Michel Schneider's 'Morts imaginaires' Examines Writers' Final Words
Michel Schneider's 'Morts imaginaires', released by Éditions Grasset, presents a compilation of fictional last words from renowned authors, delving into how they end both their lives and literary creations. Drawing inspiration from Marcel Schwob's 1899 rendition of Thomas De Quincey's narrative on Kant's demise, Schneider emphasizes the critical juncture when memory fades and awareness ceases. The narrative includes the final moments of notable figures like Montaigne, Pascal, Madame de Sévigné, and Nabokov. Schneider posits that a writer's true essence is unveiled at death, engaging with Maurice Blanchot's notion of the author's disappearance within their work, yet he perceives literature as a vibrant pursuit. Notable last words featured include Chateaubriand's 'I want to go there' and Tolstoy's 'I love the truth'. The essay wraps up with Schneider's personal reflection on a book that once helped him combat suicidal thoughts.
Key facts
- Michel Schneider's 'Morts imaginaires' is published by Éditions Grasset.
- The book collects imagined last words of writers including Montaigne, Pascal, Madame de Sévigné, Benjamin Constant, Stendhal, Balzac, Flaubert, Freud, Buzzati, and Nabokov.
- Schneider's method is inspired by Marcel Schwob's 1899 translation of Thomas De Quincey's account of Kant's death.
- The book explores the idea that the meaning of a work is revealed at the moment of the author's death.
- Schneider engages with Maurice Blanchot's theory of the author's disappearance into the work.
- Famous last words cited include Goethe's 'Mehr Licht' (More light) and Chateaubriand's 'Je veux y aller'.
- Schneider contrasts his view with Borges's concept of the author as an accident.
- The essay ends with a personal confession that a book helped Schneider resist the desire for death.
Entities
Artists
- Michel Schneider
- Marcel Schwob
- Thomas De Quincey
- Immanuel Kant
- Montaigne
- Blaise Pascal
- Madame de Sévigné
- Benjamin Constant
- Stendhal
- Honoré de Balzac
- Gustave Flaubert
- Sigmund Freud
- Dino Buzzati
- Vladimir Nabokov
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
- Thomas Bernhard
- Leo Tolstoy
- Julie de Lespinasse
- Alphonse Allais
- Maurice Blanchot
- John Donne
- Jorge Luis Borges
- William Shakespeare
- François-René de Chateaubriand
Institutions
- Éditions Grasset
- la Vogue (revue)
- Bibliothèque de Buenos Aires
Locations
- Buenos Aires
- Argentina
Sources
- artpress —