBoer provided acute and probing copyediting. Once again, my wife and children allowed me the time to reread those volumes published by Gal limard, Minuit, Fata Morgana, and several little presses, volumes that have given me such intricate pleasure over so many years. To my family I wish

ix