After Derrida

Reactions to Derrida vary dramatically: some regard him as a charlatan, as simply nihilistic and irrationalist; others as an extraordinarily clear and patient thinker, concerned with the affirmation and elaboration of a new enlightenment. However construed, his work in the field of deconstruction has been a decisive point of reference and orientation for cultural and intellectual debate in the English-speaking world. This study of Derrida aims to explain what Derrida has to say in relation to a wide range of topics, including molluscs, surprise, multiple voices, absolute danger, telepathy, laughter, self-portraits, love, foreign bodies and ghosts. It also presents different readings, beyond and after Derrida. In addition, the author discusses the work of Shakespeare and Wordsworth, Toni Morrison, Foucault, Salman Rushdie, Emily Dickinson, Wallace Stevens, and Samuel Beckett.