Download or read book What is There to Say? written by Ann Smock and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2003-01-01 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Herman Melville?s Bartleby, asked to account for himself, ?would prefer not to.? Tongue-tied Billy Budd, urged to defend his innocence, responds with a murderous blow. The Bavard, by Louis-Renä des For?ts, concerns a man whose power to speak is replaced by an inability to shut up. In these and other literary examples a call for speech throws the possibility of speaking into doubt. What Is There to Say? uses the ideas of Maurice Blanchot to clarify puzzling works by Melville, des For?ts, and Beckett. Ann Smock's energetic readings of texts about talking, listening, and recording cast an equally welcome light on Blanchot?s paradoxical thought.