Synopses & Reviews
Jacques Derrida (born 1930) is undoubtedly the single most influential figure in current Anglo-American literary theory. Yet many scholars and students, not to mention general readers, would be hard put to give an account of Derrida's own writings. In this admirably clear and intelligent introduction, Christopher Norris demonstrates that Derrida's texts should be understood as belonging more to philosophy than to literature. Norris explains the significance of Derrida's writing on texts in the Western philosophical tradition, from Plato to Kant, liegel, and tiusserl, placing him squarely within that tradition. He also discusses some of the reasons for the massive institutional resistance that has so far prevented philosophers from engaging seriously with Derrida's work. This book will be welcomed by readers in search of an introduction to Derrida's work that neither underrates its difficulties nor invests his ideas with a kind of protective mystique.
Review
"Excellent...Norris displays a command of philosophy from Kant to the present...[and is] a major contemporary interpreter of deconstruction...Norris has succeeded admirably in presenting a careful, reliable, and very readable general introduction to the thought of Derrida."
--Choice "Norris organizes his book around Derrida's writings on Plato, Hegel, Saussure, Rousseau, Kant, Austin, Freud, and Foucault. He shows how Derrida reads the philosophers not as voices in historical time but as writers whose texts interact both in their own historical time and in the vertical time frame of reason and the dictionary...Norris has done what not even Derrida has been able to do very well; explain Derrida."
--Thomas D'Evelyn, Christian Science Monitor "Derrida should continue to be read. And whether one initially classifies Derrida's work as 'literature' or as 'philosophy' is less important than that he be appreciated as the sort of writer whose originality forces us to throw away old taxonomies and come up with new ones. Norris' thoughtful book will help people appreciate that originality."
--Richard Rorty, New LeaderReview
Excellent...Norris displays a command of philosophy from Kant to the present...[and is] a major contemporary interpreter of deconstruction...Norris has succeeded admirably in presenting a careful, reliable, and very readable general introduction to the thought of Derrida. Choice
Review
Norris organizes his book around Derrida's writings on Plato, Hegel, Saussure, Rousseau, Kant, Austin, Freud, and Foucault. He shows how Derrida reads the philosophers not as voices in historical time but as writers whose texts interact both in their own historical time and in the vertical time frame of reason and the dictionary...Norris has done what not even Derrida has been able to do very well; explain Derrida. Thomas D ' Evelyn
Review
Derrida should continue to be read. And whether one initially classifies Derrida's work as 'literature' or as 'philosophy' is less important than that he be appreciated as the sort of writer whose originality forces us to throw away old taxonomies and come up with new ones. Norris' thoughtful book will help people appreciate that originality. Christian Science Monitor
Review
A really fine account of Derrida's philosophical project...The prose is clear and jargon-free, unlike so many other books on Derrida...The book will be extremely useful to a wide range of readers. Richard Rorty - New Leader
Review
Norris writes a study that is at once a general introduction and an original contribution to a debate among specialists...Norris's discussion of Derrida's political and ethical dimension, setting the record straight in the face of the most damaging case against Derrida, is perhaps the most important contribution made to the international debate surrounding poststructuralism in any of Norris's published works. David Hoy, University of California, Santa Cruz
Synopsis
Jacques Derrida is undoubtedly the single most influential figure in current Anglo-American literary theory. Yet many scholars and students, not to mention general readers, would be hard put to give an account of Derrida's own writings.
Synopsis
ideas with a kind of protective mystique.
Synopsis
Norris demonstrates that Derrida's texts should be understood as belonging more to philosophy than to literature. He explains the significance of Derrida's writing on texts in the Western philosophical tradition, from Plato to Kant, liegel, and tiusserl, placing him squarely within that tradition. He also discusses some of the reasons for the massive institutional resistance that has so far prevented philosophers from engaging seriously with Derrida's work.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Philosophy/Literature
Derrida on Plato: Writing as Poison and Cure Versions of mimesis: Plato and Mallarme
Speech, Presence, Origins: from Hegel to Saussure Linguistics or grammatology?
Rousseau: Writing as Necessary Evil Myths of origin: music and speech
Psychoanalysis and the 'logic of the supplement'
Nature, culture and the politics of writing
Dreams of origin: 'The Writing Lesson'
Derrida and Kant: the Enlightenment Tradition Philosophical scepticism: claims and counter-claims
Against pragmatism: Derrida, Rorty, Lyotard
Politics and the principle of reason
Logic and rhetoric: 'nuclear criticism'
Letters Home: Derrida, Austin and the Oxford Connection 'A Socrates who writes...'
Nietzsche, Freud, Levinas: on the Ethics of Deconstruction Foucault, Descartes and the 'crisis of reason'
Epistemology and ethics: Husserl, Levinas
Chronology
Notes
Bibliography
Index of Names and Topics