White Night, by Bernard-Henri Lévy: waiting for dawn

« Not sleeping is a duty”writes Bernard-Henri Lévy at the end of a sharp autobiographical text in which he strives to paint the portrait of the watchful philosopher. In the end, tired of not being able to sleep, this lover of concepts ended up recognizing noble motives in his insomnia: metaphysical, theological, literary, political and even athletic. Philosophy is a combat sport: he seems to think, with certain great champions, that a full night of eight hours would be harmful to his physical form. The word “ day before», like the vigils of the monks who guard the night, refers to the Latin “vigere”, to have vigor. And like the “guarded night » – that is to say vigil to the highest degree – which Bernard-Henri Lévy retains in his book, thinking of Emmanuel Lévinas, who linked sleep not to a loss of« vigilance »but with the desire to” escape “ who inspired his first…