Dissemination

Description

By (author) Derrida, Jacques; Translated by Johnson, Barbara

:
First published in 1972, Dissemination contains three of Derrida”s most central and seminal works: ”Plato”s Pharmacy”, ”The Double Session” and ”Dissemination”. The essays present a re-evaluation of the logic of meaning and the function of writing in Western discourse and explore the relationship and interplay between language, literature and philosophy. The text includes a substantial introduction and additional notes on the text by Barbara Johnson.

Table of contents:

Translator’s Introduction
Outwork, prefacing

Plato’s Pharmacy

I
1 Pharmacia
2 The Father of Logos
3 The Filial Inscription: Theuth, Hermes, Thoth, Nabu, Nebo
4 The Pharmakon
5 The Pharmakeus
II
6 The Pharmakos
7 The Ingredients: Phantasms, Festivals, and Paints
8 The Heritage of the Pharmakon: Family Scene
9 Play: From the Pharmakon to the Letter and from Blindness to the Supplement

The Double Session

I

II

Dissemination

I
1 The Trigger
2 The Apparatus or Frame
3 The Scission
4 The Double Bottom of the Plupresent
5 wriTing, encAsIng, screeNing
6 The Attending Discourse

II
7 The Time before First
8 The Column
9 The Crossroads of the “Est”
10 Grafts, a return to Overcasting
XI The Supernumerary

Review quote:
The English version of Dissemination [is] an able translation byBarbara Johnson . . . . Derrida”s central contention is that languageis haunted by dispersal, absence, loss, the risk of unmeaning, a riskwhich is starkly embodied in all writing. The distinction betweenphilosophy and literature therefore becomes of secondary importance. Philosophyvainly attempts to control the irrecoverable dissemination of its ownmeaning, it strives—against the grain of language—to offer a soberrevelation of truth. Literature—on the other hand—flaunts its ownmeretriciousness, abandons itself to the Dionysiac play of language. In Dissemination—morethan any previous work—Derrida joins in the revelry, weaving a complexpattern of puns, verbal echoes and allusions, intended to ”deconstruct”both the pretension of criticism to tell the truth about literature, andthe pretension of philosophy to the literature of truth.

Biographical note:
Jacques Derrida (1930-2004) is one of the best known 20th century philosophers and is regarded as the founder of the Deconstructionmovement. His work continues to be hugely influential across thehumanities and social sciences and his impact on philosophy and literarycriticism is unparalleled. He is author of Of Grammatology (1967), Positions (1972) and Writing and Difference (1967) among many others.

Promotional headline:
A a major philosophical work from one of the 20th century”s best known philosophers.

for collection:
Bringing together books and thinkers that have opened up startling new ways of looking at the world, the Bloomsbury Revelations series celebrates the originality and excellence of Bloomsbury Academic”s non-fiction publishing. Including books by the likes of Carol Adams, Winston Churchill, Slavoj Zizek, Ferdinand de Saussure, Ronald Dworkin, Constantin Stanislavski, Susan Strange and Gilles Deleuze, this is an essential library of the thinkers who have fundamentally shaped the way we see the modern world.

Feature:
Derrida is one of the most influential philosophers of the twentieth century and Dissemination is one of his seminal works

Feature:
Includes a detailed introduction and additional notes on the text by Barbara Johnson<