The Purest of Bastards: Works of Mourning, Art, and Affirmation in the Thought of Jacques Derrida

Description

The "deconstruction" that is commonly seen to be the method of Derrida's philosophy has an inescapably negative connotation. To counter this view of Derrida's thought as basically destructive, David Farrell Krell invites readers to understand how it may instead be seen as fundamentally affirmative--just as Nietzsche's philosophy, so allegedly nihilistic, is at heart a call for tragic affirmation, in amor fati. But, while affirmative, Derrida is also engaged in a thinking of mourning, which he views as the promise of memory--a fragile yet vital promise that binds past and future. The book explores what mourning means in Derrida's writing and how the labors of mourning and affirmation are mediated by works of art. Thus the book engages many different areas of Derrida's work, from the classic texts of deconstruction to the more recent meditations on art and mourning."This chance [affirmation without issue] can come to us only from you, do you hear me? Do you understand me? ... And me, the purest of bastards, leaving bastards of all kinds just about everywhere." This passage from Derrida's La Carte postale nicely encapsulates what David Farrell Krell wants to convey about Derrida's thought--its astonishing mix of negativity and affirmation in his labors of mourning. Contents List of Illustrations Preface Introduction: Memoria in Memoriam Mourning the Beautiful in Art and Life A Mournful Logic A Mournful Freud Memory Mourning Affirmation PART ONE: Mourning the Work of Art 1. Broken Frames Kant's Example The Third Critique as Endpoint and Middle Member of the Critical Project Interest and Happiness, Plaisir and Delight E.g., Examples, for Example 2. Echo, Narcissus, Echo The Louvre Exhibition Memoirs of the Blind The Purest Type of Woman The Spinning Librarian Narcissus in Ruins PART TWO: Mourning the Work of Philosophy 3. Mourning the Voice Scribes Describe... ...and Phenomenologists Write The Gorge The Keen 4. Mourning Ultratranscendence Ultratranscendental Passage The To-Appear of Appearing Jointures Out of Joint The Limp 5. Mourning the Perfect Future The Ecstatic Perfect Ecstatic Unity as Radical Displacement The Future of Ecstatic Having-Been The Ecstatic lmperfect(ion) of Trakl's Hands 6. Eight Labors of Mourning Husserl Merleau-Ponty Benjamin Heidegger Irigaray Nietzsche Cixous Empedocles of Acragas A Polemical Note PART THREE: Mourning Affirmation 7. Knell Does Anyone Here Remember Absolute Knowing? Mary Magdalene at the Feet of God Teaching the Children, Burying the Corpses Foam in the Cup 8. Mourning Monica, Our (M)Other Entrückung, μεταβολή, Raptus The Ultimate Inhibition Confessing the M(O)ther Raptures of Mourning Conclusion: Affirmation Without Issue Mourning and Affirmation Revisited The Purest Bastard of the West A Gift of the French Redoubled Affirmation Notes Preface Introduction: Memoria in Memoriam Chapter 1 : Broken Frames Chapter 2: Echo, Narcissus, Echo Chapter 3: Mourning the Voice Chapter 4: Mourning Ultratranscendence Chapter 5: Mourning the Perfect Future Chapter 6: Eight labors of Mourning Chapter 7: Knell Chapter 8: Mourning Monica, Our (M)Other Conclusion: Affirmation Without Issue Index