The Space of Literature: A Translation of "L'Espace littraire"

About this book

Maurice Blanchot the eminent literary and cultural critic has had a vast influence on contemporary French writersamong them Jean Paul Sartre and Jacques Derrida. From the 1930s through the present day his writings have been shaping the international literary consciousness. The Space of Literature first published in France in 1955 is central to the development of Blanchots thought. In it he reflects on literature and the unique demand it makes upon our attention. Thus he explores the process of reading as well as the nature of artistic creativity all the while considering the relation of the literary work to time to history and to death. This book consists not so much in the application of a critical method or the demonstration of a theory of literature as in a patiently deliberate meditation upon the literary experience informed most notably by studies of Mallarm Kafka Rilke and Hlderlin. Blanchots discussions of those writers are among the finest in any language.