Registration: M.A.M.B.LousBaronian@uva.nl ; J.G.C.deBloois@uva.nl

Twenty years ago, Jacques Derrida passed away and left behind an incredibly dense, extensive and varied body of work. Since the late sixties, Derrida has authored several texts and books that altogether not only reflect what has commonly come to be known as deconstruction through a wide set of original concepts and ideas, but have also become “classics” and points of references for several disciplines, fields, and discourses beyond philosophy.

This two day conference aims to “unpack” the library that Derrida has constituted and the revenance of his writing legacy. In today’s context of global changes and transitions on all fronts — from institutions to technological transformations as well as enduring crises and extreme forms of violence— which of Derrida’s books should we keep on the bookshelf? Or, why should we re-read such books in the first place and how to read them?

In a way, this resonates with the sorts of close reading that Derrida himself has practiced, inviting us to question, again and again, our critical engagement with texts, and with the process of reading and writing that puts into question exegetic and hermeneutic readings. Moreover, Derrida has continuously reflected upon questions of inheritance, trace, repetition and reproducibility, destination and spectrality while claiming, as he did in his very last interview, that, simultaneously, “one has not yet begun to read me” and that “after my death there will be nothing left”. How then to (re)consider a work and language that is at once at our disposal (that we use and absorb) but do not belong to us? And how do recent editions of seminars and posthumous publications of older texts, as well as some of the new directions that Derrida’s thinking has led to, impact our perception of the philosopher?

Each presentation during the conference will engage specifically with one of these texts in order to question and stress their function, echo, singularity and relevance, or perhaps limitations. “Il n’y a pas de hors-texte” is not solely one of Derrida’s most famous statements, but an opportunity to re-read his oeuvre as an infinite and ongoing source of inspiration and contestation.

The conference will also include a plenary round table discussion (on translating and publishing Derrida). It will be followed by a masterclass by Isabelle Alfandary (“Derrida, Deconstruction, and Psychoanalysis”) open to Phd and rMA students.

Programme:

31 October 2024, UvA, PC Hoofthuis, room 1.04

9.30: Doors open
10.00: Marie-Aude BARONIAN & Joost de BLOOIS: Welcome words and opening remarks
10.15:
Isabelle ALFANDARY: “It Just Keeps on Beginning: Reading Of Grammatology”
Esther PEEREN: “Demeure: Fiction and Testimony – Derrida as Close Reader”
11.15:
Jakko KEMPER: “Circumfession: Generative AI and Aesthetic Production”
Georgios TSAGDIS: “Mal d’archives: Bioarchive Fever”
12.00-13.00 : Lunch break
13.15:
Raphael ZAGURY-ORLY: “Spectres de Marx: Deconstructing Trust in the Vitality of Life”
Gijs van OENEN: “Voyous: Autoimmunities Revisited”
14.15:
Hent de VRIES: “Glas: On Sounding Out Hegel on Absolute Knowledge”
Johan de JONG: “Passions: ‘An Oblique Offering’: On Derrida's Irresponsible Response”
15.15-15.45: Coffee break
15.45-16.45:
Darin TENEV: “A Chimerical Library: Reading L'Animal que donc je suis”
Susanna LINDBERG: “The Concept of World in the Séminaire La bête et le souverain I-II”
17.00-18.00: Roundtable on translating and publishing Derrida: with Thomas CROMBEZ,
Darin TENEV, Raphael ZAGURY-ORLY and Hent de VRIES.

Masterclass 1 November, with Isabelle Alfandary: Derrida, Deconstruction, and Psychoanalysis

The masterclass will focus on the relationship between Jacques Derrida's thought and psychoanalysis in particular Freudian and Lacanian psychoanalysis. Derrida read Freud very early in his philosophical training. This reading proved decisive in the genesis of his thought: the quasi-concepts of writing, trace and archive, to name but a few, derive in part from his innovative understanding of Freudian thought. Jacques Derrida's philosophical work is thus shaped by and around Freud. But Derrida distinguishes himself from Freud as much as he inherits from him: his thinking on différance is inseparable from a certain critique of psychoanalysis, to which the masterclass will return in detail.

Secondly, Derrida's relationship with psychoanalysis will include an implacable critique of the thinking of French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan, in whom he saw the last heir of the metaphysical tradition.

The masterclass will first examine Derrida with Freud, then Derrida against Lacan, in an attempt to identify the adinities and diderences between deconstruction and the discovery of the unconscious.

Three texts are proposed for reading in preparation for the masterclass: a text by Jacques Derrida, "Freud and the Scene of Writing" (1967), a short text by Freud: "A Note upon the Mystic Writing Pad" (1924) and a text by Alfandary : "Derrida: Margins of Freud" (2017).

It is essential that you read each of these three texts to familiarize yourself with the problem of writing, which will be at the heart of Alfandary’s lecture and the group discussions. As Derrida's text is a little long, we suggest you concentrate primarily on pages 196 to 221.

Following Alfandary’s talk, each of you will react to these three texts, explaining what echoes they might have with your own research and disciplinary fields, including formulating any questions you may have had while reading them.

Isabelle Alfandary is professor of American literature and critical theory (Sorbonne Nouvelle University, Paris), philosopher and psychoanalyst. She was the former President of Collège international de philosophie (2016-2019). She co-founded and runs the Northwestern University Sorbonne Nouvelle Institute for Psychoanalysis. Her research is at the intersection of philosophy, psychoanalysis and literature. She wrote numerous articles and several monographs. She authored Derrida-Lacan: L'écriture entre psychanalyse et deconstruction (Hermann, 2016). Her latest monograph is entitled Science et fiction chez Freud. Quelle épistémomogie pour la psychanalyse ? (Ithaque, 2021).

For registration and more information on the preparation/assignments, please email the organizers (lousbaronian@uva.nl ; G.J.C.deBloois@uva.nl) Limited number of seats! Conference (2 EC) & Masterclass (1 EC). Supported by ASCA, NICA, and Institut Français NL