How to Tremble Beyond Sovereignty: Derrida and Beckett

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1344/oxi.2020.i17.31298

Keywords:

Jacques Derrida, Samuel Beckett, Hauntology, Poetic, Sovereignty

Abstract

Our main hypothesis is: in order to understand the singular trembling of Derrida’s philosophical work, and with it, the philosophic-political significance of it, one has to examine not only Derrida’s own conception of writing and, specifically of literature, but also the resonance of his work with that of an author who appears as his own writerly ghost: Samuel Beckett. This examination will follow the trembling between the two authors up to its utmost conclusion, where not only the limits of language, but also those of any kind of sovereignty are effaced through this quake.

Author Biography

James Martell, Lyon College

James Martell is Assistant Professor of Romance Languages at Lyon College. He is the co-editor, together with Arka Chattopadhyay of Samuel Beckett and the Encounter of Philosophy and Literature (Roman Books, 2013). He has published articles on Derrida, Deleuze, Beckett, and the cinema of Béla Tarr in journals like Mosaic, the Oxford Literary Review, and Sanglap. He co-edited in 2018 together with Fernanda Negrete a special volume of Samuel Beckett Today/Aujourd’hui, titled ‘Beckett Beyond Words.’ His book, Modernism, Self-Creation, and the Maternal: The Mother’s Son (Routledge) was published in July 2019. His current project is a book on stupidity and transatlantic modernism, and a co-edited volume on tattoos and critical theory.

References

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Published

2020-07-07

How to Cite

Martell, J. (2020). How to Tremble Beyond Sovereignty: Derrida and Beckett. OXIMORA International Journal of Ethics and Politics, (17), 99–118. https://doi.org/10.1344/oxi.2020.i17.31298

Issue

Num. 17: How to avoid trembling? Jacques Derrida and the Economies of Violence in Contemporary Political Philosophy (Jul-Dec 2020)

Section

Articles

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