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In this interview conducted on the occasion of the publication of the French edition of the first volume of his monumental biography of Marx, an ongoing enterprise, Michael Heinrich looks back on his own career, in terms both of politics and theory. He also addresses the specific issues he was confronted with in the project to which he has been devoting his work for several years. In the course of the discussion, he positions himself in relation to the other biographies of Marx, pointing to the way his enterprise breaks new ground, not only for the period covered by the first volume (1818-1841), drawing on points which deal with the period immediately following that examined in this first volume. He also emphasizes the importance of his exchanges with scholars from around the world, an experience which transformed his view of Marx’s life and work.