Date: Fri, 17 Feb 1995 11:28:49 -0700
Subject: MB: blanchot and images


In his posting, Steven Shaviro wrote:

>Part of the uncanniness of images, as I understand them mostly through
Blanchot, is that one cannot control their dissemination. A photo, like a
cadaver, is an absolute similarity that is also nothing, that is
perpetually _errante_. Which is what makes it an object of fascination.
So an obsession with what Blanchot looks like, with his images in (rare)
photographs, seems to me to respond accurately to Blanchot's refusal to
be photographed, or to appear in public, or to meet writers who are
important to him face to face.<

This seems to be a very good example of the fascination exerted by Blanchot
on his readers.  His very "réserve" and unwillingness to be photographed
are what attracts people to his image.  Precisely because what you see in
the photo only bears a "resemblance" to Maurice Blanchot, in the very way
the dead corpse only "resembles" the one who has died, you are endlessy
bound to explore their image, to be captured by it, looking for an answer
that will not come. 

The fact that Blanchot himself has formulated a theory of this phenomenon
(La Part du Feu, L'arr=EAt de mort, L'espace littéraire) makes  his own
"images" all the more intriguing. And their very scarcity is what magnifies
the fascination effect.

- Giuseppina

 

Giuseppina Mecchia
gmecchia-AT-rikki.cc.colorado.edu