Dissemination

Jacques Derrida (1930-2004) is one of the best known 20th century philosophers and is regarded as the founder of the Deconstruction movement. His work continues to be hugely influential across the humanities and social sciences and his impact on philosophy and literary criticism is unparalleled. He is author of Of Grammatology (1967), Positions (1972) and Writing and Difference (1967) among many others.

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.

• Translator’s IntroductionOutwork, prefacingPlato’s PharmacyI1 Pharmacia 2 The Father of Logos3 The Filial Inscription: Theuth, Hermes, Thoth, Nabu, Nebo4 The Pharmakon5 The PharmakeusII6 The Pharmakos7 The Ingredients: Phantasms, Festivals, and Paints8 The Heritage of the Pharmakon: Family Scene9 Play: From the Pharmakon to the Letter and from Blindness to the SupplementThe Double SessionIIIDisseminationI1 The Trigger 2 The Apparatus or Frame3 The Scission4 The Double Bottom of the Plupresent5 wriTing, encAsIng, screeNing6 The Attending DiscourseII7 The Time before First8 The Column9 The Crossroads of the “Est”10 Grafts, a return to OvercastingXI The Supernumerary