Derrida for Beginners (Writers and Readers Documentary Comic Book) [Paperback]

Jim Powell (Author), Van Howell (Illustrator)

Book Description

Series: Writers and Readers Documentary Comic Book | Publication Date: November 1996

Since 1968, in coffeehouses around the world, intellectuals have been talking about Jacques Derrida and Deconstruction. Jim Powell has written the most lucid introduction available on this important philosopher, whose abstruse mode of philosophizing remains incomprehensible to even the best-educated minds. Speaking tours.

Product Details

• Paperback: 186 pages
• Publisher: Writers & Readers (November 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0863161391
• ISBN-13: 978-0863161391
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #528,764 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If your new to Derrida, here is your introduction., November 2, 2000

By 

Adam Bailey (CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Derrida for Beginners (Writers and Readers Documentary Comic Book) (Paperback)

Derrida is my favorite philosopher. I don't think that his 'Deconstruction' is holistic necessarily but the gist of it explains the inherent problems of doing philosophy better then anything else I've read.

Unlike the greats of Science who simplify complex ideas (i.e..Stephen Hawking, Richard Feynman), the guru's of philosophy take fairly straight-forward ideas and shroud them with such mysterious sounding proprietary language that their work becomes nearly impossible to decipher. Derrida is no exception. This is a shame because his underlying message is brilliant...and really not not all that abstract.

So until philosophers realize that less words does not directly translate to less intelligence, we should be very glad to have commentators like Jim Powell around.

"Derrida For Beginners" concentrates on developing the key concept of "differance" and defining the necessary Derridian terminology used to communicate its meaning. The book clearly defines, "binary opposites", "texts", "logocentricism" etc.. and has plenty of diagram's to help you get the idea. While I can't say the artwork did much for me, the cartoon setting does force the message to be carried accross succinctly...no babling. The first book I read after failing miserably to tackle "Of Grammatology" was "Derrida" by Christopher Norris. While his was an excellent introduction..I will say that after I read "Derrida for Beginners" I went back and read most of Norris' book again and got a lot more out of it. Try this: read "Derrida for Beginners" as many times as needed until you have all the words in bold print at your fingertips..then, read Norris' book "Derrida". With this few hours of investment, do some online searches and read some of the commentaries and criticism of Derrida. You will be surprised at how badly he is misunderstood by so many who have studied him a lot more then you, and should feel good about your knowledge in comparisom. Of course you then need to get humble again so start reading "Of Grammatology". :)

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Beginning!, April 23, 2000

By 

rareoopdvds (San Diego, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Derrida for Beginners (Writers and Readers Documentary Comic Book) (Paperback)

Before I read this book, all I ever hear of Derrida is that he is so hard to read. Upon reading this, I realized where this could be true. This beginners book is very well written and made Derrida's work simple to understand. Although one may need a basic knowledge in linguistics and Sassure, one does not need it all together to comprehend some of Derrida's work. Author Jim Powell gives a concise look into the dense writings of the linguist which I not only found easy, but exciting - enough to make me want to go out and read some of the material that is written about. Along with an explanation of Derrida's work is also a brief biography which gives on an idea where he is coming from. Highly reccomended! One of the best beginners book to date.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Impossible? Possibly., September 4, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Derrida for Beginners (Writers and Readers Documentary Comic Book) (Paperback)

Philosophy in cartoons? Deconstruction "in a nutshell"? The outlook is bleak...It's a relief that this is so well done, a light-fingered "take" on Derrida that doesn't attempt to lift off more than it can carry. But then, there's always been a lot more philosophy in cartoons than is generally acknowledged...