Deconstructing one's own demise

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	• Learning to Live Finally: The Last Interview Jacques Derrida Melville Pubns, 2007 - 96 pages average customer review:based on 2 reviews view larger image
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Deconstructing one's own demise

I'm not a big enthusiast of Derrida. Much like those who like to hear themselves talk, I have always come away from Derrida convinced he was someone who liked to watch himself write.
This book is anything but that, and certainly whether you are George Harrison or Jean Paul Sartre, death has a way of sharpening one's focus and editing the superfluous. Heidegger would have simply nodded and said, yes, being-toward-death does that. In the case of Derrida, the infatuation with his own opinions is dismissed and he gets down to what's real here. And to that extent this is indeed a moving, chilling and unblinkingly honest coming to terms.
You can draw your own conclusions when the book ends, but it reminded me of Sartre's HOPE NOW, an astounding last interview with Bernard Henri-Levy who was inisistent on getting Sartre to cop to Messianic Judaism and in his obsessive drive missed what Sartre was saying at the end of his life: that in what he had seen in the course of the human struggle, there was every reason for hope now. Derrida was always more positive than J-P S, and he seems intent on delivering a valedictory for the converted and the curious that by thinking, we approach the being of freedom.
A wonderful way to say good-bye...

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Chilling

My five stars is based on the overall value of this work. It offers a better insight into this man than any work ever has--including the film "Derrida" as well as his "Circumfession." If I were to base my rating on pure theoretical value, this would maybe be a "3 Star" review. However, the value of this short work is far greater than that.

I read it in one sitting and it gave me goosebumps on several occasions. These are the chilling words of a dying man baring his soul as he was formerly so opposed to doing.

If you're looking for an introduction to Derrida, this is not the book for you. If you're looking for the icing on the cake or perhaps further inspiration from this man, you will not be disappointed.

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With death looming, Jacques Derrida, the world?s most famous philosopher?known as the father of ?deconstructionism??sat down with journalist Jean Birnbaum of the French daily Le Monde. They revisited his life?s work and his impending death in a long, surprisingly accessible, and moving final interview.

Sometimes called ?obscure? and branded ?abstruse? by his critics, the Derrida found in this book is open and engaging, reflecting on a long career challenging important tenets of European philosophy from Plato to Marx.

The contemporary meaning of Derrida?s work is also examined, including a discussion of his many political activities. But, as Derrida says, ?To philosophize is to learn to die?; as such, this philosophical discussion turns to the realities of his imminent death?including life with a fatal cancer. In the end, this interview remains a touching final look at a long and distinguished career.

Jacques Derrida was director of studies at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales and professor of humanities at the University of California, Irvine. Among the most recent of his many books translated into English are Eyes of the University, Negotiations, Who?s Afraid of Philosophy?,and Rogues: Two Essays on Reason.

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