The deconstruction that is commonly seen to be the method of Derrida s philosophy has an inescapably negative connotation. To counter this view of Derrida s thought as basically destructive, David Farrell Krell invites readers to understand how it may instead be seen as fundamentally affirmative just as Nietzsche s philosophy, so allegedly nihilistic, is at heart a call for tragic affirmation, in amor fati.
But, while affirmative, Derrida is also engaged in a thinking of mourning, which he views as the promise of memory a fragile yet vital promise that binds past and future. The book explores what mourning means in Derrida s writing and how the labors of mourning and affirmation are mediated by works of art. Thus the book engages many different areas of Derrida s work, from the classic texts of deconstruction to the more recent meditations on art and mourning.
"This chance affirmation without issue] can come to us only from you, do you hear me? Do you understand me? . . . And me, the purest of bastards, leaving bastards of all kinds just about everywhere. This passage from Derrida s La Carte postale nicely encapsulates what David Farrell Krell wants to convey about Derrida s thought its astonishing mix of negativity and affirmation in his labors of mourning."