The Death Penalty in Dickens and Derrida: The Last Sentence of the Law

Description

Adopting a comparative approach, this book examines how Dickens (as a voice of literature) and Derrida (as a philosopher) have approached the question of the death penalty. It makes a case for Dickens as an abolitionist, reading the 5 open letters and applying them to the novels, particularly Barnaby Rudge and A Tale of Two Cities as well as discussing Derrida’s abolitionist arguments. In addition to Derrida, this book also puts Dickens into dialogue with thinkers as diverse as Friedrich Nietzsche, Simone de Beauvoir, Hannah Arendt and Slavoj Žižek, as well as writers such as William Godwin, Shakespeare, Edgar Allan Poe and Henry Fielding. Cover Halftitle page Title page Copyright page Contents Frequently Cited Texts and Abbreviations Preface and Acknowledgements Introduction: Growing Up to Be Hanged Lamb The pale criminals and the great criminals The first part: Dickens The second part: Derrida Part One Dickens – and the Eighteenth Century 1 Abolitionism and Dickens Dickens’s letters The Mannings 2 Fielding, Hogarth and Dickens ‘Four Stages of Cruelty’ Fielding and murder 3 Barnaby Rudge, Poe and Caleb Williams Poe, Godwin and Caleb Williams: ‘An epoch in the mind’ ‘The Man of the Crowd’ and the criminality of great cities Dickens, Poe and secrecy Part Two Derrida – The French Revolution Onwards 4 Deconstruction and Justice ‘Force of Law’ The Beast and the Sovereign 5 The Death Penalty Seminars On fascination Simone de Beauvoir and Hannah Arendt On the guillotine: Hugo and Turgenev ‘The instant of my death’ Shakespeare and blood The Death Penalty 2: Confession Robespierre 6 Decapitation and A Tale of Two Cities Secrecy Violence and fascism ‘I can devour thee’ 7 On the USA: Violence and Terrorism In Cold Blood and The Executioner’s Song Timothy McVeigh Terror and suicide In Conclusion ‘New cruelty’ Index