Derrida : a critical reader

Derrida has had a profound influence on the way texts are read. Deconstruction has become a Sphinx-like feature of the modern critical landscape. The contributors to this volume have endeavoured to take a critical view of Derrida's oeuvre. The contributors include: Jean-Luc Nancy, Manfred Frank, John Sallis, Robert Bernasconi, Irene Harvey, Michael Haar, Christopher Norris, Geoff Bennington, John Llewelyn. David Wood has provided the introduction. Jacques Derrida's Prolific Output Has Been The Delight (and Sometimes The Despair) Of Philosophers And Literary Theorists For Over Twenty Years. His Influence On The Way We Read Theoretical Texts Continues To Be Profound. No Serious Contemporary Thinker Can Fail To Respond To 'deconstruction', Even If Many Fail To Come To Terms With It, And There Have Been A Number Of Monographs Devoted To His Work, Not Least By The Contributors To This Volume. Each Author Combines An Intimate Knowledge Of Derrida's Texts With An 'independent' Philosophical Stance. Each Was Asked -- In The Most Positive Sense -- To Take Just Such A Critical Approach. And The Variety Of Response To This Request -- Many Contributors Problematize The Very Idea Of A Critical Approach -- Testifies To The Traumatic Effect Derrida Has Had On Traditional Philosophical Certainties. This Volume Includes Substantive Papers By Jean-luc Nancy, Michel Haar, John Llewelyn, Geoffrey Bennington, John Sallis, Robert Bernasconi, Christopher Norris, Irene Harvey, Manfred Frank, Richard Rorty And By Jacques Derrida Himself -- Introduced By David Wood. Its Remit Is Neither To Praise Nor To Bury Derrida, But To Draw Out And Confirm The Openings He Gives To Philosophy, And Whatever Thinking May Succeed It. Book Jacket.--jacket. Reading Derrida : An Introduction / David Wood -- Passions : An Oblique Offering / Jacques Derrida -- Elliptical Sense / Jean-luc Nancy -- The Play Of Nietzsche In Derrida / Michel Haar -- Responsibility With Indecidability / John Llewelyn -- Mosaic Fragment : If Derrida Were An Egyptian ... / Geoffrey Bennington -- Doublings / John Sallis -- No More Stories, Good Or Bad : De Man's Criticisms Of Derrida On Rousseau / Robert Bernasconi -- Deconstruction, Postmodernism And Philosophy : Habermas On Derrida / Christopher Norris -- Derrida And The Issues Of Exemplarity / Irene E. Harvey -- Is Self-consciousness A Case Of Preśence à Soi? Towards A Meta-critique Of The Recent French Critique Of Metaphysics / Manfred Frank -- Is Derrida A Transcendental Philosopher? / Richard Rorty. Edited By David Wood. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. A Bibliography Of The Works Of Jacques Derrida / Albert Leventure With Thomas Keenan--p. [247]-289. "Jacques Derrida's prolific output has been the delight (and sometimes the despair) of philosophers and literary theorists for over twenty years. His influence on the way we read theoretical texts continues to be profound. No serious contemporary thinker can fail to respond to 'deconstruction', even if many fail to come to terms with it, and there have been a number of monographs devoted to his work, not least by the contributors to this volume. Each author combines an intimate knowledge of Derrida's texts with an 'independent' philosophical stance. Each was asked -- in the most positive sense -- to take just such a critical approach. And the variety of response to this request -- many contributors problematize the very idea of a critical approach -- testifies to the traumatic effect Derrida has had on traditional philosophical certainties. This volume includes substantive papers by Jean-Luc Nancy, Michel Haar, John Llewelyn, Geoffrey Bennington, John Sallis, Robert Bernasconi, Christopher Norris, Irene Harvey, Manfred Frank, Richard Rorty and by Jacques Derrida himself -- introduced by David Wood. Its remit is neither to praise nor to bury Derrida, but to draw out and confirm the openings he gives to philosophy, and whatever thinking may succeed it. Book jacket."--BOOK JACKET