Archive Fever: A Freudian Impression (Religion and Postmodernism Series) (Paperback)

~ (Author), Eric Prenowitz (Translator) "17. Letter to Wilhelm Fliess (6 December 1896) [Complete Letters 214]..." (more)
Key Phrases: archontic principle, deferred obedience, mystic pad (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

The presumed purpose of this essay, presented at a conference on memory in London on June 5, 1994, is Derrida's reading of Freud's 1906 interpretation of Jensen's Gradiva, but this reading comes late in the exposition and accounts for only 11 percent of the text. In introductions and postscript, French deconstructiononist philosopher Derrida explores the Greek roots of archive, which stands for both "commencement" and "commandment." This means that authority is as much at stake as origin. Archiving represents both attempting to preserve something to be remembered and leaving out something to be forgotten. Derrida notes that this impulse with contradictory purposes is found in individual and collective minds, historically and fictionally. Indeed, history and fiction may blur in the haunted selves that suffer from "archive fever" (mal d'archive). Translator Prenowitz has managed valiantly to bring into English a difficult but inspiring text that relies on Greek, German, and their translations into French. For academic collections.?Marilyn Gaddis Rose, SUNY, Binghamton
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Description

In Archive Fever, Jacques Derrida deftly guides us through an extended meditation on remembrance, religion, time, and technology—fruitfully occasioned by a deconstructive analysis of the notion of archiving. Intrigued by the evocative relationship between technologies of inscription and psychic processes, Derrida offers for the first time a major statement on the pervasive impact of electronic media, particularly e-mail, which threaten to transform the entire public and private space of humanity. Plying this rich material with characteristic virtuosity, Derrida constructs a synergistic reading of archives and archiving, both provocative and compelling.

"Judaic mythos, Freudian psychoanalysis, and e-mail all get fused into another staggeringly dense, brilliant slab of scholarship and suggestion."—The Guardian

"[Derrida] convincingly argues that, although the archive is a public entity, it nevertheless is the repository of the private and personal, including even intimate details."—Choice

"Beautifully written and clear."—Jeremy Barris, Philosophy in Review

"Translator Prenowitz has managed valiantly to bring into English a difficult but inspiring text that relies on Greek, German, and their translations into French."—Library Journal

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press; 1 edition (October 15, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0226143678
• ISBN-13: 978-0226143675
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
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• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #32,684 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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