Dissemination

Dissemination explores the relationship between language, philosophy, and literature. Jacques Derrida argues that language is haunted by absence, loss, and the risk of unmeaning. The distinction between philosophy and literature becomes secondary, as philosophy tries to control the dissemination of its meaning while literature indulges in the play of language. Derrida deconstructs both the pretensions of literary criticism to tell the truth about literature and the pretensions of philosophy to the truth of literature. This book weaves a complex pattern of puns, allusions, and verbal echoes, inviting readers to join in the revelry of language.