The Political Archive of Paul de Man: Property, Sovereignty and the Theotropic

by Martin McQuillan (Editor)

Overview

Presents Paul de Man’s thinking to a contemporary politicised audience through original archival research
Taking de Man’s recently published manuscript Textual Allegories as a point of departure, 13 experts revisit de Man’s account of Rousseau in a ‘post-theoretical’ landscape concerned with political theology, occupied with the transformation of the western model of sovereignty, and faced with the apparent collapse of the capitalist global contract. The volume is framed by an introduction by Martin McQuillan and concludes with an original and previously unpublished text by Paul de Man on Nietzsche.
Key Features:
Presents the first published responses to a recently published de Man manuscript
Relates de Man’s work to key topics in contemporary Theory
Outstanding list of contributors including Etienne Balibar, Ellen Burt, Stephen Barker, Andrzej Warminski, Tom Cohen and J. Hillis Miller
First publication of a Paul de Man text on Nietzsche

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780748665617
Publisher:	Edinburgh University Press
Publication date:	08/06/2012
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.30(h) x 0.80(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Martin McQuillan is director of the Institute for Creative Enterprise at Edge Hill University. He is a writer, filmmaker and literary theorist. His academic work includes the monographs Critical Practice: Philosophy and Creativity (2019), Deconstruction without Derrida (2014) and Deconstruction after 9/11 (2008). His prize-winning film work includes Hamlet Within (2023) and Oxi: An act of resistance with Ken McMullen (2015) and Love in the Post with Joanna Callaghan (2014).

Table of Contents

List of Abbreviations vii

Acknowledgements viii

Notes on Contributors ix

Introduction: Broken Promises: Rousseau, de Man and Watergate Martin McQuillan 1

1 Lovence in Rousseau's Julie ou la Nouvelle Héloïse Etienne Balibar 13

2 Reading Spectacles in Rousseau's Letter to d'Alembert E.S. Burt 25

3 The Utter Misery of the Human Mind: Apotropaic and Theotropic in de Man's Rousseau Nigel Mapp 41

4 Rhetoric and Rausch: de Man on Nietzsche on Value and Style Stephen Barker 57

5 Theotropic Logology: J. Hillis Miller, Paul de Man and Kenneth Burke Steven Mailloux 72

6 Normativity, Materiality and Inequality: The Politics of the Letter in Paul de Man Walter Benn Michaels 81

7 Inscribing the Political: Paul de Man and the Wild Art of Letter Writing Kevin Newmark 91

8 Mistake in Paul de Man: Violent Reading and Theotropic Violence Marc Redfield 103

9 Lightstruck: 'Hegel on the Sublime' Andrzej Warminski 118

10 De Man vs. 'Deconstruction': or, Who, Today, Speaks for the Anthropocene? Tom Cohen 131

11 Paul de Man at Work: What Good is an Archive? J. Hillis Miller 149

12 DNA: de Man's Nucleic Archive Erin Obodiac 157

13 Sovereign Debt Crisis: Paul de Man and the Privatization of Thought Martin McQuillan 167

Appendix: Nietzsche I: Rhetoric + Metaphysics Paul de Man 179

Index 193