Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. contents v
3. translator’s note ix
4. preface xi
5. part I. 1907–1923
6. chapter 1. Blanchot of Quain 3
7. chapter 2. Music and Family Memory 10
8. chapter 3. The Fedora of Death 13
9. part II. 1920s–1940
10. chapter 4. The Walking Stick with the Silver Pommel 21
11. chapter 5. A Flash in the Darkness 24
12. chapter 6. There Is 29
13. chapter 7. Aligning One’s Convictions 34
14. chapter 8. “Mahatma Gandhi” 41
15. chapter 9. Refusal, I: The Revolution of Spirit 44
16. chapter 10. Journalist, Opponent of Hitler, National- Revolutionary 51
17. chapter 11. The Escalation of Rhetoric 62
18. chapter 12. Terrorism as a Method of Public Safety 67
19. chapter 13. Patriotism’s Breaking Point 71
20. chapter 14. These Events Happened to Me in 1937 82
21. chapter 15. On the Transformation of Convictions 88
22. chapter 16. From Revolution to Literature 91
23. chapter 17. Murderous Omens of Times to Come 101
24. chapter 18. Night Freely Recircled, Which Plays Us 111
25. part III. 1940–1949
26. chapter 19. The Universe Is to Be Found in Night 121
27. chapter 20. Using Vichy against Vichy 127
28. chapter 21. Admiration and Agreement 135
29. chapter 22. In the Name of the Other 145
30. chapter 23. A True Writer Has Appeared 160
31. chapter 24. Lift This Fog Which Is Already of the Dawn 163
32. chapter 25. Writers Who Have Given Too Much to the Present 170
33. chapter 26. From Anguish to Language 178
34. chapter 27. The Prisoner of the Eyes That Capture Him 182
35. chapter 28. The Disenchantment of the Community 187
36. chapter 29. The Year of Criticism 192
37. chapter 30. Respecting Scandal 195
38. chapter 31. The Black Stain 208
39. chapter 32. The Passion of Silence 219
40. chapter 33. The Mediterranean Sojourn 225
41. chapter 34. Something Infl exible 229
42. chapter 35. The Turn of the Screw 232
43. chapter 36. The Authority of Friendship 235
44. chpater 37. Quarrels in the Literary World 239
45. part IV. 1949–1959
46. chapter 38. Invisible Partner 245
47. chapter 39. The Essential Solitude 248
48. chapter 40. The Radiance of a Blind Power 254
49. chapter 41. Are You Writing, Are You Writing Even Now? 261
50. chapter 42. The Critical Detour 266
51. chapter 43. The Author in Reverse 271
52. chapter 44. Always Already (The Poetic and Political Interruption of Thought) 280
53. chapter 45. Of an Amazing Lightness 290
54. chapter 46. Grace, Strength, Gentleness 297
55. chapter 47. In the Gaze of Fascination 301
56. chapter 48. Refusal, II: In the Name of the Anonymous 303
57. part V. 1960–1968
58. chapter 49. Note That I Say “Right” and Not “Duty” 315
59. chapter 50. Invisible Partners 324
60. chapter 51. Characters in Thought 336
61. chapter 52. Act in Such a Way That I Can Speak to You 342
62. chapter 53. The Thought of the Neuter 349
63. chapter 54. A First Homage 362
64. chapter 55. Between Two Forms of the Unavowable 370
65. chapter 56. The Far Side of Fear 375
66. part VI. 1969–1997
67. chapter 57. Life Outside 389
68. chapter 58. Friendship in Disaster 403
69. chapter 59. The Last Book 406
70. chapter 60. Forming the Myth 416
71. chapter 61. Making the Secret Uncomfortable 424
72. chapter 62. With This Break in History Stuck in One’s Throat 435
73. chapter 63. Even a Few Steps Take Time 445
74. Amor 465
75. acknowledgments 479
76. notes 481
77. books by maurice blanchot, with translations into english 599
78. index 605