Desire-which can never go out of fashion, never cease to move, never settle finally on its proper object-and deconstruction, a term, a movement, an intellectual style, a form of thought surely time-stamped, maybe even expired. This marvellous collection of essays shows us that deconstruction's long, unthought concern with desire-primarily in Derrida's work, but also in his closest readers', American as well as European-lets us think beyond its seeming end; and how desire's stubborn persistence, its endlessness, inasmuch as it is deconstruction in act and thought, infuses the work of religion, philosophy, ethics, and historiography. Desire in Ashes realigns thought: it is scholarship at its most consequential and urgent. * Jacques Lezra, Professor of Spanish, English, and Comparative Literature, New York University, USA *
Readers interested in the futures of deconstruction and its intersections with contemporary thought will find the publication of Desire in Ashes a welcome event. This well-timed, thoughtful book makes the Derridean analysis of desire a source of deconstruction's continued liveliness and taps its energies in a wide-ranging collection of essays to make the point. * Ellen S. Burt, Professor of French and Italian, University of california, Irvine, USA *
Desire in Ashes is a rich and fascinating volume. Bringing together an impressive range of scholars, Morgan Wortham and Alfano's book offers something not available elsewhere: an excellent, focused collection of insights and explorations concerning the ways in which psychoanalysis and deconstruction have transformed our understanding of the nature of desire. * Nicholas Royle, Professor of English, University of Sussex, UK *
