MY GRATEFUL thanks go first of all to Michel Carassou for permission to publish English translations of the essays by Fondane included in this book. I would also like to thank Andrew Rubens, the co-translator of “Man Before History, or, The Sound and the Fury,” for his permission to use his work in this volume.
I am grateful to Annette Dominik, my colleague at Thompson Rivers University, and my brother, George Baugh, for their invaluable help with the work of translation. Edwin Frank’s careful editing and perceptive comments greatly improved the text. Over several years, Monique Jutrin has offered great encouragement and help, provided me with countless articles and other materials by or about Fondane, and most of all invited me to the gathering of Fondane scholars in Peyresq, France; her husband, Ytzhak Jutrin, has been an invaluable friend. Michael Finkenthal has also been unstinting with his help and encouragement. My thanks go to J. F. Pinet of the Bibliothèque de l’Alcazar in Marseille for granting me access to the Fonds Ballard and the archives of Cahiers du Sud. Eric Freedman’s Bibliographie de l’oeuvre de Benjamin Fondane has been indispensable. Thanks are also due to Thompson Rivers University for giving me a sabbatical leave during which I pursued work on Fondane and to the staff at the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris for granting me access to their extensive holdings. I would also like to thank the other scholars I met at the Rencontres Fondane in Peyresq, who have offered me their help and friendship: Aurélien Demars, Claire Gruson, Dominique Guedj, Till Kuhnle, Hélène Lenz, Eric de Lussy, Mircea Martin, Evelyne and Willi Namenwirth, Carmen Oszi, Luiza Palanciuc, Geneviève Piron, Margaret Teboul, and Miora Todosin.
Finally, I would like to thank my wife, Diane Lindsay, for her unflagging support and love over many years, and our daughter, Anna, whose very being brings me joy.
I dedicate this book to Kenneth Hegler, who introduced me to existential thought in 1969 at Balmoral Junior Secondary School, North Vancouver.