Liverpool University Press Posthumously: For Jacques Derrida

Review "Baross writes with grace, precision and intensity. In a series of meditative explications of Derridean texts . . . she traces the complex unfolding of such key concepts as time, memory, image, and event with unstinting rigor and intellectual energy. This is philosophical writing of the highest order." --Ronald Bogue, author, Deleuzian Fabulation and the Scars of History"Zsuzsa Baross writes about Derrida in a sensitive, deep, and probing way. The essays are beautifully written, sharing Derrida's playfulness and difficulty, eloquently and evocatively. This is an intimate reading of some of Derrida's thoughts on writing, memory, time, living, and dying. It is moving, highly informative, genuinely caring." --Stephen David Ross, author, the Gift series Product Description In 2004, Jacques Derrida gave one of his final interviews prior to his death. Regarding the future of his work, Derrida advanced two contradictory hypotheses: "I will not be read"; and "despite a handful of good readers . . . I am yet to be read". This book is an homage to the spirit of Derrida, and seeks to grasp the significance of his death on the rich corpus of his work, in a voice that remains true to the "faithful betrayals" of Derridas own works of deconstuction. Two key journeys underpin Posthumously. The first is an exploration of both Derrida and deconstruction through the unusual prism of cinema and photography, bringing into play Gilles Deleuze's concept of creative repetition. In the second journey, the author embarks on a detailed engagement with Derrida's oft-neglected book on drawing, Memoirs of the Blind, and provides a subversive reading of that text, arguing that its labyrinthine turns (confession, self-portrait, and mourning) obscure a secret ambition to stage the last battle between its own graphic trait and the image in full colour. Beneath this vivid canopy, Zsuzsa Baross brings together a collection of shorter pieces developing the meaning of the term "posthumous" in the world of writing and literary criticism, interrogating Derrida's posthumous lesson on "learning to live". The final act in this unique volume analyses Derrida's last hand-written note; a note, the author argues, that reopens the question of the posthumous and provides an infinitely moving lesson on life. About the Author Zsuzsa Baross, Professor Emerita of Cultural Theory at Trent University, Canada, is the author of The Scandal of Disease in Theory and Discourse (University of Amsterdam, 1988), Posthumously: For Jacques Derrida (SAP, 2010), and Encounters: Gérard Titus-Carmel, Jean-Luc Nancy, Claire Denis. She has published a wide number of essays in anthologies and journals, including International Studies in Philosophy, New Literary History and Derrida Today. Recently she has been collaborating and publishing with Artistic Research", Orpheus Instituut in Gent, Belgium.