DERRIDA: A BIOGRAPHY - Scarce Pristine Copy of The First Hardcover Edition/First Printing

Derrida, Jacques (Author) & Peeters, Benoit (Author)

ISBN 10: 0745656153 / ISBN 13: 9780745656151

Published by New York City, NY: Polity Press, 2016, 2012

About this Item

1st Printing. 700 pages. Published in 2016. Massive Biography on subject. One of the best books, among so many out there, on the life and achievement of Jacques Derrida. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. Presents Benoit Peeters' "Derrida: A Biography" in a felicitous English translation. A "deconstruction" of the founder of deconstruction. "Tells the story of a Jewish boy from Algiers, excluded from school at the age of twelve, who went on to become the most widely translated philosopher in the world: A vulnerable, tormented man who, throughout his life, continued to see himself as unwelcome in the French university system. We are plunged into the different worlds in which Derrida lived and worked: Pre-independence Algeria, the microcosm of the Ecole Normale Superieure, the cluster of structuralist thinkers, and the turbulent events of 1968 and after. We meet the remarkable series of leading writers and philosophers with whom Derrida struck up a friendship: Louis Althusser, Emmanuel Levinas, Jean Genet, and Helene Cixous, among others. We also witness an equally long series of often brutal polemics fought over crucial issues with thinkers such as Michel Foucault, Jacques Lacan, John R. Searle, and Jurgen Habermas as well as several controversies that went far beyond academia, the best known of which concerned Heidegger and Paul de Man. We follow a series of courageous political commitments in support of Nelson Mandela, illegal immigrants, and gay marriage. And we watch as a concept - deconstruction - takes wing and exerts an extraordinary influence beyond the philosophical world, on literary studies, architecture, law, theology, feminism, queer theory, and postcolonial studies" (Pubisher's blurb). An absolute "must-have" title for Jacques Derrida collectors. This title is a contemporary classic. This is one of few copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. This is the single most beautiful copy we have ever seen. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws ("Very Good"). This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A scarce copy thus. One of the greatest philosophers of the 20th century. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER JACQUES DERRIDA TITLE IN OUR CATALOG) ISBN 0745656153.

Seller Inventory # 24131

Bibliographic Details

• Title: DERRIDA: A BIOGRAPHY - Scarce Pristine Copy of The First Hardcover Edition/First Printing
• Publisher: New York City, NY: Polity Press, 2016
• Publication Date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0745656153
• ISBN 13: 9780745656151
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition.
• Condition: As New
• Dust Jacket Condition: As New
• Signed: no

About this title

Synopsis

This biography of Jacques Derrida (1930–2004) tells the story of a Jewish boy from Algiers, excluded from school at the age of twelve, who went on to become the most widely translated French philosopher in the world – a vulnerable, tormented man who, throughout his life, continued to see himself as unwelcome in the French university system. We are plunged into the different worlds in which Derrida lived and worked: pre-independence Algeria, the microcosm of the École Normale Supérieure, the cluster of structuralist thinkers, and the turbulent events of 1968 and after. We meet the remarkable series of leading writers and philosophers with whom Derrida struck up a friendship: Louis Althusser, Emmanuel Levinas, Jean Genet, and Hélène Cixous, among others. We also witness an equally long series of often brutal polemics fought over crucial issues with thinkers such as Michel Foucault, Jacques Lacan, John R. Searle, and Jürgen Habermas, as well as several controversies that went far beyond academia, the best known of which concerned Heidegger and Paul de Man. We follow a series of courageous political commitments in support of Nelson Mandela, illegal immigrants, and gay marriage. And we watch as a concept – deconstruction – takes wing and exerts an extraordinary influence way beyond the philosophical world, on literary studies, architecture, law, theology, feminism, queer theory, and postcolonial studies.

In writing this compelling and authoritative biography, Benoît Peeters talked to over a hundred individuals who knew and worked with Derrida.  He is also the first person to make use of the huge personal archive built up by Derrida throughout his life and of his extensive correspondence.  Peeters’ book gives us a new and deeper understanding of the man who will perhaps be seen as the major philosopher of the second half of the twentieth century.

About the Author

Benoît Peeters was born in Paris in 1956. Following a degree in Philosophy at the Sorbonne (Paris I), he went on to study for his Masters at the École Pratique des Hautes Études under the direction of Roland Barthes. He has since published over forty works on a wide variety of subjects and has written essays and biographies on Hergé, Alfred Hitchcock, and Paul Valéry.