Dissemination

"The English version of Dissemination [is] an able translation by Barbara Johnson . . . . Derrida's central contention is that language is haunted by dispersal, absence, loss, the risk of unmeaning, a risk which is starkly embodied in all writing. The distinction between philosophy and literature therefore becomes of secondary importance. Philosophy vainly attempts to control the irrecoverable dissemination of its own meaning, it strives—against the grain of language—to offer a sober revelation of truth. Literature—on the other hand—flaunts its own meretriciousness, abandons itself to the Dionysiac play of language. In Dissemination—more than any previous work—Derrida joins in the revelry, weaving a complex pattern of puns, verbal echoes and allusions, intended to 'deconstruct' both the pretension of criticism to tell the truth about literature, and the pretension of philosophy to the literature of truth."—Peter Dews, New Statesman Title Page......Page 1 Contents......Page 3 Translator's Introduction......Page 5 Outwork, prefacing......Page 33 Plato's Pharmacy......Page 93 1. Pharmacia......Page 97 2. The Father of Logos......Page 107 3. The Filial Inscription: Theuth, Hermes, Thoth, Nabu, Nebo......Page 116 4. The Pharmakon......Page 127 5. The Pharmakeus......Page 149 II......Page 152 6. The Pharmakos......Page 160 7. The Ingredients: Phantasms, Festivals, and Paints......Page 166 8. The Heritage of the Pharmakon: Family Scene......Page 174 9. Play: From the Pharmakon to the Letter and from Blindness to the Supplement......Page 188 The Double Session......Page 205 I......Page 207 II......Page 259 Dissemination......Page 319 I......Page 321 1. The Trigger ,......Page 322 2. The Apparatus or Frame......Page 328 3. The Scission......Page 332 4. The Double Bottom of the Plupresent......Page 338 5. wriTing, encAsIng, screeNing......Page 345 6. The Attending Discourse......Page 356 7. The Time before First......Page 362 8. The Column......Page 372 9. The Crossroads of the "Est"......Page 379 10. Grafts, a Return to Overcasting......Page 387 XI. The Supernumerary......Page 391