Thomas the Obscure
by Maurice Blanchot
- Used
- Fine
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- Fine/Very Good
- Seller
-
Brooktondale, New York, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
First printing of the first English-language edition. Translation by Robert Lamberton. Volume, measuring approximately 6.5" x 9.75", is bound in black cloth, with stamped gilt lettering to spine. Book is in fine condition, with firm binding, clean and bright pages. Dust jacket, with price of $8.50 on front flap, shows light shelfwear, with minor loss at bottom edge of rear panel and spine. 117 pages.
"There is, for every work, an infinity of possible variants. The present version adds nothing to the pages entitled "Thomas the Obscure" begun in 1932, delivered to the publisher in May of 1940 and published in 1941, but as it subtracts a good deal from them, it may be said to be another, and even an entirely new version, but identical at the same time, if one is right in making no distinction between the figure and that which is, or believes itself to be, its center, whenever the complete figure itself expresses no more than the search for an imagined center."
"Thomas demeura à lire dans sa chambre. Il était assis sur une chaise de velours, les mains jointes au-dessus de son front, les pouces appuyés contre la racine des cheveux, si absorbé qu'il ne faisait pas un mouvement lorsqu'on ouvrait la porte. Ceux qui entraient se penchaient sur son épaule et lisaient ces phrases : "Il descendit sur la plage : il voulait marcher. L'engourdissement gagnait après les parties superficielles les régions profondes du coeur. Encore quelques heures et il savait qu'il s'en irait doucement à un état incompréhensible sans jamais connaître le secret de sa métamorphose. Encore quelques instants et il éprouverait cette paix que donne la vie en se retirant, cette tranquillité de l'abandon au crime et à la mort. Il eut envie de s'étendre sur le sable : las et informe, il épiait le moment où allait paraître la première agonie de sa vie, un sentiment merveilleux qui doucement le délierait de ce qu'il y avait de raidi dans ses articulations et ses pensées. Il vit que tout en lui préparait le consentement : son corps commençait à se détendre ; ses mains ouvertes s'offraient au malheur ; ses yeux mi-fermés faisaient signe au destin."
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Details
- Bookseller
- Palimpsest Scholarly Books (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 2640
- Title
- Thomas the Obscure
- Author
- Maurice Blanchot
- Book Condition
- Used - Fine
- Jacket Condition
- Very Good
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Publisher
- David Lewis
- Date Published
- 1973
- Weight
- 0.00 lbs
- Keywords
- French Literature
Terms of Sale
Palimpsest Scholarly Books
About the Seller
Palimpsest Scholarly Books
About Palimpsest Scholarly Books
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
- New
- A new book is a book previously not circulated to a buyer. Although a new book is typically free of any faults or defects, "new"...
- Gilt
- The decorative application of gold or gold coloring to a portion of a book on the spine, edges of the text block, or an inlay in...
- Fine
- A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...
- Cloth
- "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
- Shelfwear
- Minor wear resulting from a book being place on, and taken from a bookshelf, especially along the bottom edge.