Dissemination

By Jacques Derrida

"The English version of Dissemination [is] an able translation by Barbara Johnson . . . . Derrida's central contention is that language is haunted by dispersal, absence, loss, the risk of unmeaning, a risk which is starkly embodied in all writing. The distinction between philosophy and literature therefore becomes of secondary importance. Philosophy vainly attempts to control the irrecoverable dissemination of its own meaning, it strives—against the grain of language—to offer a sober revelation of truth. Literature—on the other hand—flaunts its own meretriciousness, abandons itself to the Dionysiac play of language. In Dissemination—more than any previous work—Derrida joins in the revelry, weaving a complex pattern of puns, verbal echoes and allusions, intended to 'deconstruct' both the pretension of criticism to tell the truth about literature, and the pretension of philosophy to the literature of truth."—Peter Dews, New Statesman

• Language: English
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Release date: Jan 28, 2021
• ISBN: 9780226816340

Jacques Derrida

Christopher Small (1927–2011) was a senior lecturer at Ealing College of Higher Education in London until 1986 and lived in Sitges, Spain, until his death.

Reviews for Dissemination

[hadriantheblind · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

My first book of the infamous Derrida. I picked this one specifically because I heard it was one of his easier essay collections.

I admit that the writing style went well over my head. That is simply how he is. However, I kept getting the feeling that very little was being said. If there was something interesting, the point was repeated and hammered to death. It is almost stereotypically dense philosopher-prose. The dense language is used to make the threadbare analysis of language seem more meaningful.