Derrida and Autobiography

The work of Jacques Derrida can be seen to reinvent most theories. In this book Robert Smith offers both a reading of the philosophy of Derrida and an investigation of current theories of autobiography. Smith argues that for Derrida autobiography is not so much subjective self-revelation as relation to the other, not so much a general condition of thought as a general condition of writing - what Derrida calls the ‘autobiography of the writing’ - which mocks any self-centred finitude of living and dying. In this context, and using literary-critical, philosophical, and psychoanalytical sources, Smith thinks through Derrida’s texts in a new, but distinctly Derridean, way, and finds new perspectives to analyse the work of classical writers including Hegel, Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, Freud, and de Man.

• Brings insight into a new area of Derrida’s work, including some of the most difficult (therefore neglected), and the most recent, texts • Reinvents autobiographical theories and contextualises the work of past and present thinkers • Important addition to popular CUP series Literature, Culture, Theory

Part I. The Book of Esther: 1. Incipit; 2. Pure reason, absolute knowledge, pure change; 3. Suffering: 4. His life story; Part II. Clarifying Autobiography: 5. Worstward ho: some recent theories; 6. Labyrinths; Part III. The Book of Zoë: 7. auto; 8. bio; 9. graphy.