Subject: Re: MB: new member 
Date: Fri, 23 Jun 2000 15:49:36 GMT


Janet,

I'm afraid we've (I've) scared you off Blanchot with our overly-cautious 
suggestions, which on second reading seem to me more like warnings, at least 
for someone coming to Blanchot for the first time; the intellectual circle 
around the reading of Blanchot may be deep, but it has (as does Blanchot's 
work) many levels, and moments of both clarity and obscurity.

I think empitsu's reference to Joyce's late work is an apt one; coming to 
Ulysses or Finnegan's Wake for the first time is a world apart from 
understanding the multiplicity of references in Joyce's writing. This first, 
and necessarily more shallow, reading is crucial if you're to continue 
reading.

I'm afraid the occasionally obscure tone of our discussions on this list 
might frustrate, rather than aid, your initial reading of Blanchot's work. 
You might choose to read Blanchot (which I hope you do), and not participate 
  in these discussions, though I've found them helpful as I continue to 
struggle with these texts. Blanchot's work maintains a tenuous balance 
between (as Simon Critchley has noted) the extreme clarity and simplicity of 
its language, and the obscurity or complexity of its meaning. It's 
difficult, to be sure, but I've also found it rewarding, and I don't know of 
another writer who has quite the same way with words.

I hope to hear from you again on this list, and good luck.
-Keith


>From: Janetjet65-AT-aol.com
>Reply-To: blanchot-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu
>To: blanchot-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu
>Subject: Re: MB: Blanchot/Celan
>Date: Fri, 23 Jun 2000 00:34:50 EDT
>
>Thankyou for the input, but I feel that I have stumbled into an 
>intellectual
>circle that is a bit too deep for me.
>
>Janetjet

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