ABSTRACT

This chapter sets out the principal aspects of Robert Antelme's thesis of the indivisibility of humanity, before discussing the affinities and important distinctions between Antelme's model of residual humanity and a contemporary fascination with figures of spectrality. It examines that Antelme's particular conception of the human offers a kind of delicacy which has much to say to the interest, and that this is one of the key factors in his recent prominence; but also that his position maintains something of the substance of the humanism of his immediate context. The chapter assesses Antelme's relation to this belated context. It discusses his own use of an imagery of spectrality in relation to survival, and compare this to the more recent development of this imagery by Maurice Blanchot and Jacques Derrida. It offers a clear instance of the combination of distance and proximity which may be partly responsible for his prominence.