Understanding Derrida, Understanding Modernism by Jeanmichel Rabat

Understanding Derrida, Understanding Modernism by Jeanmichel Rabat

This volume makes a significant contribution to both the study of Derrida and of modernist studies. The contributors argue, first, that deconstruction is not “modern”; neither is it “postmodern” nor simply “modernist.” They also posit that deconstruction is intimately connected with literature, not because deconstruction would be a literary way of doing philosophy, but because literature stands out as a “modern” notion. The contributors investigate the nature and depth of Derrida’s affinities with writers such as Joyce, Kafka, Antonin Artaud, Georges Bataille, Paul Celan, Maurice Blanchot, Theodor Adorno, Samuel Beckett, and Walter Benjamin, among others.

With its strong connection between philosophy and literary modernism, this highly original volume advances modernist literary study and the relationship of literature and philosophy.

Understanding Derrida, Understanding Modernism is a superb, transformative exercise of critical thought, attuned to both contextual and philosophical-ethical différance; it allows Derrida’s work to be read next to, and by, a multi-angled and often eccentric philosophical and literary modernismIn a scholarship of industrial proportions, it stands out as writing after one of the most revolutionary thinkers of all time. * Textual Practice *
Rabaté’s collection releases Derrida from negative and narrow appreciations of deconstruction to reveal a multifaceted philosopher with contrasting concerns and projects for the study of literary modernism and modernity. Simultaneously, modernism and modernity are throughout proven as apposite lenses for contextualizing and apprehending Derrida’s various pursuits. [...] In concretely outlining Derrida’s links to canonical modernisms, and repeatedly insisting on the continued relevance of Derrida’s philosophical rigour, Rabaté’s collection lays the groundwork for the elaboration of such connections in the future. * Journal of Modern Literature *
The 14 diverse and original essays in this volume—along with Rabaté's important introduction and brilliant glossary of Derrida keywords—make it an immensely useful resource for understanding Derrida's relation to major European modernists…More important, however, are the local insights these essays provide on topics such as Baudelaire's ethics of almsgiving, the difference between Agamben and Derrida on reading Kafka, the relation of Bataille's "general economy" to Derrida's "arche-writing," the agon between Derrida and Sartre vis-à-vis Genet… Summing Up: Highly recommended. * CHOICE *
Derrida as a reader of modernism; Derrida as a modernist: both these propositions—and the relationship between them—are explored in this fascinating collection of essays, ably introduced and edited by Rabaté. The volume makes a fresh contribution to our understanding of the reach and richness of Derrida’s work as well as the multifaceted character of modernist literature and philosophy. * Derek Attridge, Emeritus Professor of English, University of York, UK, and author of The Singularity of Literature (2004) *
Who, or better yet, what speaks in ‘literature’ for Derrida? This long-awaited book offers thought-provoking answers to this question, examined here through close readings of Derrida’s countersignatures to writers such as Baudelaire, Kafka, Celan, Joyce, Blanchot, Beckett, and Cixous. Neither a theory nor a critical method, Derrida’s approach gives us something else to ponder: the conditions of the impossible enacted by the event of literature. This impressive volume thus allows us to better understand how Derrida reconfigures the concept of modernity, beyond all labels, genres, or periodizations. Moreover, this book is itself a remarkable and timely contribution to the ‘humanities to come’ Derrida so pressingly called for. Whether it concern the Law, the absolute singularity of the other, the secret and testimony, or democracy, literature always lies affirmatively and performatively at the very core of Derrida’s thought. * Ginette Michaud, Professor of French Literature, Université de Montréal, Canada *

Jean-Michel Rabaté is one of the world's foremost literary theorists. Since 1992, he has been professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Pennsylvania, USA. Professor Rabaté has authored or edited more forty books on modernism, psychoanalysis, contemporary art, philosophy, and writers like Beckett, Pound and Joyce. Recent books include Crimes of the Future (Bloomsbury, 2014), The Cambridge Introduction to Psychoanalysis and Literature (2014), The Pathos of Distance (Bloomsbury, 2016), and Rust (Bloomsbury, 2018). He is one of the founders and curators of Slought Foundation in Philadelphia (slought.org) and the Managing Editor of the Journal of Modern Literature. Since 2008, he has been a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781501371318
ISBN 10	1501371312
Title	Understanding Derrida, Understanding Modernism
Author	Jeanmichel Rabat
Series	Understanding Philosophy Understanding Modernism
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Year published	2020-11-26
Number of pages	328
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.