Talk:Maurice Blanchot

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I'm not seeing this statement being factual: "nationalistic, non-conformist, and anti-semitic pro-fascist journal Combat", I find it hard to believe that Camus, Sartre, and Malraux were pro-fascist?? Come on now! I believe this is an inaccurate statement.


Reading the Wikipedia article on Combat I see this:


Combat (French for "fight") was a French newspaper created during the Second World War. Originally a clandestine newspaper of the Resistance, it was headed by Albert Ollivier, Jean Bloch-Michel, Georges Altschuler and, most of all, Albert Camus. Jean-Paul Sartre, André Malraux, Emmanuel Mounier, and then Raymond Aron and Pierre Herbart also contributed to it. Its production was directed by André Bollier until Milice repression led to his death.

How can it be argued that either Combat was pro-fascist, or that Blanchot was himself pro-fascist...even if the newspaper was pro-fascist, does it necessarily follow that Blanchot was?? Guilt by association??Christian Roess 03:54, 30 November 2006 (UTC)


This is a different Combat from the one MB wrote for in the thirties. --Nightspore

Thanks Nightspore...Oh ok...a different Combat...thanks for the clarification...I need to disambiguate those links in the Blanchot article...I'll do some more search on the Web to clarify any changes I make...and perhaps create a new article to dissociate the two different publications each of which call themselves "Combat"...Christian Roess 02:58, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

This article is really strong in its claims and very weak in verifiability. I'm not sure how the claim that "the fascist sympathiser Georges Bataille" would be defended. For such reasons I've inserted an unreferenced tag on the article. I notice as well that some basic fact that complicate Blanchot's characterisation are left out: principally his protection of Paul Levy and the Lévinases from deportation and certain death. Maybe I'm wrong, but I sense an accusatory tone which, coupled with some selectivity in selection of facts, seems to me to undermine the neutrality of at least the pre-1945 content. Buffyg 14:42, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

I would like to openly call the bluff of the editor alledging that Bataille was a fascist sympathizer. Present named sources, or shut up. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.162.29.184 (talk) 05:46, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] Problems with the "neutrality" of this article (especially pre-1945)

I agree with Buffyg that there are some problems regarding the "verifiability" of some of those statements...and to characterize Georges Bataille as a fascist sympathiser is ridiculous. And yes, I have read somewhere about Blanchot's intercession with Emmanuel Lévinas and his wife. Excellent points here by Buffyg.

BUT this article is much improved thanks to recent editors, probably the anonymous contibutor listed as 81.156.70.59 and the changes this particular editor made on 3 December 2006.

I'll do some research in the next 2 weeks or so on Blancot's help to Lévinas...I have the essay somewhere that Lévinas himself wrote regarding Blanchot...meanwhile, I'm sure someone will pitch in here before I get to it. Christian Roess 03:59, 14 December 2006 (UTC)


I'm skeptical of the ip-address person's assertion that Jean Louis Loubet del Bayle called MB a collaborationist -- unless he meant a contributing editor type of thing to iffy journals. I read the book many years ago and there was not such claim then, and even Mehlmann (who cites it) says no such thing. So I'm deleting this for now -- if he or she can cite a relevant passage then I hope he or she will. Nightspore 22:26, 16 December 2006 (UTC)Nightspore

Yeah, Nightspore , I believe your observations are on point here and the ::beginning of the article does not belong:
"Maurice Blanchot was a French pre-war leader of the Young Right"
and this sounds like someone has an axe to grind...but this is not what Blanchot is known for ::(whether true or not). It would be similar to beginning the article on Heidegger with "Heidegger ::was a Nazi sympathizer..." {...} anyhow, the Blanchot article needs to cite referencesChristian Roess 15:48, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

At any rate, I added the "weasel words" tag to the article disputing the neutrality of the "facts", and so on.... Christian Roess 15:52, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

well, I just edited. Even if unproblematically true, it would be more like saying "Philip Larkin was an English racist, sexist and poet" or "Edward M. Kennedy was an American plagiarist, senator, and Presidential candidate." There's no significant IDENTIFICATION of Blanchot in saying that he was a leader (however ambiguously) of the young right. Nightspore 18:08, 18 December 2006 (UTC)Nightspore
Good one, Nightspore. You could get a job instantly as a TV political commentator on a 24 hour American news channel. But kidding a side, right on with the edit. I agree it needed to be taken out.Christian Roess 21:56, 19 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] WikiProject class rating

This article was automatically assessed because at least one WikiProject had rated the article as start, and the rating on other projects was brought up to start class. BetacommandBot 14:56, 9 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Clarity of this statement

As written, I don't know what the author was trying to say, especially with the pharse "shot through":

"Blanchot also draws heavily from Franz Kafka, and his fictional work (like his theoretical work) is shot through by an engagement with Kafka's writing."

--chemica (talk) 03:16, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

A more correct phrasing would be "shot through with". This is an English idiom meaning "containing ... throughout" - in other words, an engagement with Kafka's writing can be seen throughout Blanchot's fictional work. — Paul G (talk) 11:20, 28 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Pictures

Despite his reclusiveness, and the scarcity of archival information on his private life, several good pictures exist of a young Blanchot in the company of Levinas and other friends. Should I add them ? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.162.29.184 (talk) 05:36, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Translation of title of Le Pas au-delà"

Le Pas au-delà is translated as "The Step Not Beyond". Is this the title that is used in English?

There are two literal translations of the phrase le pas au-delà: "The Step Beyond" and "The Not Beyond". The French title is therefore a pun, but neither literal translation captures this. "The Step Not Beyond" translates both meanings, but loses the pun. This would be a translation of the French "Le Pas pas au-delà". Is this what is intended? — Paul G (talk) 11:18, 28 March 2008 (UTC)