Hi Adam! 

I notice your interest in Blanchot. I am struggling with his figure/space/philosophy of the 'neutral' and how it might be related to contemporary themes. There's not much..erm..humour in his position is there?...And yet it's fascinating too. Especially the insistence on paradox...I'd be interested to hear your thoughts or what your interest is...

...Well there's definitely something  - to put it bluntly and quickly and for want of a better word - "old-fashioned" about Blanchot... and yet, and yet I'm wondering how to describe or explain what it is about the figure of the neuter/neutral (in particular) that makes it so very relevant to the contemporary times we are living...

thanks, adam. & i agree  about not wanting to go out of one's way to be trendy or whatever. For me the challenge is just to be open (seriously so!)- and yet still strive to understand & relate to what's going on. It's interesting that you mention Spec. Realism. Perhaps rather than contrasting 'negatively', Blanchot's engagement could be be related to the move towards the ontology of things/thingness. The experience of the neutral would seem to allow for that... So I don't see a conflict there. But it's definitely true that much is still to work out. I havent read very much yet myself. But "L'attente, L'oubli" is very beautiful.... Thanks anyway for responding...Perhaps others will contribute to the thread too...(not quite sure if thread is visible to everyone or not... ;)