Literary Nonfiction. Criticism and Theory. Jewish Studies. The fate of the individual among disintegrating tradition is a major theme of Edmund Jabes. In this book of literary and philosophical conversations, France's leading Jewish writer adds an intimate, personal dimension to his formidable 40-year career. Compelling in its inquiry into the fate of reading and writing in our time, it is also profoundly ambiguous, open to a multiplicity of possible readings. This work offers insight of a new kind into this major writer's growing canon in English--thoughts on his own works combine with stories of his youth in Egypt, his exile in 1956, other writers and artists, the Kabbalah, and projections for a postmodern world. "For anyone who is interested in the last frontiers of thought and language he is an irreplaceable writer"--Graham Martin, The Times Literary Supplement.