Description: Maurice Blanchot: a Critical Biography attempts a critical and theoretical biography by drawing on unpublished documents and interviews with those close to the writer. It tracks the life and work of one of the most important novelists and critics of the twentieth century, who influenced many writers, artists, and philosophers, not least those of French theory.
Brief description: Christophe Bident is Professor of Theater Studies at the University of Picardie Jules Verne. He is the author of works on Maurice Blanchot, Roland Barthes and Bernard-Marie Koltès.
Review Quotes: Navigating his way through the private life of a man who, more than any other writer of his era, shunned publicity and erected a protective wall around himself, Bident attempts to respect that fiercely guarded privacy while at the same time including all the detailed information about Blanchot's austere personal life that he was able to gather over years of intensive research.-- "The New York Review of Books"