Derrida and Other Animals: The Boundaries of the Human - Softcover

Judith Still

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1474474551 ISBN 13: 9781474474559

Publisher: Edinburgh University Press, 2020

Synopsis

Analyses Derrida's late writings on animals, especially his seminars The Beast and the SovereignWhat is man? This book examines Derrida's contribution to this long-standing philosophical and political debate, which has typically evoked a significant division between human beings and other animals. Derrida pays close attention to how animals are used to explore humanity in a range of writings, including fables and fiction. This leads to ethical questions about how humans treat animals: sacrificing animals (say, in factory farms) while extending love to pets. And it leads to political questions about how we dehumanise 'outsiders', from historical matters such as colonialism and slavery to contemporary issues such as State Terror in response to 'rogue states'. Key Features One of the first books to make extensive reference to the two recently published volumes of Derrida's seminar series The Beast and the Sovereign Pays particular attention to Derrida's intertexts, such as Defoe, Hobbes, La Fontaine, Rousseau, Agamben and Heidegger Two chapters explore contemporary women's animal fictions, and imagined metamorphoses, looking at work by Carter, Cixous, Darrieussecq, Duffy, NDiaye, Tsvetaeva and Vivien

About this title

About the Author

Judith Still is Professor of French and Critical Theory and Head of the School of Cultures, Languages and Area Studies at the University of Nottingham. She is the author of Justice and Differences in the Works of Rousseau (CUP, 1993), Feminine Economies: Thinking against the Market in the Enlightenment and the Late Twentieth Century (MUP, 1997), Derrida and Hospitality (EUP, 2010, Gapper Prize winner 2011) and Enlightenment Hospitality (Voltaire Foundation, 2011).

From the Back Cover

‘In this fascinating and important study, Judith Still is “on the track” of Derrida’s writings on the human/animal question. She proceeds à pas de loup, presenting, critiquing and amplifying his texts with issues of gender (social and grammatical), the borderline with “less human humans”, cannibalism, naming, weaving and much more.’Naomi Segal, Birkbeck, University of LondonA sustained consideration of the question of Derrida and defining the human in relation to animalsJudith Still offers a comprehensive discussion of Derrida’s contribution to the long-standing philosophical and political debate which insists on defining ‘man’ against ‘the animal’. She makes extensive reference to the two volumes recently published, in French and English, of Derrida’s seminar series The Beast and the Sovereign, with particular attention to his source texts such as Defoe, Hobbes, La Fontaine, Rousseau, Agamben and Heidegger. Added to this close reading of Derrida is a consideration of contemporary women’s writings on animals, including work by Carter, Cixous, Darrieussecq, Duffy, NDiaye, Tsvetaeva and Vivien.The result is a challenging series of case studies of the ways in which the defining of man against animality has had an impact on animals and also on those human beings defined as less than fully human – savages, slaves and women.It will appeal to those interested in Derrida and in animal studies, and how these relate to questions of enduring human inequalities whether based on race or sex.Judith Still is Professor of French and Critical Theory and Head of the School of Cultures, Languages and Area Studies at the University of Nottingham. She is the author of Derrida and Hospitality (Edinburgh University Press, 2010).Cover image: Liz Emirzian. Transformation. 2013. Acrylic on Wood. Brooklyn, New YorkCover design:[EUP logo]www.euppublishing.com

Edition details

• Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
• Publication date: 2020
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1474474551
• ISBN 13: 9781474474559
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 416