L'écriture et la différence

Jacques Derrida's collection of essays from the early 1960s includes pieces on Foucault, Levinas, Artaud, Freud, Hegel, Bataille and Jabès, in which he develops the ideas that would make him known as the founder of deconstruction. He questions the assumption in Western thought that speech is closer to truth than writing, and he argues that meaning depends on difference, absence and the play of signs. The essays are demanding, with close readings of philosophical and literary texts and long footnotes.

Readers of philosophy, literary theory and French thought will find a major work that sets out Derrida's early arguments. It suits graduate students and others who are prepared for difficult prose, and who want to understand the background to poststructuralism.

Deep, contemplative and open-ended; a demanding read.

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