Derrida and Autobiography (Literature, Culture, Theory, Series Number 16)

The Work Of Jacques Derrida Can Be Seen To Reinvent Most Theories. In This Book Robert Smith Offers Both A Reading Of The Philosophy Of Derrida And An Investigation Of Current Theories Of Autobiography. Smith Argues That For Derrida Autobiography Is Not So Much Subjective Self-revelation As Relation To The Other, Not So Much A General Condition Of Thought As A General Condition Of Writing - What Derrida Calls The 'autobiography Of The Writing' - Which Mocks Any Self-centred Finitude Of Living And Dying. In This Context, And Using Literary-critical, Philosophical, And Psychoanalytical Sources, Smith Thinks Through Derrida's Texts In A New, But Distinctly Derridean, Way, And Finds New Perspectives To Analyse The Work Of Classical Writers Including Hegel, Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, Freud, And De Man. Part I. The Book Of Esther: Incipit ; Pure Reason, Absolute Knowledge, Pure Change ; Suffering ; His Life Story -- Part Ii. Clarifying Autobiography: Worstward Ho : Some Recent Theories ; Labyrinths -- Part Iii. The Book Of Zoë: Auto ; Bio ; Graphy. Robert Smith. Includes Index. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. The work of Jacques Derrida can be seen to reinvent most theories; here Robert Smith offers a reading of the philosophy of Derrida and an investigation of theories of autobiography. Smith argues that for Derrida autobiography is not so much a general condition of thought as a general condition of writing that mocks any self-centered finitude of living and dying. In this context, Smith thinks through Derrida's texts in a new way, and finds new perspectives to analyze classical writers including Hegel, Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, Freud and de Man.