Living On / To Survive: Epidemic Writings

Those familiar with the work of Derrida will recognize the double term in the title as variations, in translation, of Derridas untimely essay Survivre. "To survive"—in this infinite mood and indefinite form that sets no limit to number, person, or time—is at once the theme and the undercurrent that runs through the diverse texts gathered together in this volume. "To survive," for such is our exceptional situation, also animates the act of writing: to shelter a personal existence and actualize the promise writing holds for saving something more than (bare) life. Derrida termed it "sur-vie" or "living on." The texts date from different times and phases of the mutating epidemic. In chronological order, they register the progressive evolution and complication of the sense of this "novel" crisis. The first is contemporaneous with the immediate virus outbreak and with Agamben's provocative dismissal of the "health" crisis.