The Wild Card of Reading: On Paul de Man

Gaschà , Rodolphe

ISBN 10: 0674952960 / ISBN 13: 9780674952966

Published by Harvard University Press, 1998

Pages are clean and are not marred by notes or folds of any kind. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less. Seller Inventory # G0674952960I2N00

Synopsis:

One of the most knowledgeable and provocative explicators of Paul de Man's writings, Rodolphe Gasché, a philosopher by training, demonstrates for the first time the systematic coherence of the critic's work, insisting that de Man continues to merit close attention despite his notoriously difficult and obscure style. Gasché shows that de Man's "reading" centers on a dimension of the texts that is irreducible to any possible meaning, a dimension characterized by the "absolutely singular."

Given that de Man and Derrida are both termed deconstructionists, Gasché differentiates between the two by emphasizing Derrida's primary interest in "writing," and postulates that the best way to come to terms with de Man's works is to "read" them athwart the writings of Kant, Fichte, Hegel, Heidegger, and Derrida. He shows his respect for the "immanent logic" of de Man's thought--which he lays out in great detail--while revealing his uneasiness at the oddness of that thought and its consequences.

About the Author: Rodolphe Gasché is Eugenio Donato Professor of Comparative Literature at the State University of New York at Buffalo.

Bibliographic Details

Title: The Wild Card of Reading: On Paul de Man
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Publication Date: 1998
Binding: Paperback
Condition: As New
Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket