they arrange these things better in france

After the war Blanchot began working only as a novelist and literary critic. In 1947, Blanchot left Paris for the secluded village of Eze in the south of France, where he spent the next decade of his life. Like Sartre and other French intellectuals of the era, Blanchot avoided the academy as a means of livelihood, instead relying on his pen. [We once thought we might rely on our pen; our agent put the kaboosh on the idea.] Importantly, from 1953 to 1968, he published regularly in Nouvelle Revue Française. [Autres temps, autre moeurs.] At the same time, he began a lifestyle of relative isolation, often not seeing close friends (like Levinas) for years, while continuing to write lengthy letters to them. [Plus ça change. Emailer avant la lettre.]

from our very dear friends at you know where