Books by Peggy Kamuf

Some contemporary approaches to literature still accept the separation of historical, biographical, external concerns from formal, internal ones. On the borderline that lends this division between inside and outside its apparent coherence is signature. In Peggy Kamuf's view, studying signature will help us to rediscover some of the stakes of literary writing beyond the historicist/formalist opposition. Drawing on Derrida's extensive work on signatures and proper names, Kamuf investigates authorial signature in key writers from Rousseau to Woolf, as well as the implications of signature for the institutions of authorship and criticism.

How does literature contest capital punishment? The central question of this book, taken over from Derrida's seminar The Death Penalty, is pursued in the analyses of four fictional texts. The context of the remains of the death penalty in the contemporary U.S. frames these engagements and extends their pertinence today.

This book consists of a series of essays that all turn around questions of the address of speech or writing. They argue and demonstrate that meaning is not just a matter of the active intention of a subject (for example, speaker, writer, or other signatory of a meaningful act), but also of its reception at another's address.

'Already recognized as one of the most brilliant critical voices on both sides of the Atlantic, Peggy Kamuf''s book demonstrates her exemplarity as a reader of Derrida's texts. From her remarks on sovereignty and possibility to her commentaries on death and mourning, Kamuf's writing bears witness to an outstanding mind at work.'Lawrence D. Kritzman, John D. Willard Professor of French, Oratory and Comparative Literature, Dartmouth College'Jacques Derrida used the phrases "e;friendly vigilance"e; and "e;rigorous collaboration"e; to describe Peggy Kamuf's long engagement with his work. This volume amply demonstrates those qualities: a warm appreciation of his achievement and the positive force of his example together with an acute eye, and ear, for the fine details of his language and his argumentation. No-one gets closer to both the spirit and the letter of Derrida's writing.'Derek Attridge, University of YorkThis book, newly available in paperback, collects ten years of Peggy Kamuf's writing on the work and friendship of Jacques Derrida.The chapters engage with a broad array of Derrida's work, from the 1960s to the posthumous publication of his teaching seminars. She also considers press interviews and the collaboration on the film D'ailleurs Derrida. These close readings - newly available in paperback - are punctuated by brief recollections from their long friendship.

This book collects ten years of Peggy Kamuf's writing on the work and friendship of Jacques Derrida. The majority of the chapters discuss a key aspect of Derrida's thought, either from a single work or across several texts. Kamuf engages with a broad array of his work, from the 1960s to the posthumous publication of his teaching seminars.