Christopher Langlois is Lecturer of English at Dawson College, Canada, and the author of Samuel Beckett and the Terror of Literature (2017).

• Notes on ContributorsSeries PrefaceList of AbbreviationsIntroduction: Against Praise of Maurice BlanchotChristopher Langlois, St. Lawrence University, USAPart 1 – Conceptualizing Blanchot1. Critical First Steps: On Faux Pas Cosmin Toma, Université de Montréal, Canada2. Thus Spoke LiteratureHannes Opelz, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland 3. Absolute Modernism and The Space of LiteratureJames Martell, Lyon College, USA4. Writing the Future: Blanchot’s Le Livre à venirLeslie Hill, University of Warwick, UK5. Literature Outside the Law: Blanchot’s The Infinite ConversationChristopher Langlois, St. Lawrence University, USA6. ‘‘Exacerbating the Self-Critical Tendency’’: Ethics and Critique in Le pas au-delàAïcha Liviana Messina, Universidad Diego Portales, ChilePart 2 – Blanchot and Aesthetics7. Nescio Vos: The Pathos of Unknowing in When the Time ComesJean-Michel Rabaté, University of Pennsylvania, USA8. Writing as Überfluss: Blanchot's Reading of Kafka's DiariesMichael Holland, Oxford University, UK9. I Hear My Destiny in the Rustling of an Oak: Blanchot’s CharKevin Hart, University of Virginia, USA10. Neutral Conditions: Blanchot, Beckett, and the Space of WritingJonathan Boulter, Western University, Canada 11. The Look of Nothingness: Blanchot and the ImageJeff Fort, University of California, Davis, USA12. “The Call of the Anterior”: Blanchot, Lacan, and the Death DriveAllan Pero, Western University, Canada13. “Unmade According to His Image” or, Night for Day: Blanchot and the Blacknesses of Cinema FigureKevin Bell, Pennsylvania State University, USAPart 3 – GlossaryDisasterWilliam S. Allen, University of Southampton, UKFragmentary WritingWilliam S. Allen, University of Southampton, UKCommunityJoseph Albernaz, University of California, Berkeley, USADésoeuvrementMichael Krimper, New York University, USAThe Neuter/the NeutralJohn McKeane, University of Reading, UK PassivityPatrick Lyons, University of California, Berkeley, USaLiteratureAudrey Wasser, Miami University, Ohio, USAOutsideAudrey Wasser, Miami University, Ohio, USAFriendshipAïcha Liviana Messina, Universidad Diego Portales, ChileIndex

This indispensable collection of essays reveals how Blanchot, one of the pioneers of French thought, illuminates—and is illuminated by—modernist literature. At once compelling and lucid, Understanding Blanchot, Understanding Modernism offers an irresistible invitation to join this conversation of outstanding scholars enabling us to rethink the juncture between literature and philosophy.