was a journalist, literary theorist and writer. He studied philosophy and German literature at Strasbourg University, where he met Emmanuel Levinas, and went on to study medicine at the Sainte-Anne Hospital, Paris. He was an active member of the French Résistance and a fierce opponent of the Algerian War. In 1953 Blanchot started writing on a regular basis for »Nouvelle Revue Française« and published a number of influential essays and novels. His articles, as much as his novellas and novels, inspired a whole generation of artists, writers and theorists. His literary output revolves around the precarious gesture of the writing process, the reading experience, and the intimate link between literature and death.