Literature and the Remains of the Death Penalty

Peggy Kamuf

Published by Fordham University Press 2019

Literature and the Remains of the Death Penalty

Peggy Kamuf

In the series Idiom: Inventing Writing Theory

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780823282326

Overview
Contents

About this book

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.

Deconstructive literary reflection at its most lucid and timely.

Author / Editor information

Kamuf Peggy :

Peggy Kamuf is Professor Emerita of French and Comparative Literature at the University of Southern California. Her books include Book of Addresses, which won the René Wellek Prize, and, most recently, Literature and the Remains of the Death Penalty.Peggy Kamuf is Professor Emerita of French and Comparative Literature at the University of Southern California. Her books include To Follow: The Wake of Jacques Derrida and Book of Addresses, which won the René Wellek Prize. She is co-editor of the seminars of Jacques Derrida and has translated several books by Derrida, including The Death Penalty I.

Reviews

Diane Rubenstein, Cornell University:
“A capstone book. Kamuf’s book demonstrates why literature is allied less with genres and periodizations than with institutions of law and bound up with its own rights. For Kamuf, as for Derrida, there is a ‘right to literature,’ not as an individual right but as literature’s own right to secrecy, to say anything and to non-response. Her scholarship is careful and honest, and the book is a delight to read.”

Thomas Keenan, Bard College:
“This is a superb book, with rich readings of essential texts that offer a fresh start to an urgent but often ignored question of justice. Without moralizing, Kamuf takes a strong position against the death penalty, directly confronting the actual legal, political, ethical, social, and philosophical questions it raises. In one blow, she overhauls the debate and makes us look at what really matters in it. The book will find a wide, hungry, and receptive audience across a range of fields and disciplines.”

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
CONTENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	v
INTRODUCTION Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
1. BEGINNING WITH LITERATURE Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	17
2. ORWELL’S EXECUTION Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	41
3. IS JUSTICE BURNING? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	61
4. THE SENTENCE IS THE STORY Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	95
5. PLAYING THE LAW Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	123
POSTMORTEM Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	145
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	149
BIBLIOGRAPHY Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	151
INDEX Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	159

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: Fordham University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 176
Keywords: Charles Baudelaire; death penalty; Derrida; George Orwell; Norman Mailer; Robert Coover

eBook

Published: October 16, 2018
ISBN: 9780823282326