H. C. for Life, That Is to Say... - Paperback

by Jacques Derrida (Author), Laurent Milesi (Translator), Stefan Herbrechter (Translator)

H. C. for Life, That Is to Say . . . is Derrida's literary critical recollection of his lifelong friendship with Hélène Cixous. The main figure that informs Derrida's reading here is that of "taking sides." While Hélène Cixous in her life and work takes the side of life, "for life," Derrida admits always feeling drawn to the side of death. Rather than being an obvious choice, taking the side of life is an act of faith, by wagering one's life on life.

H. C. for Life sets up and explores this interminable "argument" between Derrida and Cixous as to what death has in store deep within life itself, before the end. In addition to being a memoir, it is also a theoretical confrontation-for example about the meaning of "might" and "omnipotence," and a philosophical and philological analysis of the crypts within the vast oeuvre of Hélène Cixous. Finally, the book is Derrida's tribute to the thought of the woman whom he regards as one of the great French poets, writers, and thinkers of our time.

Front Jacket

H. C. for Life, That Is to Say . . . is Derrida's literary critical recollection of his lifelong friendship with Helene Cixous. The main figure that informs Derrida's reading here is that of "taking sides." While Helene Cixous in her life and work takes the side of life, "for life," Derrida admits always feeling drawn to the side of death. Rather than being an obvious choice, taking the side of life is an act of faith, by wagering one's life on life.
H. C. for Life sets up and explores this interminable "argument" between Derrida and Cixous as to what death has in store deep within life itself, before the end. In addition to being a memoir, it is also a theoretical confrontation--for example about the meaning of "might" and "omnipotence," and a philosophical and philological analysis of the crypts within the vast oeuvre of Helene Cixous. Finally, the book is Derrida's tribute to the thought of the woman whom he regards as one of the great French poets, writers, and thinkers of our time.

Back Jacket

H.C. for Life, That Is to Say... represents a vigorous volley within the series produced by the mutual provocation society of Helene Cixous and Jacques Derrida. The particular provocation here--even more moving now that Derrida has gone--is his insistence that they fall on one side or the other of the question of life and death. She is for life, whereas for him one always dies in the end. Veritably incited, however, by Cixous' work, Derrida cannot avoid writing for her, on her side; and he cannot avoid provoking, in the sense of writing on behalf of, or on the side of her voice, reading and citing at length, playing off the polyphonic effects of a poetics that he considers to be among 'the most powerful and the most engaged in thinking in the history of literature.'--Gary Wills, University at Albany-SUNY
"Because Helene Cixous (the H.C. of the title) has a genius for making language speak and because no one knew better than Derrida how to mine the secret's of Cixous's profoundly complex and beguiling prose, this volume stands out as exceptional."--CHOICE

Author Biography

Jacques Derrida (1930-2004) was Director of Studies at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales and Professor of Humanities at the University of California, Irvine. Among the most recent of his many books to have been translated into English are Paper Machine (2005), On Touching--Jean-Luc Nancy (2005), Rogues (2005), Eyes of the University (2004), For What Tomorrow... with Elisabeth Roudinesco (2004), Counterpath with Catherine Malabou (2004), Negotiations (2002), Who's Afraid of Philosophy? (2002), and Without Alibi (2002). All of these have been published by Stanford University Press.