For Derrida

This bookGCothe culmination of forty years of friendship between J. Hillis Miller and Jacques Derrida, during which Miller also closely followed all DerridaGCOs writings and seminarsGCois GCGBPfor DerridaGC in two senses. It is GCGBPfor him,GC dedicated to his memory. The chapters also speak, in acts of reading, as advocates for DerridaGCOs work. They focus especially on DerridaGCOs late work, including passages from the last, as yet unpublished, seminars. The chapters are GCGBPpartial to Derrida,GC on his side, taking his part, gratefully submitting themselves to the demand made by DerridaGCOs writings to be readGCoslowly, carefully, faithfully, with close attention to semantic detail. The chapters do not progress forward to tell a sequential story. They are, rather, a series of perspectives on the heterogeneity of DerridaGs work, or forays into that heterogeneity. The chief goal has been, to borrow a phrase from Wallace Stevens, Gplainly to propoundG what Derrida says. The book aims, above all, to render DerridaGs writings justice. It should be remembered, however, that, according to Derrida himself, every rendering of justice is also a transformative interpretation. A book like this one is not a substitute for reading Derrida for oneself. It is to be hoped that it will encourage readers to do just that.