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Jacques Derrida

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Writing and Difference Paperback – February 15, 1978

by Jacques Derrida (Author), Alan Bass (Translator)

4.6 86 ratings

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First published in 1967, Writing and Difference, a collection of Jacques Derrida's essays written between 1959 and 1966, has become a landmark of contemporary French thought. In it we find Derrida at work on his systematic deconstruction of Western metaphysics. The book's first half, which includes the celebrated essay on Descartes and Foucault, shows the development of Derrida's method of deconstruction. In these essays, Derrida demonstrates the traditional nature of some purportedly nontraditional currents of modern thought—one of his main targets being the way in which "structuralism" unwittingly repeats metaphysical concepts in its use of linguistic models.

The second half of the book contains some of Derrida's most compelling analyses of why and how metaphysical thinking must exclude writing from its conception of language, finally showing metaphysics to be constituted by this exclusion. These essays on Artaud, Freud, Bataille, Hegel, and Lévi-Strauss have served as introductions to Derrida's notions of writing and différence—the untranslatable formulation of a nonmetaphysical "concept" that does not exclude writing—for almost a generation of students of literature, philosophy, and psychoanalysis.

Writing and Difference reveals the unacknowledged program that makes thought itself possible. In analyzing the contradictions inherent in this program, Derrida foes on to develop new ways of thinking, reading, and writing,—new ways based on the most complete and rigorous understanding of the old ways. Scholars and students from all disciplines will find Writing and Difference an excellent introduction to perhaps the most challenging of contemporary French thinkers—challenging because Derrida questions thought as we know it.

From the Inside Flap

First published in 1967, Writing and Difference, a collection of Jacques Derrida's essays written between 1959 and 1966, has become a landmark of contemporary French thought. In it we find Derrida at work on his systematic deconstruction of Western metaphysics. The book's first half, which includes the celebrated essay on Descartes and Foucault, shows the development of Derrida's method of deconstruction. In these essays, Derrida demonstrates the traditional nature of some purportedly nontraditional currents of modern thoughtone of his main targets being the way in which "structuralism" unwittingly repeats metaphysical concepts in its use of linguistic models.

The second half of the book contains some of Derrida's most compelling analyses of why and how metaphysical thinking must exclude writing from its conception of language, finally showing metaphysics to be constituted by this exclusion. These essays on Artaud, Freud, Bataille, Hegel, and Lévi-Strauss have served as introductions to Derrida's notions of writing anddifférencethe untranslatable formulation of a nonmetaphysical "concept" that does not exclude writingfor almost a generation of students of literature, philosophy, and psychoanalysis.

Writing and Difference reveals the unacknowledged program that makes thought itself possible. In analyzing the contradictions inherent in this program, Derrida foes on to develop new ways of thinking, reading, and writing,new ways based on the most complete and rigorous understanding of the old ways. Scholars and students from all disciplines will findWriting and Difference an excellent introduction to perhaps the most challenging of contemporary French thinkerschallenging because Derrida questions thought as we know it.

About the Author

Jacques Derrida (1930–2004) was director of studies at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales, Paris, and professor of humanities at the University of California, Irvine. Several of his books have been published in their English translation by the University of Chicago Press.

Print length

362 pages
Language

English
Publisher

University of Chicago Press
Publication date

February 15, 1978
Dimensions

6 x 0.75 x 9 inches
ISBN-10

0415039797
ISBN-13

978-0226143293
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Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0226143295
Publisher ‏ : ‎ University of Chicago Press; Reprint, 1993 edition (February 15, 1978)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 362 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0415039797
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0226143293
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.05 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.75 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #747,798 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #87 in Deconstructivist Philosophy
- #1,306 in Modern Western Philosophy
- #2,683 in Literary Criticism & Theory

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Jacques Derrida

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Jacques Derrida (1930-2004), was born in Algeria, has been called the most famous philosopher of our time. He was the author of a number of books, including Writing and Difference, which came to be seen as defining texts of postmodernist thought.

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barryb

DERRIDA'S DOCTRINE OF THE "LOGOS" DEFINED:

Reviewed in the United States on April 16, 2014

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DERRIDA'S DOCTRINE OF THE "LOGOS" DEFINED:
I had already conquered Derrida's "Grammatlogy"; and that is the best reference for the totality of his position. So I only acquired this volume to get a better understanding of his take on "LOGOS". He does this in a very precise way in the first three essays, pages 1-85. I felt the price of the book was well worth the value of acquiring these three essays. I may read the others at a later date, but right now they do not interest me. My attention was solely on "logos".
Obviously, having an understanding of the "Grammatology" will help the reader; or some prior understanding of Derrida's position. He is not easy reading. But, having said that; he is fully accessible to any reader with some foundational work already internalized.

Basically Derrida gives the reader a triad to consider:

We actually pass through a triad of "logos":

A. LOGOS-COGITO: "logismos" (reasoning") + "huperbole" (madness, in the positive sense of "otherness")
LOGOS = ARCHAIC-REASON

B. LOGOS-CLASSICAL: "logismos" + "hubris" (otherness as derangement and excessiveness; in order to establish a hard duality)
LOGOS = OMNIPOTENT-DETERMINATE-REASON

C. LOGOS-POST-MODERN: "logismos" + "subjective-huperbole"
LOGOS = LESSER-DETERMINED-REASON

In addition to this fine exposition, Derrida also addresses the "history-of-tradition", which is the "book-of-logos". This he approaches from his Jewish perspective and articulates it within the context of "exile", wandering in the desert, sands-of-madness, and the glimpse of "traces" that can be found in the desert. The majority of emphasis is on subjectivity; and the "self" is the substance of "LOGOS". So no post-modern surprise there.
But, there is a real genuine moment of discovery in Derrida's discussion of the Exodus. I found it very unique; but very powerful in its unique approach. The key for Derrida is the breaking of the tablets; the moment of rupture within god himself that allows for differentiation and the human speech-act (and human "writing"). Out of rupture evolves a poetic-autonomy of subjectivity which works toward consecration through "writing".
Personally I must give this manuscript 5 stars, based on the first three essays alone. Derrida is a treasure of discovery. Enjoy your research.

A BONUS MONOGRAPH ON LEVINAS: a book in itself; this 75 page monograph deserves the highest recommendation. Derrida, in his humility, says it will just be a brief overview. Instead; it is a precise, distinguished commentary on Levinas. Derrida articulates Levinas "empirical-metaphysics" as an important contribution to properly understanding LOGOS within a post-modern context. And the final 11 pages of this monograph give us a precise logical articulation of the "metaphysic". This is very significant material to be enclosed in this collection.

12 people found this helpful

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Dylan O'Brien

Different Writing

Reviewed in the United States on February 14, 2017

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Writer? Hermeneut? Obscuritan extraordinaire?

Derrida is a tough nut to crack. All of his work denies itself primacy, and its profundity can only be detected through subtle twists in the background of thought. Tedious, grating, irritating, but always playful, tasteful, and ethical, Derrida's work often pokes fun at the strangely predictable obsession with/for transgression developed by his cohorts, Michel Foucault, Emmanuel Levinas, Maurice Blanchot, and especially Georges Bataille. Somewhat ironic that Derrida is so often categorized as yet another "destructive, nihilistic marxist", when a great deal of his work is dedicated to showing how to surpass precisely this position.

Also touched upon in Writing and Difference are Edmund Husserl, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Sigmund Freud. In these cases, his work is more one of "defusing".

If you don't already have an in-depth interest in multiple of these authors, Derrida will probably be of little use to you. That's somewhat unfortunate, because it means that Derrida's writing is relegated to being a kind of PlayPlace for academicians who are sick of the semi-fascistic interpretative orthodoxy exerted over the institutional study of these thinkers. So then, I'd encourage you, even if you will be "in over your head" when reading Derrida, to give him a whack, and a very good one at that. Take what you can and leave the rest. If nothing else, you'll be able to approach the incredibly important and interesting works Derrida writes about with a fresh and unique perspective. Reading Derrida won't help you figure anything out, but it will certainly give your method a jolt or two, and if you're an academic, it might give your mind a good dusting.

And for goodness' sake, don't become a "derridean"...

15 people found this helpful

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Southern Lady

Impossible yet Useful

Reviewed in the United States on April 24, 2023

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This book feels impossible to read. Yet, it might make a lasting impact on my thinking process. Specifically, the distinction Derrida makes between the signifier and the signified is something that resonated with me. The mystic pad idea with the subconscious also stuck with me. I plan to keep this book, even though it feels impossible.

Reviewed in the United States on July 14, 2016

Verified Purchase

Perfect.

2 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

Derrida all over the place

Reviewed in the United States on July 18, 2001

In the beginning of Jacques Lacan's work "the ethics of psychoanalysis", Lacan speaks of honey that has no natural divisions and is instantly all over the place. Enter Derrida. This was only the second work I had read by Derrida at the time a few years ago and it astounded me. The breadth of commentary, play, and insight in these essays is radical - moving from freud, to foucault, to levi-strauss, to Artaud, to an amasing and important work on Levinas, to writings of his own, and more. This work (is it one or many?) is perhaps Derrida at his most poetical and yet at his most clear. In other works, his knack of writing seeming hieroglyphics makes his ideas extremely difficult to decipher. In this work, however, his play actually opens itself up to what he's doing. Not only that but where his poetics become more analytic, his language is fairly clear and understandable, given a background on the subject (freud, levinas, etc.). In multiple readings through the years this work has proved more and more fruitful and is still one of my favorite works by him (besides possibly the clear and consice Speech Event Context in "Limited Inc.", "Spurs", and "Gift of Death"). This is Derrida's insights all over the place - thank God.

31 people found this helpful

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