Jacques Derrida remains the world's single most influential philosophical and literary theorist. He is also one of the most controversial and most complex. His own works and critical studies of his work proliferate, but where can a student, utterly new to Derrida start? Understanding Derrida is written as an introduction to the full range of Derrida's key ideas and influences. It brings together the world's leading authorities on Derrida, each writing a short, accessible essay on one central aspect of his work. Framed by a clear introduction and a complete bibliography of Derrida's publications in English, the essays systematically analyse one aspect of Derrida's work, each one includes a quick summary of Derrida's books which have addressed this theme, guiding the student towards a direct engagement with Derrida's texts. The essays cover language, metaphysics, the subject, politics, ethics, the decision, translation, religion, psychoanalysis, literature, art, and Derrida's seminal relationship to other philosophers, namely Husserl, Heidegger, Levinas, Hegel and Nietzsche.
Foreword; Jacques Derrida; 1. Editor's Introduction; Jack Reynolds and Jon Roffe; Part I: Themes in Derrida; 2. Language; Michael Naas, DePaul University; 3. Metaphysics; Christopher Norris, University of Cardiff; 4. The Subject; Christina Howells, Oxford; 5. Politics; Paul Patton, University of New South Wales; 6. Ethics; Simon Critchley, University of Essex; 7. Decision; Jack Reynolds, University of Tasmania; 8. Translation; Jon Roffe, University of Melbourne; 9. Religion; Kevin Hart, University of Notre Dame; 10. Psychoanalysis; Matthew Sharpe, University of Auckland; 11. Literature; Claire Colebrook, University of Edinburgh; 12. Art; Julian Wolfreys, University of Florida; Part II: Derrida & Others; 13. Edmund Husserl; David Allison, State University of New York; 14. Martin Heidegger; Robert Bernasconi, University of Memphis; 15. Emmanuel Levinas; Rosalyn Diprose, University of New South Wales; 16. GWF Hegel; David Rathbone, University of Melbourne; 17. Friedrich Nietzsche; Richard Beardsworth, American University of Paris; Bibliography of all Derrida's English publications
