SOURCE: “Introduction,” in Politics and Literature: The Case of Maurice Blanchot, Peter Lang, 1999, pp. 1-15.

In the following essay, Hess provides an overview of Blanchot's literary career and political involvements, noting the critical obstacles of Blanchot's writings and political commitments due to his private nature and reticence concerning his own work.

A great deal has been written on the subject of Maurice Blanchot: on his criticism, on his view of literature, on the difficulty of interpreting his fictional works, on his politics. Because there have been many widely divergent theories advanced, and very little dialogue between the different points of view, it is essential to explain and if possible reconcile them. My thesis is that Blanchot has stimulated an intense discussion around his critical and fictional work for varying reasons, but primarily because of the highly symbolic role he accords the literary text, a symbolic role open to...