Date: Mon, 11 Oct 1999 10:20:30 +0100 From: leslie hill <leslie.hill-AT-warwick.ac.uk> Subject: Re: MB: Blanchot biographical..... At 12:53 11/10/99 +1000, you wrote: >David: Could you elaborate, please, about the mistake Bident makes about >how Blanchot helped Levinas's family during the war? If possible, could >you correct the mistake? > >Kevin Hart > > > > >David Hansel wrote: >> >> mike wrote: >> >> > I've found biographical material on Blanchot very difficult to find - >> > probably echoing Foucault's words about him that he has disappeared into his >> > texts. However, I picked up Christophe Bident's recent 'essai >> > biographique' - some 630 pages - entitled 'Maurice Blanchot: Partenaire >> > Invisible' (Editions Champ Vallon, 1998) recently (ISBN: 2 87673 253 X). >> > I've not had a chance to read it yet, but wondered if anyone else had come >> > across it, and how they rated it. >> > >> > Mike Purcell >> > >> > Dr Michael Purcell >> > Faculty of Divinity >> > New College, >> > University of Edinburgh >> > Mound Place, >> > EDINBURGH >> > EH1 2LX >> > Scotland >> > >> > 'phone: (+44) (0) 131. 650. 7905 >> > 'phone/fax: (+44) (0) 1324. 621038 >> > e-mail: M.Purcell-AT-ed.ac.uk >> >> There is another biography recently published aboy Blanchot: Maurice Blanchot : >> le sujet >> de l'engagement by Philippe Mesnard , published at L'Harmattan ISBN >> 2-7384-4577-2. >> This book is extremely interesting. >> >> Regarding Bident's book: I was especially interested in what Bident says about >> the relationship between Blanchot and Levinas. I have found in this book >> several big mistakes. One big mistake, >> I remember, is about facts regarding how Blanchot helped Levinas's family >> during the war. Another mistake, I can remember, is the claim that Blanchot >> heard about Kabbalah from Levinas and therefore indirectly from the mysterious >> Monsieur Chouchani. As far as >> I know, this is is pure fantasy. For the rest I cannot say anything since I >> am not at ALL >> a specialist of Blanchot .... >> >> David Hansel > > >-- >Professor Kevin Hart, >Department of English, >Monash University, >Melbourne, Victoria, 3168, >Australia. >Fax: 61-3-9905 5593 >Ph: 61-3-9905 2145 >Email: Kevin.Hart-AT-arts.monash.edu.au > As many of you will know, the report of Blanchot's activities on behalf of Levinas's wife and daughter during the Occupation was endorsed fairly recently by Levinas's daughter. If this account is based on a mistake, as Kevin rightly asks, we should know how and why. Regarding Philippe Mesnard's book, I have to say that this is, in my view, contentious in the extreme, as well as full of factual mistakes, and based (it would appear) on an incomplete examination of the (now readily available) historical material. It also seems to be the case that, for reasons best known to himself, Mesnard has also allowed himself to be used by Sollers and L'Infini as part of their long-standing MB-was-a-fascist campaign. Leslie Hill Leslie Hill Department of French Studies University of Warwick COVENTRY CV4 7AL United Kingdom e-mail: leslie.hill-AT-warwick.ac.uk fax: + 44 (0)1203 524679
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