Journal des débats

Autograph manuscript by the author, 2½ pages in-8, published in the issue of 30 March 1944 of the Journal des Débats.
Complete recto-verso manuscript in very dense handwriting, containing numerous deletions, corrections and additions. This is a review published on the occasion of the reissue of Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto with a preface by Paul Eluard. Accompanied by the complete typescript.
The reissue by Éditions José Corti of Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto with a preface by Paul Eluard offered Maurice Blanchot the opportunity to set out his definition of the Gothic novel, which, thanks notably to the Surrealists, was then enjoying a revival of interest: "Le roman noir ne se confond pas simplement avec la littérature fantastique. S'il fait une large part au merveilleux "de toute nature", il a pour principal objet d'émouvoir la sensibilité par les ressources de la terreur. il veut secouer l'imagination. Il l'entraîne dans un mouvement frénétique qui ne lui laisse pas de repos. Il la provoque à tout croire, hormis les dénouements heureux et les compromis agréables, par des moyens dont le caractère conventionnel augmente encore la puissance. C'est un art méthodique qui connaît sa grossiéreté et en tire souvent des effets subtils et remarquables."
Blanchot then pursues an almost political analysis of the Gothic novel—born in the age of pre-revolutionary rationalism, flourishing in the wake of 1789, before flagging under the Restoration. And he concludes: "Horace Walpole est beaucoup plus qu'un précurseur. Avec ce volume fort mince, il apparait vraiment comme l'auteur de milliers d'ouvrages qui sont nés de lui. Avec ce volume fort mince (sic), il est le plus fécond des écrivains."

Between April 1941 and August 1944, Maurice Blanchot published in the "Chronique de la vie intellectuelle" of the Journal des Débats 173 articles on recently published books.
In a half-page of newspaper (approximately seven in-8 pages), the young author of Thomas l'obscur took his first steps in the field of literary criticism, inaugurating a body of theoretical work that he would later develop in his numerous essays, from La Part du feu to L'Entretien infini and L'Écriture du désastre.
From the very first articles, Blanchot demonstrated an acuity of analysis far surpassing the literary news that occasioned their writing. Oscillating between classics and moderns, major writers and minor novelists, he laid down in his columns the foundations of a critical thought that would shape the second half of the twentieth century.
Transformed by writing and by the war, Blanchot gradually broke, in the exercise of a thought developed "in the name of the other," with the violent certainties of his youthful adherence to Maurras.
Not without paradox, he thus transformed literary criticism into a philosophical act of intellectual resistance to barbarism, at the very heart of a newspaper that was "openly maréchaliste": "Brûler un livre, en écrire, sont les deux actes entre lesquels la culture inscrit ses oscillations contraires" ("Le livre", in Journal des Débats, 20 January 1943).
In 2007, the Cahiers de la NRF, under the direction of Christophe Bident, brought together all the literary columns not yet published in volumes, accompanied by a pertinent analysis of Blanchot’s critical work: "romans, poèmes, essais donnent lieu à une réflexion singulière, toujours plus sûre de sa propre rhétorique, livrée davantage à l'écho de l'impossible ou aux sirènes de la disparition. (...) Non sans contradictions ni pas de côté, et dans la certitude fiévreuse d'une ?uvre qui commence (...) ces articles révèlent la généalogie d'un critique qui a transformé l'occasion de la chronique en nécessité de la pensée." (C. Bident).
Maurice Blanchot’s autograph manuscripts are of the utmost rarity.

Autograph manuscript by the author, two and a half pages, octavo, published in the issue of May 4, 1944 of the Journal des Débats.
Complete recto-verso manuscript, densely written, with numerous deletions, corrections, and additions.
Together with the complete typescript.
A column published on the occasion of the release of Robert Poulet’s Prélude à l'apocalypse.

In this column devoted to the contemporary state of the fantastic novel, Maurice Blanchot focuses in particular on Robert Poulet’s Prélude à l'apocalypse which had just been published: « Le lecteur passe volontiers du réel au fantastique, mais qu'y gagne-t-il ? Les péripéties anormales sont faibles au regard des faits véritables que l'imagination suppose ou que la mémoire rappelle. [...] Prélude d'apocalypse paraît infidèle lorsqu'il n'est qu'un documentaire et insuffisant lorsqu'il prête des péripéties de fin du monde à une simple aventure historique. »
Yet the « merveilleux scientifique » gave rise to major works by Edgar Allan Poe, Louis Stevenson, and H.G. Wells. But it is a treacherous genre, and even Auguste de Villiers de L'Isle-Adam somewhat lost his way in L'Eve future: « Ce dernier livre qui a pour sujet la création d'une machine humaine par le savant Edison montre assez bien les difficultés du genre. Villiers qui se piquait de culture scientifique a décrit avec minutie le mécanisme de l'automate. [...] Mais ce "bizarre cours d'anatomie" aujourd'hui nous lasse et la virtuosité des explications nous paraît futile. Au contraire, ce qui nous attire, c'est l'effort pour égarer la conscience, l'éternelle tentation de rendre illusoire l'existence par l'imitation qu'on en fait, le jeu troublant du reflet qui donne tort à l'image, de l'ombre qui abolit le modèle. »

A highly critical text by Blanchot on fantastic entertainment.

Autograph manuscript by the author, two and a half pages in octavo, published in the issue of April 13, 1944 of the Journal des Débats.
Complete recto-verso manuscript, in a very dense hand, with numerous deletions, corrections, and additions.
Accompanied by the complete signed typescript.
A review published on the occasion of the posthumous release of Jarry’s novel, La Dragonne.

In this review devoted to Alfred Jarry and Père Ubu, Maurice Blanchot examines the confusion between the two and its consequences: « [...] on peut penser que Jarry, en s'entêtant à être le Père Ubu, a pendant sa vie gaspillé une partie de ses ressources d'écrivain et après sa mort égaré le jugement littéraire sur sa véritable valeur. » Yet this confusion testifies to the coherence of the author: « Chez Jarry, le choix d'un masque aussi peu flatteur a un sens fort clair. Il y a d'abord une volonté de mettre à mal tout sérieux et particulièrement cette volonté même ; il n'est pas question de tracer des frontières au ridicule ; on rit d'abord de soi, on en rit parce que ce rire n'est qu'un écho du vide. Et puis ce double grotesque que l'auteur revendique comme une représentation dont il est fier, affirme sa complicité, pleine de défi, avec les travers qu'il caricature. »
La Dragonne, Jarry’s final work, then issued by Gallimard, would therefore strike Blanchot for « le sérieux avec lequel Jarry a accepté son métier de romancier », while he also praised « les soudains mouvements d'imagination poétique qui dérangent le plan ».

The only monographic text Blanchot devoted to Jarry.

Between April 1941 and August 1944, Maurice Blanchot published in the "Chronique de la vie intellectuelle" of the Journal des Débats 173 articles on newly released books. In a half page of newspaper (around seven octavo pages), the young author of Thomas l'obscur made his first steps in literary criticism, thereby inaugurating the theoretical work he would later develop in numerous essays, from La Part du feu to L'Entretien infini and L'Écriture du désastre. From the very first articles, Blanchot displayed an acuity of analysis far surpassing the literary news that occasioned his writing. Oscillating between classics and moderns, major writers and minor novelists, his reviews laid the foundations of a critical thought that would shape the second half of the 20th century. Transformed by writing and by the war, Blanchot gradually broke, through a thinking exercised "in the name of the other," with the violent Maurrassian certainties of his youth. Not without paradox, he turned literary criticism into a philosophical act of intellectual resistance to barbarism, at the very heart of a newspaper "ouvertement maréchaliste": "Brûler un livre, en écrire, sont les deux actes entre lesquels la culture inscrit ses oscillations contraires" (Le Livre, in Journal des Débats, January 20, 1943). In 2007, the Cahiers de la NRF gathered, under the direction of Christophe Bident, all the literary reviews not yet collected in volume form, along with this perceptive analysis of Blanchot’s critical work: "romans, poèmes, essais donnent lieu à une réflexion singulière, toujours plus sûre de sa propre rhétorique, livrée davantage à l'écho de l'impossible ou aux sirènes de la disparition. (...) Non sans contradictions ni pas de côté, et dans la certitude fiévreuse d'une œuvre qui commence (...) ces articles révèlent la généalogie d'un critique qui a transformé l'occasion de la chronique en nécessité de la pensée." (C. Bident). Autograph manuscripts by Maurice Blanchot are of the utmost rarity.

Autograph manuscript by the author, 2½ pages octavo, published in the April 13, 1944 issue of the Journal des Débats.
Complete recto-verso manuscript, in very dense handwriting, with numerous deletions, corrections and additions.
Together with the complete signed typescript.
Chronicle published on the occasion of the publication of Jarry's posthumous novel, La Dragonne.

In this chronicle devoted to Alfred Jarry and Père Ubu, Maurice Blanchot was interested in the confusion between one and the other and its consequences: « [...] on peut penser que Jarry, en s'entêtant à être le Père Ubu, a pendant sa vie gaspillé une partie de ses ressources d'écrivain et après sa mort égaré le jugement littéraire sur sa véritable valeur. » ["[...] one can think that Jarry, by persisting in being Père Ubu, wasted during his lifetime part of his resources as a writer and after his death misled literary judgment about his true value."] Yet this confusion testifies to the author's coherence: « Chez Jarry, le choix d'un masque aussi peu flatteur a un sens fort clair. Il y a d'abord une volonté de mettre à mal tout sérieux et particulièrement cette volonté même ; il n'est pas question de tracer des frontières au ridicule ; on rit d'abord de soi, on en rit parce que ce rire n'est qu'un écho du vide. Et puis ce double grotesque que l'auteur revendique comme une représentation dont il est fier, affirme sa complicité, pleine de défi, avec les travers qu'il caricature. » ["In Jarry, the choice of such an unflattering mask has a very clear meaning. There is first a will to undermine all seriousness and particularly this very will; there is no question of drawing boundaries to the ridiculous; one first laughs at oneself, one laughs at it because this laughter is only an echo of the void. And then this grotesque double that the author claims as a representation of which he is proud, affirms his complicity, full of defiance, with the flaws he caricatures."]
La Dragonne, the last work by Ubu's father that Gallimard was then publishing, would therefore surprise Blanchot for « le sérieux avec lequel Jarry a accepté son métier de romancier » ["the seriousness with which Jarry accepted his profession as novelist"], who would also praise « les soudains mouvements d'imagination poétique qui dérangent le plan » ["the sudden movements of poetic imagination that disrupt the plan"].

The only monographic text devoted by Blanchot to Jarry.

Between April 1941 and August 1944, Maurice Blanchot published 173 articles on recently published books in the "Chronique de la vie intellectuelle" of the Journal des Débats. In half a page of newspaper (about seven octavo pages), the young author of "Thomas l'obscur" took his first steps in the field of literary criticism and thus inaugurated a theoretical work that he would later develop in his numerous essays, from "La Part du feu" to "L'Entretien infini" and "L'Écriture du désastre". From the first articles, Blanchot demonstrated an acuity of analysis far exceeding the literary current events that motivated their writing. Oscillating between classics and moderns, first-rate writers and minor novelists, he established, in his chronicles, the foundations of a critical thought that would mark the second half of the 20th century. Transformed by writing and by war, Blanchot broke, through thought exercised "in the name of the other," with the violent Maurrassian certainties of his youth. Not without paradox, he then transformed literary criticism into a philosophical act of intellectual resistance to barbarism at the very heart of an "openly Maréchaliste" newspaper: "Brûler un livre, en écrire, sont les deux actes entre lesquels la culture inscrit ses oscillations contraires" ["To burn a book, to write one, are the two acts between which culture inscribes its contrary oscillations"] (Le Livre, In Journal des Débats, January 20, 1943). In 2007, the Cahiers de la NRF brought together under the direction of Christophe Bident all the literary chronicles not yet published in volumes with this pertinent analysis of Blanchot's critical work: "romans, poèmes, essais donnent lieu à une réflexion singulière, toujours plus sûre de sa propre rhétorique, livrée davantage à l'écho de l'impossible ou aux sirènes de la disparition. (...) Non sans contradictions ni pas de côté, et dans la certitude fiévreuse d'une œuvre qui commence (...) ces articles révèlent la généalogie d'un critique qui a transformé l'occasion de la chronique en nécessité de la pensée." ["novels, poems, essays give rise to a singular reflection, always more sure of its own rhetoric, delivered more to the echo of the impossible or to the sirens of disappearance. (...) Not without contradictions or sidesteps, and in the feverish certainty of a work that begins (...) these articles reveal the genealogy of a critic who transformed the occasion of the chronicle into the necessity of thought."] (C. Bident). Autograph manuscripts by Maurice Blanchot are extremely rare.

Autograph manuscript by the author, 4 and a half octavo pages, published in the June 2, 1943 issue of the Journal des Débats.
Complete manuscript in very dense handwriting, with numerous deletions, corrections and additions.
Literary chronicle published on the occasion of the publication of Servius et la fortune by Georges Dumézil. The complete typescript is included.

By devoting his study to Dumézil's work on Servius, Blanchot established a crucial milestone in the evolution of his own thought, the passage from political conviction to literary engagement.
This reflection on sovereignty indeed led the former Maurrassian to reorient his value system, subjecting the prince's power to the people's benevolence: "La louange des hommes est une divinité sous le patronage de laquelle se place le souverain choisi par la voix publique" ["The praise of men is a divinity under whose patronage the sovereign chosen by public voice places himself"].
Starting from this legitimation of the sovereign by the poet's word and his alienation by the "puissance du blâme" ["power of blame"], Blanchot evolved toward a magical power of speech, first for the sovereign's use: "son pouvoir royal (...) n'est réel que par la maîtrise qu'il a sur les mots" ["his royal power (...) is real only through his mastery over words"]; then "dépassant toute forme d'échange. [La poésie] est par excellence ce qui est donné, ce qui manifeste le don des dieux en assurant le crédit des hommes." ["surpassing all forms of exchange. [Poetry] is par excellence what is given, what manifests the gift of the gods while ensuring the credit of men."]
Maurice Blanchot's position was now perfectly established: he did not sacrifice Politics for Letters, he affirmed the predominance of the literary over the political and henceforth devoted his entire life "to literature and to the silence that belongs to it".


Between April 1941 and August 1944, Maurice Blanchot published 173 articles on recently published books in the "Chronicle of intellectual life" of the Journal des Débats. In half a newspaper page (approximately seven octavo pages), the young author of "Thomas l'obscur" took his first steps in the field of literary criticism and thus inaugurated a theoretical work that he would later develop in his numerous essays, from "La Part du feu" to "L'Entretien infini" and "L'Écriture du désastre". From the first articles, Blanchot demonstrated an analytical acuity far exceeding the literary current events that motivated their writing. Oscillating between classics and moderns, first-rate writers and minor novelists, he established in his chronicles the foundations of critical thinking that would mark the second half of the 20th century. Transformed by writing and by war, Blanchot broke, through a thought exercised "in the name of the other", with the violent Maurrassian certainties of his youth. Not without paradox, he then transformed literary criticism into a philosophical act of intellectual resistance to barbarism at the very heart of an "openly Maréchaliste" newspaper: "Burning a book, writing one, are the two acts between which culture inscribes its contrary oscillations" (Le Livre, In Journal des Débats, January 20, 1943). In 2007, the Cahiers de la NRF brought together under the direction of Christophe Bident all the literary chronicles not yet published in volumes with this pertinent analysis of Blanchot's critical work: "novels, poems, essays give rise to a singular reflection, ever more confident in its own rhetoric, delivered more to the echo of the impossible or to the sirens of disappearance. (...) Not without contradictions or sidesteps, and in the feverish certainty of a work that begins (...) these articles reveal the genealogy of a critic who transformed the occasion of the chronicle into the necessity of thought." (C. Bident). Autograph manuscripts by Maurice Blanchot are extremely rare.

Autograph manuscript by the author of 4 and a half pages in-8 published in the issue of November 3, 1943 of Journal des Débats.
Complete recto-verso manuscript, in very dense handwriting, with numerous deletions, corrections and additions.
The complete typescript is included.
Chronicle published on the occasion of the publication of L'Apocalypse de St Jean, vision chrétienne de l'histoire by Father H.M. Féret.

From the outset, Maurice Blanchot, doing his job as a critic, praises the seriousness of the study conducted by Father Féret. But what interests him more than this careful orthodoxy are the powerful echoes of L'Apocalypse in the terrible hours the world was then going through: « Dans les périodes troublées, les esprits qui ne supportent pas l'incertitude de l'avenir ont besoin de prophètes. Mais ces prophètes, ils les demandent au passé, et plus l'oracle est ancien - et redoutable -, plus ils y voient des correspondances avec l'histoire qu'ils voudraient connaître. L'Apocalypse de St Jean doit, en partie à la sublimité du langage, à l'autorité de l'écrivain, à l'étendue de la révélation, une curiosité que des siècles d'étude n'ont pas réussi à épuiser. Mais elle doit aussi son prestige auprès d'esprits qui ne sont pas toujours pieux, à l'antiquité de la réponse et à son caractère terrifiant. Qui n'est pas prêt à croire que la fin des temps est proche et que le pire va être vécu ? Chacun a le désir secret d'associer sa propre fin qu'il entrevoie à celle du monde dont il est moins sûr. » ["In troubled periods, minds that cannot bear the uncertainty of the future need prophets. But these prophets, they seek them in the past, and the more ancient - and fearsome - the oracle, the more they see correspondences with the history they would like to know. The Apocalypse of St. John owes, partly to the sublimity of language, to the authority of the writer, to the extent of the revelation, a curiosity that centuries of study have not managed to exhaust. But it also owes its prestige among minds that are not always pious, to the antiquity of the answer and to its terrifying character. Who is not ready to believe that the end of times is near and that the worst will be lived? Each has the secret desire to associate his own end that he glimpses with that of the world of which he is less certain."] The biblical text thus awakens his interest for its literary and mythological qualities but also, in an almost political approach, for its sense of History. Furthermore, if religion does not of course pose itself in terms of belief for Blanchot, it nevertheless reveals his attention to the question of God (particularly sensitive through Judaism notably) and joins that, decisive in his eyes, of the writer's interior experience.
Finally, the analysis of L'Apocalypse that Blanchot delivers here constitutes a first in-depth reflection on the question of Evil: « [...] ce qui est propre au message inspiré, c'est le rôle qu'il fait jouer au démon dans la vie collective et le mouvement de l'histoire. Saint Jean ne dévoile pas l'action du mal dans les âmes ; il se borne à montrer quelle maîtrise les puissances démoniaques peuvent exercer sur les réalités collectives, par quelles voies elles agissent [...] et quelle défaite mettra un terme à leur empire. » ["[...] what is proper to the inspired message is the role it makes the demon play in collective life and the movement of history. Saint John does not unveil the action of evil in souls; he confines himself to showing what mastery demonic powers can exercise over collective realities, by what paths they act [...] and what defeat will put an end to their empire."] These links between the Apocalypse, History and Evil would be questioned again by Blanchot in "L'Apocalypse déçoit" (1964) and "Penser l'Apocalypse" (1988).

First foundational text by Blanchot on Evil and History.

Between April 1941 and August 1944, Maurice Blanchot published in the "Chronicle of intellectual life" of Journal des Débats 173 articles on recently published books. In half a page of newspaper (approximately seven in-8 pages), the young author of "Thomas l'obscur" takes his first steps in the field of literary criticism and thus inaugurates a theoretical work that he would later develop in his numerous essays, from "La Part du feu" to "L'Entretien infini" and "L'Écriture du désastre". From the first articles, Blanchot demonstrates an analytical acuity far exceeding the literary current events that motivate their writing. Oscillating between classics and moderns, first-rate writers and minor novelists, he establishes in his chronicles the foundations of a critical thought that would mark the second half of the 20th century. Transformed by writing and by war, Blanchot breaks, through a thought exercised "in the name of the other," with the violent Maurrassian certainties of his youth. Not without paradox, he then transforms literary criticism into a philosophical act of intellectual resistance to barbarism at the very heart of an "openly Maréchaliste" newspaper: "To burn a book, to write one, are the two acts between which culture inscribes its contrary oscillations" (Le Livre, In Journal des Débats, January 20, 1943). In 2007, the Cahiers de la NRF brought together under the direction of Christophe Bident all the literary chronicles not yet published in volumes with this pertinent analysis of Blanchot's critical work: "novels, poems, essays give rise to a singular reflection, always more certain of its own rhetoric, more given over to the echo of the impossible or to the sirens of disappearance. (...) Not without contradictions or sidesteps, and in the feverish certainty of a work that begins (...) these articles reveal the genealogy of a critic who transformed the occasion of the chronicle into the necessity of thought." (C. Bident). Autograph manuscripts by Maurice Blanchot are extremely rare.

Autograph manuscript by the author of 2 and a half octavo pages published in the April 20, 1944 issue of Journal des Débats. Complete manuscript with very dense writing, containing numerous strikethroughs, corrections and additions. Literary chronicle on the work of Claude Roy. The complete typescript is included.
This critique of La Mer à boire by Claude Roy is at once a detailed analysis of each short story and a poetic hymn to the poet's writing: "Le style de Claude Roy répond à merveille à ce jeu de nuances : il est lui aussi plein d'échos qui s'évanouissent, de mots qui se répercutent: il est libre, discipliné, tout en inventions et fidèle à la réalité qu'il décrit." ["Claude Roy's style responds marvelously to this play of nuances: it too is full of echoes that fade away, of words that reverberate: it is free, disciplined, full of inventions and faithful to the reality it describes."]

Between April 1941 and August 1944, Maurice Blanchot published 173 articles on recently published books in the "Chronique de la vie intellectuelle" of Journal des Débats.
In half a page of newspaper (about seven octavo pages), the young author of "Thomas l'obscur" takes his first steps in the field of literary criticism and thus inaugurates a theoretical work that he would later develop in his numerous essays, from "La Part du feu" to "L'Entretien infini" and "L'Écriture du désastre."
From the first articles, Blanchot demonstrates an analytical acuity far exceeding the literary current events that motivate their writing. Oscillating between classics and moderns, first-rate writers and minor novelists, he establishes, in his chronicles, the foundations of a critical thought that would mark the second half of the twentieth century.
Transformed by writing and by war, Blanchot breaks, through a thought exercised "in the name of the other," with the violent Maurrassian certainties of his youth.
Not without paradox, he then transforms literary criticism into a philosophical act of intellectual resistance to barbarism at the very heart of an "openly Maréchaliste" newspaper: "To burn a book, to write one, these are the two acts between which culture inscribes its contrary oscillations" (Le Livre, In Journal des Débats, January 20, 1943).
In 2007, the Cahiers de la NRF brought together under the direction of Christophe Bident all the literary chronicles not yet published in volumes with this pertinent analysis of Blanchot's critical work: "novels, poems, essays give rise to a singular reflection, always more confident in its own rhetoric, delivered more to the echo of the impossible or to the sirens of disappearance. (...) Not without contradictions or sidesteps, and in the feverish certainty of a work that begins (...) these articles reveal the genealogy of a critic who transformed the occasion of the chronicle into the necessity of thought." (C. Bident).
The autograph manuscripts of Maurice Blanchot are extremely rare.

Autograph manuscript by the author of 2 and a half pages in-4 published in the March 2, 1944 issue of Journal des Débats. Complete manuscript with very dense writing, containing numerous strikethroughs, corrections and additions. Literary chronicle published on the occasion of the publication, in the new collection of Gallimard editions devoted to "La Jeune Philosophie," of the work "Le souci de sincérité" by Yvon Belaval. The complete typescript is included.

Under Blanchot's pen, philosophical criticism acquires its own autonomy which makes it impossible to distinguish between Belaval's original thought and the luminous interpretation that Maurice Blanchot offers of it, in a few pages.

« L'homme sincère veut rompre avec la solitude où l'ont enfermé à la fois la réflexion et la faiblesse. Il rêve d'un retour au "nous" primitif, mais il se contente de le rêver : il s'enchante de ses scrupules, il ne parle qu'à soi-même et ne parle que de soi, il échoue et jouit de ses échecs. » ["The sincere man wants to break with the solitude in which both reflection and weakness have confined him. He dreams of a return to the primitive 'we,' but he contents himself with dreaming it: he is enchanted by his scruples, he speaks only to himself and speaks only of himself, he fails and enjoys his failures."]

No concern for sincerity, therefore, in Blanchot, but a rigorous intellectual mechanism which does not fear to free itself from the limits of the text studied to deploy all its philosophical potential.

Between April 1941 and August 1944, Maurice Blanchot published 173 articles on recently published books in the "Chronique de la vie intellectuelle" of Journal des Débats. In half a page of newspaper (about seven octavo pages), the young author of "Thomas l'obscur" takes his first steps in the field of literary criticism and thus inaugurates a theoretical work that he would later develop in his numerous essays, from "La Part du feu" to "L'Entretien infini" and "L'Écriture du désastre." From the first articles, Blanchot demonstrates an analytical acuity far exceeding the literary current events that motivate their writing. Oscillating between classics and moderns, first-rate writers and minor novelists, he establishes, in his chronicles, the foundations of a critical thought that would mark the second half of the twentieth century. Transformed by writing and by war, Blanchot breaks, through a thought exercised "in the name of the other," with the violent Maurrassian certainties of his youth. Not without paradox, he then transforms literary criticism into a philosophical act of intellectual resistance to barbarism at the very heart of an "openly Maréchaliste" newspaper: "To burn a book, to write one, these are the two acts between which culture inscribes its contrary oscillations" (Le Livre, In Journal des Débats, January 20, 1943). In 2007, the Cahiers de la NRF brought together under the direction of Christophe Bident all the literary chronicles not yet published in volumes with this pertinent analysis of Blanchot's critical work: "novels, poems, essays give rise to a singular reflection, always more confident in its own rhetoric, delivered more to the echo of the impossible or to the sirens of disappearance. (...) Not without contradictions or sidesteps, and in the feverish certainty of a work that begins (...) these articles reveal the genealogy of a critic who transformed the occasion of the chronicle into the necessity of thought." (C. Bident). The autograph manuscripts of Maurice Blanchot are extremely rare.

Autograph manuscript by the author of 4½ pages octavo published in the December 23, 1942 issue of Journal des Débats.
Complete recto-verso manuscript, very densely written, with numerous deletions, corrections and additions.
The complete typescript is included.
Chronicle published on the occasion of the publication of four new novels: Les Hommes forts by Georges Magnane, Le Vent se lève by Marius Grout, Clément by Maurice Toesca and Si le ciel tombe by Roger de Lafforest.

At the end of 1942, Maurice Blanchot reviews current literary events and provides uncompromising criticism of four novels by Georges Magnane, Marius Grout (Prix Goncourt winner in 1943), Maurice Toesca and Roger de Lafforest: « On voit qu'à ces quatre ouvrages, la monotonie des moyens, l'élusion du temps, la sobriété du ton et surtout le caractère théorique du thème principal donnent l'apparence d'un conte, d'une longue nouvelle qui se montre ou qui se cache sous la figure d'un roman. M. Georges Magnane n'a pu faire que son livre ne paraisse peu de chose au regard des descriptions sportives dont il l'a enrichi : l'histoire qu'il raconte ne s'impose pas ; elle reste vide ; elle s'efface. De même, chez M. Toesca et M. de Lafforest, il y a comme une absence d'âme qui rend inutile le jeu intellectuel dont ils ont soigneusement tendu les fils. L'esprit ne retient que l'intention qui, comme telle, lui paraît assez insignifiante ; à quoi bon un livre, si l'art ne se rend pas inséparable de la pensée par le style dont il la marque ? Il y a plus de secret dans le récit de M. Marius Grout, et c'est ce poids lourd, ce silence grave, ce plus indiscernable qui, malgré toutes les explications que l'auteur a cru bon nous donner, s'ajoutent à son œuvre comme la vérité qui ne peut être dite et l'empêchent de n'être plus rien, lorsque le lecteur en a découvert la conclusion. » ["We see that these four works, through the monotony of their means, the evasion of time, the sobriety of tone and especially the theoretical character of their main theme, take on the appearance of a tale, of a long short story that shows itself or hides under the guise of a novel. M. Georges Magnane could not prevent his book from appearing insignificant compared to the sporting descriptions with which he enriched it: the story he tells does not impose itself; it remains empty; it fades away. Similarly, in M. Toesca and M. de Lafforest, there is something like an absence of soul that renders useless the intellectual game whose threads they have carefully woven. The mind retains only the intention which, as such, seems quite insignificant to it; what good is a book if art does not make itself inseparable from thought through the style with which it marks it? There is more mystery in M. Marius Grout's narrative, and it is this heavy weight, this grave silence, this more indiscernible element that, despite all the explanations the author thought fit to give us, add to his work like truth that cannot be told and prevent it from becoming nothing when the reader has discovered its conclusion."]

Between April 1941 and August 1944, Maurice Blanchot published 173 articles on recently published books in the "Chronicle of Intellectual Life" in Journal des Débats.
In half a newspaper page (about seven octavo pages), the young author of "Thomas l'obscur" takes his first steps in the field of literary criticism and thus inaugurates a theoretical work that he would later develop in his numerous essays, from "La Part du feu" to "L'Entretien infini" and "L'Écriture du désastre".
From the first articles, Blanchot demonstrates an acuity of analysis far exceeding the literary current events that motivate their writing. Oscillating between classics and moderns, first-rate writers and minor novelists, he establishes, in his chronicles, the foundations of critical thought that would mark the second half of the 20th century.
Transformed by writing and by war, Blanchot breaks, through thought exercised "in the name of the other," with the violent Maurrassian certainties of his youth.
Not without paradox, he then transforms literary criticism into a philosophical act of intellectual resistance to barbarism at the very heart of an "openly Maréchaliste" newspaper: "Burning a book, writing one, are the two acts between which culture inscribes its contrary oscillations" (Le Livre, In Journal des Débats, January 20, 1943).
In 2007, the Cahiers de la NRF brought together under the direction of Christophe Bident all the literary chronicles not yet published in volumes with this pertinent analysis of Blanchot's critical work: "novels, poems, essays give rise to a singular reflection, increasingly sure of its own rhetoric, more given over to the echo of the impossible or to the sirens of disappearance. (...) Not without contradictions or sidesteps, and in the feverish certainty of a work that begins (...) these articles reveal the genealogy of a critic who transformed the occasion of the chronicle into the necessity of thought." (C. Bident).
Autograph manuscripts by Maurice Blanchot are extremely rare.

Autograph manuscript by the author of 2½ pages in-8 published in the February 10, 1944 issue of Journal des Débats.
Complete manuscript with very dense handwriting, containing numerous deletions, corrections and additions.
Literary chronicle published on the occasion of the publication of Jean Dumay's "Journal de guerre".
The complete typescript is included.
Between April 1941 and August 1944, Maurice Blanchot published 173 articles on recently published books in the "Chronique de la vie intellectuelle" of Journal des Débats.
In half a newspaper page (approximately seven pages in-8), the young author of "Thomas l'obscur" takes his first steps in the field of literary criticism and thus inaugurates a theoretical work that he would later develop in his numerous essays, from "La Part du feu" to "L'Entretien infini" and "L'Écriture du désastre".
From the first articles, Blanchot demonstrates an analytical acuity far exceeding the literary news that motivates their writing. Oscillating between classics and moderns, first-rate writers and minor novelists, he establishes in his chronicles the foundations of critical thought that would mark the second half of the 20th century.
Transformed by writing and by war, Blanchot breaks, through a thought exercised "in the name of the other," with the violent Maurrassian certainties of his youth.
Not without paradox, he then transforms literary criticism into a philosophical act of intellectual resistance to barbarism at the very heart of an "openly Maréchaliste" newspaper: "Brûler un livre, en écrire, sont les deux actes entre lesquels la culture inscrit ses oscillations contraires" ["To burn a book, to write one, are the two acts between which culture inscribes its contrary oscillations"] (Le Livre, In Journal des Débats, January 20, 1943).
In 2007, the Cahiers de la NRF brought together under the direction of Christophe Bident all the literary chronicles not yet published in volumes with this pertinent analysis of Blanchot's critical work: "romans, poèmes, essais donnent lieu à une réflexion singulière, toujours plus sûre de sa propre rhétorique, livrée davantage à l'écho de l'impossible ou aux sirènes de la disparition. (...) Non sans contradictions ni pas de côté, et dans la certitude fiévreuse d'une œuvre qui commence (...) ces articles révèlent la généalogie d'un critique qui a transformé l'occasion de la chronique en nécessité de la pensée." ["novels, poems, essays give rise to a singular reflection, ever more sure of its own rhetoric, delivered more to the echo of the impossible or to the sirens of disappearance. (...) Not without contradictions or sidesteps, and in the feverish certainty of a work that begins (...) these articles reveal the genealogy of a critic who transformed the occasion of the chronicle into necessity of thought."] (C. Bident).
Autograph manuscripts by Maurice Blanchot are extremely rare.

Autograph manuscript by the author, 2½ pages octavo, published in the December 10, 1943 issue of the Journal des Débats. Complete manuscript in very dense handwriting, with numerous deletions, corrections and additions. Literary chronicle published on the occasion of the publication of Passage de l'homme by Marius Grout, winner of the 1943 Prix Goncourt. Accompanied by the complete typescript.
Blanchot's critique of this future Prix Goncourt winner is not gentle, although he perfectly grasps its stakes. This story whose tragic unfolding ends in a deception that creates a new faith contains, for Blanchot, an equivocal moral.
"We understand what Marius Grout seeks to show; that men cannot live without a dream of transcendence, that miracle has no need of truth [...] But [...] if men need to live an ideal that is a fable, the question arises of knowing whether after all men need to live." The question would be pure rhetoric for a modern novel, but in 1943, "the writer who accepts to treat themes where man's destiny is at stake [...] puts himself at stake, he bets himself; if he loses, he loses himself."
Between April 1941 and August 1944, Maurice Blanchot published 173 articles on recently published books in the "Chronicle of Intellectual Life" of the Journal des Débats. In half a page of newspaper (approximately seven octavo pages), the young author of "Thomas l'obscur" takes his first steps in the field of literary criticism and thus inaugurates a theoretical work that he would later develop in his numerous essays, from "La Part du feu" to "L'Entretien infini" and "L'Écriture du désastre." From the first articles, Blanchot demonstrates an analytical acuity far exceeding the literary current events that motivate their writing. Oscillating between classics and moderns, first-rate writers and minor novelists, he establishes, in his chronicles, the foundations of a critical thought that would mark the second half of the 20th century. Transformed by writing and by war, Blanchot breaks, through a thought exercised "in the name of the other," with the violent Maurrassian certainties of his youth. Not without paradox, he then transforms literary criticism into a philosophical act of intellectual resistance to barbarism at the very heart of an "openly Maréchaliste" newspaper: "To burn a book, to write one, are the two acts between which culture inscribes its contrary oscillations" (Le Livre, In Journal des Débats, January 20, 1943). In 2007, the Cahiers de la NRF gathered under the direction of Christophe Bident all the literary chronicles not yet published in volumes with this pertinent analysis of Blanchot's critical work: "novels, poems, essays give rise to a singular reflection, always more sure of its own rhetoric, delivered more to the echo of the impossible or to the sirens of disappearance. (...) Not without contradictions or sidesteps, and in the feverish certainty of a work that begins (...) these articles reveal the genealogy of a critic who transformed the occasion of the chronicle into the necessity of thought." (C. Bident). Autograph manuscripts by Maurice Blanchot are extremely rare.

Autograph manuscript by the author, 2½ pages octavo, published in the January 13, 1944 issue of the Journal des Débats.
Complete recto-verso manuscript, in very dense handwriting, with numerous deletions, corrections and additions.
Accompanied by the complete typescript, with one autograph correction in black ink.

Chronicle published on the occasion of the publication of Le pèlerinage aux sources by Joseph Lanza del Vasto.

This chronicle by Maurice Blanchot forms an astonishing echo to one of his very first published texts (1931), devoted to Gandhi's Memoirs, which already contained the essence of his thought from the 1930s. Published in the pages of Cahiers mensuels, a Catholic review close to the thinking of Jacques Maritain, Blanchot defended the idea of a necessarily spiritual revolution but also of a struggle against the impurity of foreign influences.
In "Le pèlerinage aux sources," Blanchot returns to Gandhi through a recently published work by Joseph Lanza del Vasto, in which the Italian philosopher analyzes "the hope of renewal that many Westerners seek, often lightly, in the profound secrets of Hinduism". But for Blanchot, Gandhi's action could hardly constitute a true example to follow: "Naturally, we all understand that Gandhi's politics tends not only toward a political victory, but toward a spiritual victory: he wants to deliver the people from their ills, from their ignorance, to make them live the truth; all this is quite clear; what is also clear is that among these ills there is first the presence of the foreigner and that the regime recommended by the Mahatma and with a view to which he brings into play spiritual forces is a regime of political, economic and social liberation. It is impossible not to see [...] in this rehabilitation of external action, the distortion of the spiritual ideal. Man is no longer asked to strip himself of himself, for nothing (without any formidable end being able to justify him in this total annihilation), but he receives the order to arrange the world, to conquer himself with a view to making reality better. It is an inglorious return to the most vulgar morality of salvation."

An interesting critique of Mahatma Gandhi's political action.

Between April 1941 and August 1944, Maurice Blanchot published 173 articles on recently published books in the "Chronicle of Intellectual Life" of the Journal des Débats.
In half a page of newspaper (approximately seven octavo pages), the young author of "Thomas l'obscur" takes his first steps in the field of literary criticism and thus inaugurates a theoretical work that he would later develop in his numerous essays, from "La Part du feu" to "L'Entretien infini" and "L'Écriture du désastre."
From the first articles, Blanchot demonstrates an analytical acuity far exceeding the literary current events that motivate their writing. Oscillating between classics and moderns, first-rate writers and minor novelists, he establishes, in his chronicles, the foundations of a critical thought that would mark the second half of the 20th century.
Transformed by writing and by war, Blanchot breaks, through a thought exercised "in the name of the other," with the violent Maurrassian certainties of his youth.
Not without paradox, he then transforms literary criticism into a philosophical act of intellectual resistance to barbarism at the very heart of an "openly Maréchaliste" newspaper: "To burn a book, to write one, are the two acts between which culture inscribes its contrary oscillations" (Le Livre, In Journal des Débats, January 20, 1943).
In 2007, the Cahiers de la NRF gathered under the direction of Christophe Bident all the literary chronicles not yet published in volumes with this pertinent analysis of Blanchot's critical work: "novels, poems, essays give rise to a singular reflection, always more sure of its own rhetoric, delivered more to the echo of the impossible or to the sirens of disappearance. (...) Not without contradictions or sidesteps, and in the feverish certainty of a work that begins (...) these articles reveal the genealogy of a critic who transformed the occasion of the chronicle into the necessity of thought." (C. Bident).
Autograph manuscripts by Maurice Blanchot are extremely rare.

Autograph manuscript by the author of 2 and a half octavo pages published in the January 20, 1944 issue of Journal des Débats. Complete manuscript in very dense handwriting, with numerous deletions, corrections and additions. Literary chronicle on the literary current events of the moment. The complete typescript is included.

"The subject is not limited to the plot: it depends equally on incidents of language, details of composition and, even more, on those images that reveal the meaning of creation; the subject of a novel is above all the world it brings to birth."

This principle of the novelistic art could just as well apply to the chronicle it initiates. The subject of "D'un roman à l'autre" is not so much the literary current events it surveys as the Blanchotian thought it brings to birth.

Between April 1941 and August 1944, Maurice Blanchot published in the "Chronicle of intellectual life" of Journal des Débats 173 articles on recently published books. In half a newspaper page (approximately seven octavo pages), the young author of "Thomas l'obscur" takes his first steps in the field of literary criticism and thus inaugurates a theoretical work that he will later develop in his numerous essays, from "La Part du feu" to "L'Entretien infini" and "L'Écriture du désastre". From the first articles, Blanchot demonstrates an analytical acuity far exceeding the literary current events that motivate their writing. Oscillating between classics and moderns, first-rate writers and minor novelists, he establishes, in his chronicles, the foundations of critical thinking that will mark the second half of the 20th century. Transformed by writing and by war, Blanchot breaks, through thinking exercised "in the name of the other", with the violent Maurrassian certainties of his youth. Not without paradox, he then transforms literary criticism into a philosophical act of intellectual resistance to barbarity at the very heart of an "openly Pétainist" journal: "To burn a book, to write one, are the two acts between which culture inscribes its contrary oscillations" (Le Livre, In Journal des Débats, January 20, 1943). In 2007, the Cahiers de la NRF brought together under the direction of Christophe Bident all the literary chronicles not yet published in volumes with this pertinent analysis of Blanchot's critical work: "novels, poems, essays give rise to singular reflection, ever more confident in its own rhetoric, delivered more to the echo of the impossible or to the sirens of disappearance. (...) Not without contradictions or sidesteps, and in the feverish certainty of a work beginning (...) these articles reveal the genealogy of a critic who transformed the occasion of the chronicle into the necessity of thought." (C. Bident). Autograph manuscripts by Maurice Blanchot are extremely rare.

Autograph manuscript by the author of 2 and a half quarto pages published in the December 23, 1943 issue of Journal des Débats.
Complete manuscript in very dense handwriting, with numerous deletions, corrections and additions. The complete typescript is included.
This article, one of the rare pieces to appear on the journal's front page, is an audacious critique of the traditionalist vision of Art, which, arguing for the necessary adequacy between Art and Truth, condemns Modernity. With implacable intellectual rigor, Blanchot demonstrates how this conception of "authentic Art" "joins exactly that of the surrealists" and cites one of the major principles of Surrealism as perfect demonstration of Hourticq's remarks. In a France obsessed with rejecting Degenerate Art, Blanchot reveals the contradictions of traditionalists: "they admit that art in general precedes science, and it is in the name of past science (...) that they condemn new movements in art."
Blanchot, under the guise of literary criticism, once again questions his era: (...) It would still be good to research whether precisely modern science does not recognize itself in the "deformed, decomposed, obsolete universe that art has made familiar to our eyes."

Between April 1941 and August 1944, Maurice Blanchot published in the "Chronicle of intellectual life" of Journal des Débats 173 articles on recently published books.
In half a newspaper page (approximately seven octavo pages), the young author of "Thomas l'obscur" takes his first steps in the field of literary criticism and thus inaugurates a theoretical work that he will later develop in his numerous essays, from "La Part du feu" to "L'Entretien infini" and "L'Écriture du désastre".
From the first articles, Blanchot demonstrates an analytical acuity far exceeding the literary current events that motivate their writing. Oscillating between classics and moderns, first-rate writers and minor novelists, he establishes, in his chronicles, the foundations of critical thinking that will mark the second half of the 20th century.
Transformed by writing and by war, Blanchot breaks, through thinking exercised "in the name of the other", with the violent Maurrassian certainties of his youth.
Not without paradox, he then transforms literary criticism into a philosophical act of intellectual resistance to barbarity at the very heart of an "openly Pétainist" journal: "To burn a book, to write one, are the two acts between which culture inscribes its contrary oscillations" (Le Livre, In Journal des Débats, January 20, 1943).
In 2007, the Cahiers de la NRF brought together under the direction of Christophe Bident all the literary chronicles not yet published in volumes with this pertinent analysis of Blanchot's critical work: "novels, poems, essays give rise to singular reflection, ever more confident in its own rhetoric, delivered more to the echo of the impossible or to the sirens of disappearance. (...) Not without contradictions or sidesteps, and in the feverish certainty of a work beginning (...) these articles reveal the genealogy of a critic who transformed the occasion of the chronicle into the necessity of thought." (C. Bident).
Autograph manuscripts by Maurice Blanchot are extremely rare.

Autograph manuscript by the author of 4½ pages in-8 published in the September 8, 1943 issue of Journal des Débats.
Complete manuscript with very dense handwriting, containing numerous deletions, corrections and additions.
The complete typescript is included.
Literary chronicle published on the occasion of the publication of Les Voyages de Montesquieu, prefaced by Marcel Arland.
This artificial collection of Montesquieu's travel notebooks gives Blanchot the opportunity to praise a form of "natural" writing, "pure of all concern for readership". These intimate notes indeed testify to an art of "concision [which] delivers [facts] to us naked, pressed by the meaning that illuminates them" and which, from "considerable material [drew] only a small book, discreetly reduced to the essential."
Between April 1941 and August 1944, Maurice Blanchot published 173 articles on recently published books in the "Chronique de la vie intellectuelle" of Journal des Débats.
In half a newspaper page (about seven octavo pages), the young author of "Thomas l'obscur" takes his first steps in the field of literary criticism and thus inaugurates a theoretical work that he would later develop in his numerous essays, from "La Part du feu" to "L'Entretien infini" and "L'Écriture du désastre".
From his first articles, Blanchot demonstrates an analytical acuity far exceeding the literary current events that motivated their writing. Oscillating between classics and moderns, first-rate writers and minor novelists, he establishes, in his chronicles, the foundations of a critical thought that would mark the second half of the 20th century.
Transformed by writing and by the war, Blanchot breaks, through a thought exercised "in the name of the other", with the violent Maurrassian certainties of his youth.
Not without paradox, he then transforms literary criticism into a philosophical act of intellectual resistance to barbarism at the very heart of an "openly Maréchaliste" newspaper: "To burn a book, to write one, are the two acts between which culture inscribes its contrary oscillations" (Le Livre, In Journal des Débats, January 20, 1943).
In 2007, the Cahiers de la NRF brought together under the direction of Christophe Bident all the literary chronicles not yet published in volumes with this pertinent analysis of Blanchot's critical work: "novels, poems, essays give rise to a singular reflection, ever more sure of its own rhetoric, delivered more to the echo of the impossible or to the sirens of disappearance. (...) Not without contradictions or sidesteps, and in the feverish certainty of a work that begins (...) these articles reveal the genealogy of a critic who transformed the occasion of the chronicle into necessity of thought." (C. Bident).
Autograph manuscripts by Maurice Blanchot are extremely rare.

Autograph manuscript by the author of 2½ pages in-4 published in the May 26, 1943 issue of Journal des Débats. Complete manuscript with very dense handwriting, containing numerous deletions, corrections and additions. The complete typescript is included.
Each chapter of Roland Cailleux's novel, Saint-Genès ou la vie brève, presents a different narrative form. This gives Blanchot the opportunity to return to the interest of this literary audacity initiated a few years earlier by Joyce: "The novel showed itself there with all its possibilities, it metamorphosed into everything it could be."
Between April 1941 and August 1944, Maurice Blanchot published 173 articles on recently published books in the "Chronique de la vie intellectuelle" of Journal des Débats. In half a newspaper page (about seven octavo pages), the young author of "Thomas l'obscur" takes his first steps in the field of literary criticism and thus inaugurates a theoretical work that he would later develop in his numerous essays, from "La Part du feu" to "L'Entretien infini" and "L'Écriture du désastre". From his first articles, Blanchot demonstrates an analytical acuity far exceeding the literary current events that motivated their writing. Oscillating between classics and moderns, first-rate writers and minor novelists, he establishes, in his chronicles, the foundations of a critical thought that would mark the second half of the 20th century. Transformed by writing and by the war, Blanchot breaks, through a thought exercised "in the name of the other", with the violent Maurrassian certainties of his youth. Not without paradox, he then transforms literary criticism into a philosophical act of intellectual resistance to barbarism at the very heart of an "openly Maréchaliste" newspaper: "To burn a book, to write one, are the two acts between which culture inscribes its contrary oscillations" (Le Livre, In Journal des Débats, January 20, 1943). In 2007, the Cahiers de la NRF brought together under the direction of Christophe Bident all the literary chronicles not yet published in volumes with this pertinent analysis of Blanchot's critical work: "novels, poems, essays give rise to a singular reflection, ever more sure of its own rhetoric, delivered more to the echo of the impossible or to the sirens of disappearance. (...) Not without contradictions or sidesteps, and in the feverish certainty of a work that begins (...) these articles reveal the genealogy of a critic who transformed the occasion of the chronicle into necessity of thought." (C. Bident). Autograph manuscripts by Maurice Blanchot are extremely rare.

Autograph manuscript by the author of 4½ pages in quarto published in the November 27-28, 1943 issue of Journal des Débats.
Complete manuscript with very dense handwriting, containing numerous deletions, corrections and additions.
Literary chronicle published on the occasion of the publication of Paul Thiry d'Holbach et la philosophie scientifique au XVIIIe siècle by Pierre Naville.
The complete typescript is included.
Far more than a critique of Pierre Naville's work on Baron d'Holbach, this long article by Blanchot is a veritable philosophical pamphlet against the materialist thought of the Encyclopedists, whom he accuses of wanting to « know the world in order to seize it. This is a notable expression of the bourgeois spirit. (...) Man can only dominate the world if the world is a collection of objects. »
But through this virulent critique of 18th-century thought, Blanchot identifies a more modern evil: « To make man a thing that can be studied (...) is to ensure that he can be used as a thing and exploited as a thing. All the social contradictions of liberalism are already in this assertion. And its starting point is the Encyclopedia. »

Between April 1941 and August 1944, Maurice Blanchot published 173 articles on recently published books in the "Chronicle of Intellectual Life" of Journal des Débats.
In half a page of the newspaper (approximately seven octavo pages), the young author of "Thomas l'obscur" took his first steps in the field of literary criticism and thus inaugurated a theoretical work that he would later develop in his numerous essays, from "La Part du feu" to "L'Entretien infini" and "L'Écriture du désastre".
From the very first articles, Blanchot demonstrated an analytical acuity that far exceeded the literary current events that motivated their writing. Oscillating between classics and moderns, first-rate writers and minor novelists, he laid, in his chronicles, the foundations of a critical thought that would mark the second half of the 20th century.
Transformed by writing and by war, Blanchot broke, through a thought exercised "in the name of the other," with the violent Maurrassian certainties of his youth.
Not without paradox, he then transformed literary criticism into a philosophical act of intellectual resistance to barbarity at the very heart of an "openly Maréchal-supporting" newspaper: "To burn a book, to write one, are the two acts between which culture inscribes its contrary oscillations" (Le Livre, In Journal des Débats, January 20, 1943).
In 2007, the Cahiers de la NRF brought together under the direction of Christophe Bident all the literary chronicles not yet published in volumes with this pertinent analysis of Blanchot's critical work: "novels, poems, essays give rise to a singular reflection, increasingly confident in its own rhetoric, more given over to the echo of the impossible or to the sirens of disappearance. (...) Not without contradictions or sidesteps, and in the feverish certainty of a work that begins (...) these articles reveal the genealogy of a critic who transformed the occasion of the chronicle into the necessity of thought." (C. Bident).
Autograph manuscripts by Maurice Blanchot are extremely rare.

The first edition, published in a small number of copies, of which there were no deluxe copies, of this offprint from Pierre Nora's review, Le Débat.
Precious signed autograph inscription from Maurice Blanchot to his sister "... for you, this little reading and to help you regain courage".
Marguerite Blanchot, renowned organist at Chalon cathedral, remained all her life in the family home, with her mother and aunt. "She would gradually become, for the family, like the memory of origins." Very close to Maurice, she corresponded regularly with the writer who showed her great gratitude for her devotion to their invalid mother. While Blanchot's intense affection for his mother and sister shows through in his dedications, we know almost nothing of their relationships. In the only biographical essay on Blanchot, Christophe Bident reveals however: "Marguerite Blanchot venerated her brother Maurice. Very proud of him, (...) she attached great importance to his political ideas (...). She read extensively (...) They telephoned each other, corresponded. At a distance, they shared the same natural authority, the same concern for discretion." Blanchot indeed sent her numerous works from his library, maintaining with her a continuous intellectual bond. As for Blanchot's passion for his mother, it is in the margins of his work that we discover the most beautiful testimonies: "Perhaps the power of the maternal figure borrows its radiance from the very power of fascination, and one could say that if the Mother exerts this fascinating attraction, it is because appearing when the child lives entirely under the gaze of fascination, she concentrates in herself all the powers of enchantment". Cultivating absolute discretion, Blanchot pushed the art of self-effacement even into his manuscript dedications, generally succinct and written almost systematically on cards attached to the rare works he offered to his close friends. In contrast, in these precious inscriptions to his mother and sister, Blanchot reveals himself in all his fragility and, in the intimacy of this correspondence, casts a personal glance on his work hitherto unknown.
A small tear at the head of the spine.

Autograph manuscript of the author of 2 ½ pages 4to published in the issue dated March 2, 1944 of the Journal of Debates. Complete manuscript writing very dense, with many erasures, corrections and additions. Literary Chronicle published on the occasion of the publication of The Wyvern Marcel Ayme full typescript is attached.
"The books of Marcel Ayme have this happiness to make coarse the most subtle criticism explanations," says Blanchot in the introduction. Yet this column tribute to the poetic and light literature of the storyteller, none the less an analysis of "magical realism" own writing by Marcel Ayme.
Between April 1941 and August 1944, Maurice Blanchot published in the "Chronicle of intellectual life" of the Journal of Debates 173 articles on new books. In a half-page newspaper (about seven pages in-8), the young author of "Thomas the obscure" his first steps in the field of literary criticism and inaugurates a theoretical work that he would later develop Many in these essays, "La Part du feu" to "The Infinite Conversation" and "The Scripture of the disaster." From the very first articles, Blanchot demonstrated analytical acuity far beyond current literature that motivates writing. Oscillating between classic and modern, first-class writers and minor novelists, he puts in his columns, the foundations of critical thinking that will mark the second half of the twentieth. Transformed by writing and by war, Blanchot breaks, over a thought exerted "on behalf of the other," the violent maurassiennes certainties of his youth. Not without paradox, then it transforms literary criticism philosophical act of intellectual resistance to barbarism at the heart of an "openly marechalist" newspaper: "Burning a book, write, are two acts from which culture entered its oscillations opposites "(The Book, In Journal of Debates, January 20, 1943). In 2007, Cahiers NRF together under the direction of Christopher Bident all literary chronicles not yet published in volume with the proper analysis of the critical work of Blanchot "novels, poems, essays give rise to a singular reflection, always safer of his own rhetoric, delivered more to the echo of the impossible or the lure of the disappearance. (...) Not without contradictions or step aside, and the certainty of a feverish work begins (... ) these articles reveal the genealogy of a critic who has transformed during the chronicle necessity of thought. " (C. Bident). The autograph manuscripts of Maurice Blanchot are of great rarity.

Autograph manuscript of the author of 5 pages 8vo published in the issue dated 20 January 1943 of the Journal of Debates. Complete manuscript writing very dense, with many erasures, corrections and additions. Full typescript is attached.
This article is regularly cited as a result of the incipit against the burning "fire libraries remains the misfortune that announces the end of the mind. Burning a book, write, are two acts between which culture entered its oscillations contrary. "It is indeed a position against a strong identifiers of Nazism, which clearly marks the failover Blanchot.
But beyond these historical considerations, this chronic "free" is also a great tribute to the bibliophile "the joy of seeing stimulate effort to understand; there are certain books whose spirit seizes voluptuously before the be suitable for reading, it has in a way which is not entirely mental, and he seems to understand that the less if they were not so beautiful, also tasted by the eye. "
Between April 1941 and August 1944, Maurice Blanchot published in the "Chronicle of the intellectual life" of the Journal of Debates 173 articles on recently published books. In a half-page newspaper (about seven pages in-8), the young author of "Thomas the Obscure" his first steps in the field of literary criticism and inaugurates a theoretical work that develop later Many in these essays, "The Share of fire" to "The Infinite Conversation" and "The Writing disaster." From the very first articles, Blanchot demonstrates a sharp analysis far beyond the current literature that motivates writing. Oscillating between classical and modern writers of the first order and minor novelists, he puts in his columns, the foundations of critical thinking which will mark the second half of the twentieth. Transformed by writing and by war, Blanchot breaks, over a thought exerted "on behalf of the other," with violent maurassiennes certainties of his youth. Not without paradox, then it transforms literary criticism philosophical act of intellectual resistance to barbarism at the heart of an "openly marechalist" newspaper: "Burning a book, write, are the two acts between culture which registered its oscillations opposites "(The Book, In Journal of Debates, January 20, 1943). In 2007, Cahiers de la NRF together under the direction of Christophe Bident all literary chronic unpublished volumes with critical analysis of the relevant work of Blanchot "novels, poems, essays give rise to a singular reflection, always safer his own rhetoric, delivered more to echo the impossible or the lure of extinction. (...) Not without contradictions or step aside, and the certainty of a feverish work begins (... ) these articles reveal the genealogy of a critic who has transformed during the chronicle necessity of thought. " (C. Bident). The autograph manuscripts of Maurice Blanchot are of great rarity.

Autograph manuscript of the author of 2 ½ pages 8vo published in the issue dated 30 December 1943 of the Journal of Debates. Complete manuscript writing very dense, with many erasures, corrections and additions.
Typescript is complete seal.
Blanchot finds the gap between the ruined world "which is the truth of the world" that literature is forced to confront and personality of writers who do not seem to live this tragedy. "Feeling too obvious that the author [...] is happy to write, it is fortunate for him," contrast with characters who "through the desolation of events [...] hit some something deeper that they can no longer support nor reject or evade. "So this critique Gerbe Baude is it also a good opportunity to remember that the theme of the disaster, became a literary compulsion" to be taken as a revelation not only on literary trends, but the meaning of the world. "
Between April 1941 and August 1944, Maurice Blanchot published in the "Chronicle of intellectual life" of the Journal of Debates 173 articles on new books. In a half-page newspaper (about seven pages in-8), the young author of "Thomas the obscure" his first steps in the field of literary criticism and inaugurates a theoretical work that he would later develop Many in these essays, "La Part du feu" to "The Infinite Conversation" and "The Scripture of the disaster." From the very first articles, Blanchot demonstrated analytical acuity far beyond current literature that motivates writing. Oscillating between classic and modern, first-class writers and minor novelists, he puts in his columns, the foundations of critical thinking that will mark the second half of the twentieth. Transformed by writing and by war, Blanchot breaks, over a thought exerted "on behalf of the other," the violent maurassiennes certainties of his youth. Not without paradox, then it transforms literary criticism philosophical act of intellectual resistance to barbarism at the heart of an "openly marechalist" newspaper: "Burning a book, write, are two acts from which culture entered its oscillations opposites "(The Book, In Journal of Debates, January 20, 1943). In 2007, Cahiers NRF together under the direction of Christopher Bident all literary chronicles not yet published in volume with the proper analysis of the critical work of Blanchot "novels, poems, essays give rise to a singular reflection, always safer of his own rhetoric, delivered more to the echo of the impossible or the lure of the disappearance. (...) Not without contradictions or step aside, and the certainty of a feverish work begins (... ) these articles reveal the genealogy of a critic who has transformed during the chronicle necessity of thought. " (C. Bident). The autograph manuscripts of Maurice Blanchot are of great rarity.

Autograph manuscript of the author of 2 and a half pages in-8 published in the issue dated 6 January 1944 the Journal of Debates.
Complete manuscript writing very dense, with many erasures, corrections and additions.
Complete typescript with a few deletions and additions autograph of the author is attached.
Inspired by the flowers of Tarbes Jean Paulhan, this short article is for Blanchot, the opportunity to reflect on the position and work of criticism. Well beyond literary analysis of a work, this column is probably a key to the theoretical work of Blanchot and wider confrontation with his creation.
The conclusion - the erased manuscript way - this is quite eloquent way:
"The usual criticism is a sovereign who escapes immolation, purporting to exercise authority without atone and wants to master a kingdom which he has safely; So there he is little more miserable and sovereign, for not having refused to be something closer to being nothing. "
Between April 1941 and August 1944, Maurice Blanchot published in the "Chronicle of the intellectual life" of the Journal of Debates 173 articles on recently published books. In a half-page newspaper (about seven pages in-8), the young author of "Thomas the Obscure" his first steps in the field of literary criticism and inaugurates a theoretical work that develop later Many in these essays, "The Share of fire" to "The Infinite Conversation" and "The Writing disaster." From the very first articles, Blanchot demonstrates a sharp analysis far beyond the current literature that motivates writing. Oscillating between classical and modern writers of the first order and minor novelists, he puts in his columns, the foundations of critical thinking which will mark the second half of the twentieth. Transformed by writing and by war, Blanchot breaks, over a thought exerted "on behalf of the other," with violent maurassiennes certainties of his youth. Not without paradox, then it transforms literary criticism philosophical act of intellectual resistance to barbarism at the heart of an "openly marechalist" newspaper: "Burning a book, write, are the two acts between culture which registered its oscillations opposites "(The Book, In Journal of Debates, January 20, 1943). In 2007, Cahiers de la NRF together under the direction of Christophe Bident all literary chronic unpublished volumes with critical analysis of the relevant work of Blanchot "novels, poems, essays give rise to a singular reflection, always safer his own rhetoric, delivered more to echo the impossible or the lure of extinction. (...) Not without contradictions or step aside, and the certainty of a feverish work begins (... ) these articles reveal the genealogy of a critic who has transformed during the chronicle necessity of thought. " (C. Bident). The autograph manuscripts of Maurice Blanchot are of great rarity.

(JOYCE James) BLANCHOT Maurice. Le premier roman de Joyce. Complete autograph manuscript and complete typescript
N. n. [Journal des débats], n. p. [Paris] n. d. [1944], 1 leave in-8 (21 x 13,4 cm)
and ½ leave in-8 (10,4 x 13,4 cm) and 2 leaves in-4 (26,8 x 20,9 cm) numbered
Author’s autograph manuscript, two and a half pages, 8vo, published in the Journal des Débats on 18 May 1944.
Full manuscript, written both sides, densely spaced, with a number of erasures, corrections and additions.
With the complete typescript.
A review on the occasion of the republication of Joyce’s Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.
For Maurice Blanchot, James Joyce was one of the writers, along with the Marquis de Sade, Herman Melville, Fyodor Dostoyevsky and William Faulkner, who “had given non-sense the hallmark of an art reasonably coupled to the absurd” (Faux Pas, p. 68). He was also one of the writers for whom literature was the experience of the creation of a cosmic order.
The re-publication of Joyce’s first novel, Portrait, was in Blanchot’s eyes a way of illuminating the later masterpieces, Ulysses and Finnegan’s Wake. It was also the “magical portrait” of Joyce. “A magical portrait creates the being it unveils. It gives communal experiences an individual and extraordinary meaning. It describes real circumstances not for their historical truth but for the myths they engender. Through everyday events, we see emerge a figure that takes shape thanks to its radiant meaning. We are not watching the construction of someone’s personality, technically speaking: character traits are only the momentary expressions of events in the universal order, timeless motifs that coincide with a life. They bring together those figures that sketch the constellations in the sky; but which – before taking form – are shimmers, streaks of light, fiery bodies”.
A unique monograph by Maurice Blanchot on James Joyce, one of the contemporary writers he admired most deeply.

Autograph manuscript of the author of 5 pages 8vo published in the issue dated 27 January 1943 of the Journal of Debates. Complete manuscript writing very dense, with many erasures, corrections and additions. Chronic literary published on the occasion of the publication by Gallimard of the book "The faithful shepherd" Alexander Vialatte and also referring to the works of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Typescript is complete seal.
At the heart of the Occupation Blanchot focuses on two accounts of the French debacle of 1940 and the absurdity of the world it reveals. But the madness in which immerses the autobiographical character Vialatte is not for Blanchot, equivalent to that of war:
"Given the nonsense that he had the sudden revelation, his delusion is an ideal of order and balance (...) it is crazy to be fell short of such a folly. "
Tragic indicator of the "personal situation of the human being," the war through Vialatte "expresses one of the few genuine concerns of our time."
Between April 1941 and August 1944, Maurice Blanchot published in the "Chronicle of intellectual life" of the Journal of Debates 173 articles on new books. In a half-page newspaper (about seven pages in-8), the young author of "Thomas the obscure" his first steps in the field of literary criticism and inaugurates a theoretical work that he would later develop Many in these essays, "La Part du feu" to "The Infinite Conversation" and "The Scripture of the disaster." From the very first articles, Blanchot demonstrated analytical acuity far beyond current literature that motivates writing. Oscillating between classic and modern, first-class writers and minor novelists, he puts in his columns, the foundations of critical thinking that will mark the second half of the twentieth. Transformed by writing and by war, Blanchot breaks, over a thought exerted "on behalf of the other," the violent maurassiennes certainties of his youth. Not without paradox, then it transforms literary criticism philosophical act of intellectual resistance to barbarism at the heart of an "openly marechalist" newspaper: "Burning a book, write, are two acts from which culture entered its oscillations opposites "(The Book, In Journal of Debates, January 20, 1943). In 2007, Cahiers NRF together under the direction of Christopher Bident all literary chronicles not yet published in volume with the proper analysis of the critical work of Blanchot "novels, poems, essays give rise to a singular reflection, always safer of his own rhetoric, delivered more to the echo of the impossible or the lure of the disappearance. (...) Not without contradictions or step aside, and the certainty of a feverish work begins (... ) these articles reveal the genealogy of a critic who has transformed during the chronicle necessity of thought. " (C. Bident). The autograph manuscripts of Maurice Blanchot are of great rarity.

Autograph manuscript of the author of four and a half pages 8vo published in the issue dated August 4, 1943 of the Journal of Debates.
Complete manuscript writing very dense, with many erasures, corrections and additions.
Typescript is complete seal.
In this critical review of the problem of unbelief in the sixteenth century, the religion of Rabelais by Lucien Febvre, Blanchot takes us on an amazing journey of the humanist Renaissance. lacking the anachronistic interpretation of historians "who in modern rethinking what can be understood only by abandoning our habits of thought," the Renaissance appears as an enigmatic universe where atheistic philosophy does believe that scholastic terms and Science "is a chaos of opinions which credulity is given without any sense gene." Precursor in an era that ignores the humanist's just a man "incapable of acting on it [because] the projects ahead of him and incomprehensible."

Between April 1941 and August 1944, Maurice Blanchot published in the "Chronicle of intellectual life" of the Journal of Debates 173 articles on new books.
In a half-page newspaper (about seven pages in-8), the young author of "Thomas the obscure" his first steps in the field of literary criticism and inaugurates a theoretical work that he would later develop Many in these essays, "La Part du feu" to "The Infinite Conversation" and "The Scripture of the disaster."
From the very first articles, Blanchot demonstrated analytical acuity far beyond current literature that motivates writing. Oscillating between classic and modern, first-class writers and minor novelists, he puts in his columns, the foundations of critical thinking that will mark the second half of the twentieth.
Transformed by writing and by war, Blanchot breaks, over a thought exerted "on behalf of the other," the violent maurassiennes certainties of his youth.
Not without paradox, then it transforms literary criticism philosophical act of intellectual resistance to barbarism at the heart of an "openly marechalist" newspaper: "Burning a book, write, are two acts from which culture entered its oscillations opposites "(The Book, In Journal of Debates, January 20, 1943).
In 2007, Cahiers NRF together under the direction of Christopher Bident all literary chronicles not yet published in volume with the proper analysis of the critical work of Blanchot "novels, poems, essays give rise to a singular reflection, always safer of his own rhetoric, delivered more to the echo of the impossible or the lure of the disappearance. (...) Not without contradictions or step aside, and the certainty of a feverish work begins (... ) these articles reveal the genealogy of a critic who has transformed during the chronicle necessity of thought. " (C. Bident).
The autograph manuscripts of Maurice Blanchot are of great rarity.

Autograph manuscript of the author of four and a half pages in-8 published in the issue dated 1 September 1943 the Journal of Debates and resumed the same year in Faux-Pas. Complete manuscript writing very dense, with many erasures, corrections and additions. Literary review published on the occasion of the releases of "High Evil" by Michel Leiris and "The ziaux Raymond Queneau. Complete typescript is attached.
In this fundamental test of poetic theory (integrated corpus Faux appeared immediately after) Blanchot makes a deconstruction of traditional hermeneutic categories poetry Leiris renders inoperative:
"The role of images in the poetic universe is not always assume the network under multiple correspondence unit inexpressible reality to which advance, but never reach, the coordinated metaphors. There is a final image that keeps darkly under his attraction fragments of images that our memory offers us the matching, the latter metaphor justifies the most disparate comparisons, we do not know and we do not ask in poetry we learn. It is the quality of the images Top evil to escape this allegorical sighting and succeed according sequences confirms that no provocative unit. "
By comparing two incomparable, Leiris and Queneau poets, Blanchot redefines the relationship of the poem to its kind: "Each piece is poetry and it raises the need for an exclusive basis. [...] There is a poem in every act which brings us to the interview poetry in its essence, essence which itself may not interview and exists only in this poem. "
Between April 1941 and August 1944, Maurice Blanchot published in the "Chronicle of the intellectual life" of the Journal of Debates 173 articles on recently published books. In a half-page newspaper (about seven pages in-8), the young author of "Thomas the Obscure" his first steps in the field of literary criticism and inaugurates a theoretical work that develop later Many in these essays, "The Share of fire" to "The Infinite Conversation" and "The Writing disaster." From the very first articles, Blanchot demonstrates a sharp analysis far beyond the current literature that motivates writing. Oscillating between classical and modern writers of the first order and minor novelists, he puts in his columns, the foundations of critical thinking which will mark the second half of the twentieth. Transformed by writing and by war, Blanchot breaks, over a thought exerted "on behalf of the other," with violent maurassiennes certainties of his youth. Not without paradox, then it transforms literary criticism philosophical act of intellectual resistance to barbarism at the heart of an "openly marechalist" newspaper: "Burning a book, write, are the two acts between culture which registered its oscillations opposites "(The Book, In Journal of Debates, January 20, 1943). In 2007, Cahiers de la NRF together under the direction of Christophe Bident all literary chronic unpublished volumes with critical analysis of the relevant work of Blanchot "novels, poems, essays give rise to a singular reflection, always safer his own rhetoric, delivered more to echo the impossible or the lure of extinction. (...) Not without contradictions or step aside, and the certainty of a feverish work begins (... ) these articles reveal the genealogy of a critic who has transformed during the chronicle necessity of thought. " (C. Bident). The autograph manuscripts of Maurice Blanchot are of great rarity.

Autograph manuscript of the author of four and a half pages 8vo published in the issue dated 21 July 1943 of the Journal of Debates. Complete manuscript writing very dense, with many erasures, corrections and additions. Chronic literary published on the occasion of the publication, among other collections of Marcel Ayme (Le Passe-wall) and Colette (The cap). Typescript is complete seal.
Through the analysis of new Colette, Marcel Ayme, Marcel Arland and Richard Marius, Blanchot focuses on the need for unity between the news of a book "to give the impression of a real world" .
Between April 1941 and August 1944, Maurice Blanchot published in the "Chronicle of intellectual life" of the Journal of Debates 173 articles on new books. In a half-page newspaper (about seven pages in-8), the young author of "Thomas the obscure" his first steps in the field of literary criticism and inaugurates a theoretical work that he would later develop Many in these essays, "La Part du feu" to "The Infinite Conversation" and "The Scripture of the disaster." From the very first articles, Blanchot demonstrated analytical acuity far beyond current literature that motivates writing. Oscillating between classic and modern, first-class writers and minor novelists, he puts in his columns, the foundations of critical thinking that will mark the second half of the twentieth. Transformed by writing and by war, Blanchot breaks, over a thought exerted "on behalf of the other," the violent maurassiennes certainties of his youth. Not without paradox, then it transforms literary criticism philosophical act of intellectual resistance to barbarism at the heart of an "openly marechalist" newspaper: "Burning a book, write, are two acts from which culture entered its oscillations opposites "(The Book, In Journal of Debates, January 20, 1943). In 2007, Cahiers NRF together under the direction of Christopher Bident all literary chronicles not yet published in volume with the proper analysis of the critical work of Blanchot "novels, poems, essays give rise to a singular reflection, always safer of his own rhetoric, delivered more to the echo of the impossible or the lure of the disappearance. (...) Not without contradictions or step aside, and the certainty of a feverish work begins (... ) these articles reveal the genealogy of a critic who has transformed during the chronicle necessity of thought. " (C. Bident). The autograph manuscripts of Maurice Blanchot are of great rarity.