Benoît Peeters was born in Paris in 1956. Following a degree in Philosophy at the Sorbonne (Paris I), he went on to study for his Masters at the École Pratique des Hautes Études under the direction of Roland Barthes. He has since published over forty works on a wide variety of subjects and has written essays and biographies on Hergé, Alfred Hitchcock, and Paul Valéry.

''Peeters has ransacked the voluminous Derrida archives and interviewed scores of his friends and colleagues. The result is a marvellously compelling account, lucidly translated by Andrew Brown. The man who emerges from this portrait is an agonised soul with sudden outbreaks of gaiety, an astonishingly original thinker with more than a dash of vanity who nevertheless made himself fully available to the humblest student.''Terry Eagleton, The Guardian‘'Exhaustive and exhilarating.'’The Scotsman''A real tour de force. Assimilating a vast amount of material Derrida’s own voluminous publications, unpublished documents and correspondence, and conversations with a host of acquaintances Ð Benoit Peeters has produced a compelling narrative that sheds light on all aspects of Derrida’s remarkable career.''Jonathan Culler, Cornell University‘'If you've ever given up on Derrida, this portrait of him as a lovable, thin-skinned and narcissistic outsider in France who shot to fame in the United States should make you reconsider.'’New Statesman‘'In his impressive, massive biography... Benoit Peeters, a former student of Derrida’s, tells a captivating tale of the enfant terrible outsider.'’Wichita Eagle

• Acknowledgements viiIntroduction 1PART I JACKIE 1930–19621 The Negus 1930–1942 92 Under the Sun of Algiers 1942–1949 193 The Walls of Louis-le-Grand 1949–1952 354 The École Normale Supérieure 1952–1956 595 A Year in America 1956–1957 806 The Soldier of Koléa 1957–1959 927 Melancholia in Le Mans 1959–1960 1088 Towards Independence 1960–1962 113PART II DERRIDA 1963–19831 From Husserl to Artaud 1963–1964 1272 In the Shadow of Althusser 1963–1966 1443 Writing Itself 1965–1966 1554 A Lucky Year 1967 1705 A Period of Withdrawal 1968 1866 Uncomfortable Positions 1969–1971 2077 Severed Ties 1972–1973 2308 Glas 1973–1975 2569 In Support of Philosophy 1973–1976 26710 Another Life 1976–1977 28811 From the Nouveaux Philosophes to the Estates General 1977–1979 29812 Postcards and Proofs 1979–1981 30813 Night in Prague 1981–1982 33214 A New Hand of Cards 1982–1983 342PART III JACQUES DERRIDA 1984–20041 The Territories of Deconstruction 1984–1986 3552 From the Heidegger Aff air to the de Man Aff air 1987–1988 3793 Living Memory 1988–1990 4024 Portrait of the Philosopher at Sixty 4175 At the Frontiers of the Institution 1991–1992 4406 Of Deconstruction in America 4517 Specters of Marx 1993–1995 4628 The Derrida International 1996–1999 4789 The Time of Dialogue 2000–2002 49510 In Life and in Death 2003–2004 518Notes 543Sources 593Bibliography 596Index 605

Benoît Peeters was born in Paris in 1956. Following a degree in Philosophy at the Sorbonne (Paris I), he went on to study for his Masters at the École Pratique des Hautes Études under the direction of Roland Barthes. He has since published over forty works on a wide variety of subjects and has written essays and biographies on Hergé, Alfred Hitchcock, and Paul Valéry.

''Peeters has ransacked the voluminous Derrida archives and interviewed scores of his friends and colleagues. The result is a marvellously compelling account, lucidly translated by Andrew Brown. The man who emerges from this portrait is an agonised soul with sudden outbreaks of gaiety, an astonishingly original thinker with more than a dash of vanity who nevertheless made himself fully available to the humblest student.''Terry Eagleton, The Guardian‘'Exhaustive and exhilarating.'’The Scotsman''A real tour de force. Assimilating a vast amount of material Derrida’s own voluminous publications, unpublished documents and correspondence, and conversations with a host of acquaintances Ð Benoit Peeters has produced a compelling narrative that sheds light on all aspects of Derrida’s remarkable career.''Jonathan Culler, Cornell University‘'If you've ever given up on Derrida, this portrait of him as a lovable, thin-skinned and narcissistic outsider in France who shot to fame in the United States should make you reconsider.'’New Statesman‘'In his impressive, massive biography... Benoit Peeters, a former student of Derrida’s, tells a captivating tale of the enfant terrible outsider.'’Wichita Eagle

• Acknowledgements viiIntroduction 1PART I JACKIE 1930–19621 The Negus 1930–1942 92 Under the Sun of Algiers 1942–1949 193 The Walls of Louis-le-Grand 1949–1952 354 The École Normale Supérieure 1952–1956 595 A Year in America 1956–1957 806 The Soldier of Koléa 1957–1959 927 Melancholia in Le Mans 1959–1960 1088 Towards Independence 1960–1962 113PART II DERRIDA 1963–19831 From Husserl to Artaud 1963–1964 1272 In the Shadow of Althusser 1963–1966 1443 Writing Itself 1965–1966 1554 A Lucky Year 1967 1705 A Period of Withdrawal 1968 1866 Uncomfortable Positions 1969–1971 2077 Severed Ties 1972–1973 2308 Glas 1973–1975 2569 In Support of Philosophy 1973–1976 26710 Another Life 1976–1977 28811 From the Nouveaux Philosophes to the Estates General 1977–1979 29812 Postcards and Proofs 1979–1981 30813 Night in Prague 1981–1982 33214 A New Hand of Cards 1982–1983 342PART III JACQUES DERRIDA 1984–20041 The Territories of Deconstruction 1984–1986 3552 From the Heidegger Aff air to the de Man Aff air 1987–1988 3793 Living Memory 1988–1990 4024 Portrait of the Philosopher at Sixty 4175 At the Frontiers of the Institution 1991–1992 4406 Of Deconstruction in America 4517 Specters of Marx 1993–1995 4628 The Derrida International 1996–1999 4789 The Time of Dialogue 2000–2002 49510 In Life and in Death 2003–2004 518Notes 543Sources 593Bibliography 596Index 605

Benoît Peeters was born in Paris in 1956. Following a degree in Philosophy at the Sorbonne (Paris I), he went on to study for his Masters at the École Pratique des Hautes Études under the direction of Roland Barthes. He has since published over forty works on a wide variety of subjects and has written essays and biographies on Hergé, Alfred Hitchcock, and Paul Valéry.

''Peeters has ransacked the voluminous Derrida archives and interviewed scores of his friends and colleagues. The result is a marvellously compelling account, lucidly translated by Andrew Brown. The man who emerges from this portrait is an agonised soul with sudden outbreaks of gaiety, an astonishingly original thinker with more than a dash of vanity who nevertheless made himself fully available to the humblest student.''Terry Eagleton, The Guardian‘'Exhaustive and exhilarating.'’The Scotsman''A real tour de force. Assimilating a vast amount of material Derrida’s own voluminous publications, unpublished documents and correspondence, and conversations with a host of acquaintances Ð Benoit Peeters has produced a compelling narrative that sheds light on all aspects of Derrida’s remarkable career.''Jonathan Culler, Cornell University‘'If you've ever given up on Derrida, this portrait of him as a lovable, thin-skinned and narcissistic outsider in France who shot to fame in the United States should make you reconsider.'’New Statesman‘'In his impressive, massive biography... Benoit Peeters, a former student of Derrida’s, tells a captivating tale of the enfant terrible outsider.'’Wichita Eagle

• Acknowledgements viiIntroduction 1PART I JACKIE 1930–19621 The Negus 1930–1942 92 Under the Sun of Algiers 1942–1949 193 The Walls of Louis-le-Grand 1949–1952 354 The École Normale Supérieure 1952–1956 595 A Year in America 1956–1957 806 The Soldier of Koléa 1957–1959 927 Melancholia in Le Mans 1959–1960 1088 Towards Independence 1960–1962 113PART II DERRIDA 1963–19831 From Husserl to Artaud 1963–1964 1272 In the Shadow of Althusser 1963–1966 1443 Writing Itself 1965–1966 1554 A Lucky Year 1967 1705 A Period of Withdrawal 1968 1866 Uncomfortable Positions 1969–1971 2077 Severed Ties 1972–1973 2308 Glas 1973–1975 2569 In Support of Philosophy 1973–1976 26710 Another Life 1976–1977 28811 From the Nouveaux Philosophes to the Estates General 1977–1979 29812 Postcards and Proofs 1979–1981 30813 Night in Prague 1981–1982 33214 A New Hand of Cards 1982–1983 342PART III JACQUES DERRIDA 1984–20041 The Territories of Deconstruction 1984–1986 3552 From the Heidegger Aff air to the de Man Aff air 1987–1988 3793 Living Memory 1988–1990 4024 Portrait of the Philosopher at Sixty 4175 At the Frontiers of the Institution 1991–1992 4406 Of Deconstruction in America 4517 Specters of Marx 1993–1995 4628 The Derrida International 1996–1999 4789 The Time of Dialogue 2000–2002 49510 In Life and in Death 2003–2004 518Notes 543Sources 593Bibliography 596Index 605