The concept of sacrifice lies at the heart of critical receptions of Friedrich Hl̲derlin's Der Tod des Empedokles (also referred to as Empedokles auf dem Aetna), particularly in the works of Maurice Blanchot, argues the author. Yet, he contends, the unfinished nature of the sacrifice in Empedokles was not recognized by Blanchot or those that followed. He examines Blanchot's figurations of sacrifice in Thomas l'Obscur through the Empedokles fragments in order to discuss the use of sacrifice in both. He then turns to an examination of "the sacrifice of the human in relation to language," concluding that in the writing of Blanchot "the human serves as the figure for the neutral, and thereby sacrifices itself for the sake of the neutral." Annotation 2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
