Poetry. DESIRE FOR A BEGINNING DREAD OF ONE SINGLE END, translated from the French by Rosmarie Waldrop, is a series of short aphoristic assertions permeated with a sense of melancholy and mortality. This Granary Books edition is designed by Ed Epping and also features his black and red digital images. Other books by Jabes available from SPD include FROM THE BOOK TO THE BOOK, IF THERE WERE ANYWHERE BUT DESERT, and FROM THE DESERT TO THE BOOK. I can no longer think about the possibilities of literature without thinking of the example of Edmond Jabes. He is one of the great spirits of our time, a torch in the darkness -- Paul Auster.