The Infinite Conversation

In this landmark volume, Blanchot sustains a dialogue with a number of thinkers whose contributions have marked turning points in the history of Western thought and have influenced virtually all the themes that inflect the contemporary literary and philosophical debate today. Blanchot waits for us still to come, to be read and reread. . . . I would say that never as much as today have I pictured him so far ahead of us. Jacques Derrida Contents......Page 6 Note......Page 12 Foreword. This Double Exigency: Naming the Possible, Responding to the Impossible......Page 26 Translator's Acknowledgments......Page 36 I. PLURAL SPEECH (the speech of writing)......Page 38 I. Thought and the Exigency of Discontinuity......Page 40 1......Page 48 2......Page 51 3......Page 54 III. Speaking Is Not Seeing......Page 62 1......Page 70 2. How to discover the obscure?......Page 77 V. Knowledge of the Unknown......Page 86 VI. Keeping to Words......Page 96 VII. The Relation of the Third Kind (man without horizon)......Page 103 VIII. Interruption (as on a Riemann surface)......Page 112 IX. A Plural Speech......Page 117 II. THE LIMIT-EXPERIENCE......Page 120 I. Heraclitus......Page 122 II. Measure, the Suppliant......Page 130 III. Tragic Thought......Page 133 1......Page 143 2......Page 151 1. Being Jewish......Page 160 2. Humankind......Page 167 1. Nietzsche, today......Page 173 2. Crossing the line......Page 180 3. Nietzsche and fragmentary writing......Page 188 1......Page 208 2. Logical victory over "the absurd"......Page 213 3. You can kill that man......Page 219 4. Orpheus, Don Juan, Tristan......Page 224 On forgetting......Page 231 The great confinement......Page 233 1. Affirmation and the passion of negative thought......Page 239 2. The play of thought......Page 248 3. Insurrection, the madness of writing......Page 254 X. The Speech of Analysis......Page 267 XI. Everyday Speech......Page 275 1......Page 283 2......Page 294 XIII. On a Change of Epoch: The Exigency of Return......Page 301 III. THE ABSENCE OF THE BOOK (the neutral, the fragmentary)......Page 320 I. The Final Work......Page 322 II. Cruel Poetic Reason (the rapacious need for flight)......Page 330 III. René Char and the Thought of the Neutral......Page 335 IV. The Fragment Word......Page 344 V. Forgetful Memory......Page 351 VI. Vast as the night......Page 355 VII. Words Must Travel Far......Page 363 Flaubert......Page 369 Roussel......Page 373 IX. A rose is a rose......Page 376 X. Ars Nova......Page 382 XI. The Athenaeum......Page 388 XII. The Effect of Strangeness......Page 397 XIII. The End of the Hero......Page 405 XIV. The Narrative Voice (the "he," the neutral)......Page 416 XV. The Wooden Bridge (repetition, the neutral)......Page 425 XVI. Literature One More Time......Page 434 XVII. Tomorrow at Stake......Page 444 XVIII. The Absence of the Book......Page 459 Notes......Page 474 B......Page 502 E......Page 503 J......Page 504 M......Page 505 P......Page 506 S......Page 507 W......Page 508 Contents 6 Note 12 Foreword. This Double Exigency: Naming the Possible, Responding to the Impossible 26 Translator's Acknowledgments 36 I. PLURAL SPEECH (the speech of writing) 38 I. Thought and the Exigency of Discontinuity 40 II. The Most Profound Question 48 1 48 2 51 3 54 III. Speaking Is Not Seeing 62 IV. The Great Refusal 70 1 70 2. How to discover the obscure? 77 V. Knowledge of the Unknown 86 VI. Keeping to Words 96 VII. The Relation of the Third Kind (man without horizon) 103 VIII. Interruption (as on a Riemann surface) 112 IX. A Plural Speech 117 II. THE LIMIT-EXPERIENCE 120 I. Heraclitus 122 II. Measure, the Suppliant 130 III. Tragic Thought 133 IV. Affirmation (desire, affliction) 143 1 143 2 151 V. The Indestructible 160 1. Being Jewish 160 2. Humankind 167 VI. Reflections on Nihilism 173 1. Nietzsche, today 173 2. Crossing the line 180 3. Nietzsche and fragmentary writing 188 VII. Reflections on Hell 208 1 208 2. Logical victory over "the absurd" 213 3. You can kill that man 219 4. Orpheus, Don Juan, Tristan 224 VIII. Forgetting, Unreason 231 On forgetting 231 The great confinement 233 IX. The Limit-Experience 239 1. Affirmation and the passion of negative thought 239 2. The play of thought 248 3. Insurrection, the madness of writing 254 X. The Speech of Analysis 267 XI. Everyday Speech 275 XII. Atheism and Writing. Humanism and the Cry 283 1 283 2 294 XIII. On a Change of Epoch: The Exigency of Return 301 III. THE ABSENCE OF THE BOOK (the neutral, the fragmentary) 320 I. The Final Work 322 II. Cruel Poetic Reason (the rapacious need for flight) 330 III. René Char and the Thought of the Neutral 335 IV. The Fragment Word 344 V. Forgetful Memory 351 VI. Vast as the night 355 VII. Words Must Travel Far 363 VIII. Wittgenstein's Problem 369 Flaubert 369 Roussel 373 IX. A rose is a rose 376 X. Ars Nova 382 XI. The Athenaeum 388 XII. The Effect of Strangeness 397 XIII. The End of the Hero 405 XIV. The Narrative Voice (the "he," the neutral) 416 XV. The Wooden Bridge (repetition, the neutral) 425 XVI. Literature One More Time 434 XVII. Tomorrow at Stake 444 XVIII. The Absence of the Book 459 Notes 474 Index 502 A 502 B 502 C 503 D 503 E 503 F 504 G 504 H 504 I 504 J 504 K 505 L 505 M 505 N 506 O 506 P 506 Q 507 R 507 S 507 T 508 V 508 W 508 Maurice Blanchot here sustains a dialogue with a number of thinkers, including Kafka, Pascal, Nietzsche, Brecht, and Camus, who are central to the history of Western thought and who have influenced virtually all the themes that inflect contemporary literary and philosophical debate. Maurice Blanchot ; Translation And Foreword By Susan Hanson. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 437-464) And Index.