Éluard, Char and Jacob were Jabès’ earliest literary friendships, Jacob writing for five years — a deep correspondence — and becoming a close friend (Jabès thought of Jacob as his guide). He invited Derrida and Celan, another close friend, to lunch together (the two were university colleagues who had never really met). Tàpies collaborated on a book, while Auster interviewed him, apparently awestruck. Blanchot and he both lived in Paris and were in the habit of writing to one another, but they almost certainly never met.