Table of Contents

Preface: The Proffered Refuge of the Dead (or ‘Why Psychoanalysis’)
1. Becoming Mortal
1.1. Learning to Die
1.2 The Anticipation of Death (on Heidegger)
2. Articulation
2.1 The Work of Deconstruction
2.2 Hinges and Articulations
3. The Ethics of Vulnerability
3.1 A Wounding of Language
3.2 Death in the Order of Exposition
4. The Scene of Writing
4.1 The Psychographic Metaphor
4.2 Psychic Sketches
5. Mourning or Melancholia
5.1 Psychoanalysis and Mourning
5.2 The Ghosts of Budapest
6. The Address of Eulogy
6.1 The Most Common of Experiences
6.2 The Simplest Thing
6.3 Memoires
6.4 The World is Gone
Conclusion: Closing the Tomb
Appendix: The Exceptional Solitude of Abraham and Torok
Bibliography
Index

Promotional Information

A study of how Derrida’s acts of eulogy articulate the Levinasian ethical demand with a psychoanalytic account of ghosts.

About the Author

Timothy Secret is a Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Winchester, UK and was an AHRC/BBC Radio 3 New Generation Thinker 2012.

Reviews

Timothy Secret’s book addresses a very important area of Derrida’s work that has thus far not received justly-deserved attention. The originality of Secret’s project and its most significant impact, I believe, rests on the role accorded to Derrida’s eulogies as political acts “offering a pedagogy in responsibility.
*Kas Saghafi, Department of Philosophy, University of Memphis, USA*

Timothy Secret’s book is quite remarkable: erudite, well written and argued, conceptually strong and original, it sheds a completely new light on a decisive moment of contemporary philosophy. There is little doubt that it will form an important contribution to debates about the work of the philosopher Jacques Derrida, but also the relationship between ethics, politics, ontology, psychoanalysis, and, not least, its designated “object”, the existential and moral phenomenon of mourning.
*Etienne Balibar, Distinguished Professor, Comparative Literature, School of Humanities, UC Irvine, USA*

Timothy Secret has accomplished a great deal with this text. For those who already turn to the work of Jacques Derrida or Sigmund Freud to think about the ethics and politics of mourning, this work will be invaluable. For those who are skeptical of deconstruction or psychoanalysis, it will serve as a refreshingly clear and convincing argument that they should rethink their positions. For all who find themselves reflecting on the sobering if not impossible responsibilities of speaking about the dead, Secret’s text will become an irreplaceable intellectual companion.
*David W. McIvor, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Colorado State University, USA*

Combining eloquence and sharp philosophical insight in equal measure, Timothy Secret weaves a fascinating commentary on the treatment of questions of death and mourning in the work of four of the twentieth century's most prominent thinkers. His book represents a major contribution to our understanding of the ways in which Freud, Heidegger, Levinas and Derrida approach that most ineluctable of issues – our common mortality.
*Peter Dews, Director of Undergraduate Studies, School of Philosophy and Art History, University of Essex, UK*

Secret is a sensitive and illuminating reader of Derrida.
*Review31*

[T]his is a book to read.
*Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews*

The challenge to develop a significant learning experience through Derrida’s eulogies could be difficult, but it is not impossible, and Secret’s book is an essential tool to begin the process and overcome some of the barriers. The author’s passion for the topic is evident; I believe this book is relevant and extraordinary, and it is an outstanding addition to the literature in the field of death and dying. For all of these reasons I recommend it to those interested in death, mourning, and eulogy as a way to memorialize those who have gone before us.
*Adult Education Quarterly*