7 November 2013

Edmond Jabès: Père Lachaise Columbarium #10

Edmond Jabès (1912–91) was born in Cairo into a French-speaking Jewish family. He became friends with two other writers, Albert Cossery (1913–2008) and Andrée Chedid (1920–2011), both of whom were also born in Cairo, moved to Paris, and wrote in French.

Jabès became a friend of Paul Celan, another writer in the apophatic, or negative theological, tradition. He was interested in the difference between souvenir (which he thought self-made) and mémoire (which he saw as external), and was also concerned with how a child constructs language.

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