Maurice Blanchot tries to resist canonisation when discussing literature. This could be potentially difficult as the literary piece would have to be something that no one else has ever read before so as to not fit into a literary canon. Themes and ideas frequently circulate and are recycled and rejuvenated throughout different novels in different eras so it’s not very often that anything new ever gets produced. However, Blanchot argues to consider every text in a singular manor to get the full extent and meaning of the words and this meaning will then transcend time to mean something to the next generation. This is the only true way to be able to read a text, according to Blanchot, and regardless of whether an understanding is gained from the text or not. Blanchot illustrates texts a have many interpretations all of which are valid in spite of them being different.
Furthering this, Blanchot believed that a literary text is solely individual to its self. This becomes hard to understand when taking into consideration the mass production of books that we know have in the twenty first century. Does this then reduce the meaning literary texts have because they are so easily accessible? Should we go back to the times in which texts were only produced and sold do those deemed worthy to read them? If that is the case then who would be worthy enough to read them in our society?
The mass production of books is not something Blanchot dwells upon because it is not the production of the literature that is important but the quality of the message within. All this reduces down to the text itself. The book is not just the words written on the page or whether or the message on the page is conveyed to the person but whether the deeper meaning and significance is felt by the reader. The continuation of the meanings held within literature, for Blanchot, shows the power that it has to be able to continue through time to enlighten others.
Natasha Ekin N0266642
Thanks Tasha. I like the fact that you focussed on the historical transmission of literature, especially in the context of mass reproduction. As Walter Benjamin knew well, in the age of mechanical reproduction the literary text will lose its aura. What was always of interest to Blanchot is how a text is singular, how it reveals its meaning within a specific historical situation. You are absolutely right to ponder the question of mechanical reproduction,when texts become mass produced they lose their singularity. I don't know if Blanchot would have us go back to reading books by candlelight in a Luddite way, but if texts are everywhere they are in effect nowhere. In this sense I think, Blanchot's point is that literary texts are losing their meaning and value, or put positively their singularity is obscured.
ReplyDeleteAlso, if you are interested check out Walter Benjamin's essay The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.
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