Blanchot, Maurice

(1907-2003)

   essayist and novelist

   Born in Saône-et-Loire, Maurice Blanchot, through his writings, was initially brought into the ranks of the extreme right. He contributed to, in particular, La Revue française and to Réaction, and took part in the vichy regime's cultural movement, Jeune France. His encounter with georges bataille in 1941, however, was decisive. In 1942, Blanchot joined the resistance and, in July 1944, was captured, but escaped from the Germans. Much later (1960), as an activist, he played an important part in editing the "Manifeste des 121" and was a member of the Committee of Students and Writers (1968). With Thomas l'Obscur (1941 and 1951), Aminadab (1942), Le Trés Haut (1948), L'Arrêt du mort (1948), Ce-lui qui ne m'accompagnait pas (1953), Le Dernier Homme (1957), and L'Instant de ma mort (1994), and dedications to Lautreament et Sade (1949), to mallarmé (Faux Pas, 1943), to Kafka, Rilke, and Holderin (La Part de feu, 1949; Le Livre à venir, 1959; De Kafka à Kafka, 1982; La Communauté inavouable, 1983), the essays of Blanchot represent the same literary quest as his novels. The narratives L'attente, L'oubli (1962), then L'Entretien infini (1969), L'Amitié (1971), and Le Pas au delà (1973), three "theoretical" works, are fictional dialogues that poignantly illustrate Blanchot's developments. His internal conflict in reconciling with modernity is expressed also in La Réssassement éternal (1983) and in L'Écriture du désastre (1980).