Customer Reviews

Jacques Derrida (Religion and Postmodernism)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It is clear that Bennington "gets" Derrida in this work. Bennington is easily one of the (maybe) 2 or 3 persons alive that are even nearly qualified to "finish Derrida's sentence." Everything I read of his is almost as if Derrida, himself, were writing.

Though an excellent look at exactly what Derrida is up to in his early days from Grammatology to Glas, this is not for the beginner. "Deconstruction in a Nutshell" by John Caputo and "How to Read Derrida" by Penelope Deutscher are better for introductory purposes.

This work was indispensable for me, as I was introduced to Derrida through his later works and had very little idea how his whole project began in the 60s, 70s, and 80s.

If you are fairly experienced in theory, I would recommend laboring through this work, then re-reading it a couple years later after further work with Derrida, Heidegger, etc. It will clear up a lot of question marks while opening up new, more exciting ones.

Bennington/Derrida's coauthored text is a creative (and often lucid) attempt to demonstrate deconstruction, as well as the life and work of the ever bewitching Derrida. Bennington's contribution is one of the finest attempts at an explanation of Derrida's work yet available. He attempts to systematize deconstruction through a rigorous reading of Derrida's moves and positions from the early work found in 'Writing and Difference,' to the later texts regarding politics and religion. Derrida contributes his 'Circumfession,' a free-wheeling text devoted to the idea of the confession found in St. Augustine (and of course Rousseau), while at the same time providing an opportunity for Derrida to reflect on memories from his life. The circumfession is also a demonstration that deconstruction cannot be systematized, as Bennington's commentary fails to truly 'pin down' the life of Derrida as made evident in this curious little text. Admittedly, I found most of 'Circumfession' hard-going and uninteresting. Perhaps there is simply too much about Derrida's penis. Nevertheless, this book is one of the finest of critical commentaries available.

It is a extraordinary book. It Gives you a perfect way to introduce you to Derrida's project (if it is possible to say a "project") of deconstruction and if you have already read something of Derrida it gives you a way of get deeper in Derrida's way of thinking.

Goffrey Bennington worked close to Derrida in order to achieve this book in a very faithful way to Derrida's thought. Derrida himself write the supplement (If you allow me the irony)of this book, it is very interesting see how Derrida think about himself.

I'll admit that it's hard enough to read Derrida, and I won't suggest that this is easier - in fact, reading this as a straightforward work front-to-back will probably lead to more confusion. But I definitely appreciate Derrida's paratextual manipulations and evasions of Bennington, who tries as hard as he can to pin down Derrida's thought at the same time. Bennington's topical arrangement is a great entre into the various subjects Derrida takes up in his philosophy, as long as you don't take it too dogmatically... and Derrida constantly comments in his running footnote to make sure that you don't.