The instant of Death

Minwoo Choi
Graduate School & Job Applications: Style & Praxis
Rowan G. Tepper
June 3 2011
The first impression on the literature is very clear; it is very difficult to understand. The general organization of the book is very irregular compared to other types of writings such as fiction or non-fiction. It only has a couple of pages of actual story and the rest is mostly about description of what the author believes from his literature. Nevertheless, this story is considered very unique and precious because it provides a new potential of literature by offering a connection between two opposite style of literature: fiction and non-fiction.
In the story of The Instant of my death, the author defines the meaning of death through fictional character. Because the life risking situation that the character, Nazis, faces is not common for normal people, it should be difficult to deliver the readers what actual emotional feeling. Ironically, the author does not focus mainly on the scene in the story itself.
The author describes and expresses the meaning of death in a different point of view by pointing out the true message of absence. During the reading, many questions are offered from his point of view. What is death? What determines death? Does the death really mean the end? Death was not only the end of living things to him, but also the end of philosophical concept of human being.
The author also minimizes his words and influence; he wants to disappear through his words. It is as depicted from the author’s old life style when he was alive. He wanted to be isolated from the society. On the other words, he wants to show the meaning of disappearance in more sophisticated philosophical way through literature. What is the difference between the death in a literature and the death in a philosophy? It is very complicated concept to consume and this was the reason why he sounds very difficult. However, the overall concept and purpose of the author is simple. He wants to merge different writing styles: fiction and non-ficiton.
Even though it was very challenging reading to understand, there is no doubt that Maurice Blanchot was the great leading writer to offer and show new way of literature. He insists that literature’s role is not only telling the stories to readers, but also delivering deeper philosophical messages.