Via This Space:
Harvard University’s website ofers for download in PDF a conversation between Christie McDonald and Leslie Morris about the acquisition of the proofs of Maurice Blanchot’s L’Entretien infini [The Infinite Conversation] by Harvard’s Houghton Library:
They were described by the seller: “[these] may be the only remaining materials reasonably describable as ‘manuscripts’ to have been preserved from among his effects at his death in 2003, and it was only by chance that these survived. They were salvaged from the rubbish-bin by the husband of Blanchot’s long-time housekeeper.” All were priced accordingly.
An appealing story, and sure to whet the collector’s appetite with its claim of extreme rarity, a ‘last chance’ to own a piece of one of France’s most important literary theorists. Was it true?
Read the full account here (caution pdf): TROUVAILLE