Herman Melville's "Bartleby", asked to account for himself, 'would prefer not to'. Tongue-tied Billy Budd, urged to defend his innocence, responds with a murderous blow. "The Bavard", by Louis-Rene des Forets, concerns a man whose power to speak is replaced by an inability to shut up. In these and other literary examples a call for speech throws the possibility of speaking into doubt. "What Is There to Say?" uses the ideas of Maurice Blanchot to clarify puzzling works by Melville, des Forets, and Beckett. Ann Smock's ...
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Herman Melville's "Bartleby", asked to account for himself, 'would prefer not to'. Tongue-tied Billy Budd, urged to defend his innocence, responds with a murderous blow. "The Bavard", by Louis-Rene des Forets, concerns a man whose power to speak is replaced by an inability to shut up. In these and other literary examples a call for speech throws the possibility of speaking into doubt. "What Is There to Say?" uses the ideas of Maurice Blanchot to clarify puzzling works by Melville, des Forets, and Beckett. Ann Smock's energetic readings of texts about talking, listening, and recording cast an equally welcome light on Blanchot's paradoxical thought. Ann Smock is a professor of French at the University of California, Berkeley and the author of "Double Dealing". She translated Maurice Blanchot's "The Space of Literature" and "The Writing of the Disaster", as well as Sarah Kofman's "Rue Ordener, Rue Labat", all published by the University of Nebraska Press. Also available are: "The Space of Literature: A Translation L'Espace Litteraire"; "Maurice Blanchot Translated" by Ann Smock, 1982; "The Writing of the Disaster"; "Maurice Blanchot Translated" by Ann Smock 1986; "Aminadab"; and, "Maurice Blanchot Translated" by Jeff Fort 2002.
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Add this copy of What is There to Say? to cart. $25.00, like new condition, Sold by Sequitur Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Boonsboro, MD, UNITED STATES, published 2003 by University of Nebraska Press.
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Seller's Description:
Like New. Size: 6x1x8; Hardcover and dust jacket. Good binding and cover. Minor shelf wear. Clean, unmarked pages. 192 p., 21 cm. "Smock writes wisely and wittily, without pedantry and with disarming clarity and simplicity. Her book is a critical gem and a boon to all who are interested in recent French philosophical and aesthetic thought and the extraordinary body of writing it has given rise to."-Ross Chambers.