After Derrida
Literature, Theory and Criticism in the 21st Century

This collection of essays introduces the ideas of philosopher Jacques Derrida who exerts a huge influence on literary criticism.

Jean-Michel Rabaté (Edited by)

9781108444521, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 31 May 2018

244 pages
22.8 x 15.1 x 1.4 cm, 0.37 kg

This collection of essays explores the main concepts and methods of reading launched by French philosopher Jacques Derrida who died in 2004. Derrida exerted a huge influence on literary critics in the 1980s, but later there was a backlash against his theories. Today, one witnesses a general return to his way of reading literature, the rationale of which is detailed and explained in the essays. The authors, both well-known and younger specialists, give many precise examples of how Derrida, who always remained at the cusp between literature and philosophy, posed fundamental questions and thus changed the field of literary criticism, especially with regard to poetry. The contributors also highlight the way Derrida made spectacular interventions in feminism, psychoanalytic studies, animal studies, digital humanities and post-colonial studies.

Introduction
Part I. Frames: 1. The instant of their debt: Derrida with Freud and Heidegger in Greece Vassiliki Kolocotroni
2. Derrida and the psychoanalysis of culture Andrea Hurst
3. Derrida and sexual difference Ginette Michaud
4. Derrida queries De Man: a note on the materiality of the letter vs the violence of the letter Martin Mcquillan
Part II. Focus: 5. Derrida as literary reader Derek Attridge
6. Broken singularities (Derrida and Celan) Joshua Schuster
7. Derrida and the essence of poetry Yue Zhuo
8. From Mallarmé to the event: Badiou after Derrida Laurent Milesi
Part III. Futures: 9. Ecce Animot: animal turns Jane Goldman
10. Deconstruction, collectivity, and world literature Jen Hui Bon Hoa
11. Literature calls justice: deconstruction's 'coming-to-terms' with literature Elisabeth Weber
12. The documental revolution and the archives of the future Maurizio Ferraris.

Subject Areas: Literary theory [DSA], Literature: history & criticism [DS]