Interpretations of Plato, StÊphane MallarmÊ, and Philippe Sollersâ writings in three essays: âPlatoâs Pharmacy,â âThe Double Session,â and âDissemination.â
âThe English version of Dissemination [is] an able translation by Barbara Johnson . . . Derridaâs central contention is that language is haunted by dispersal, absence, loss, the risk of unmeaning, a risk which is starkly embodied in all writing. The distinction between philosophy and literature therefore becomes of secondary importance. Philosophy vainly attempts to control the irrecoverable dissemination of its own meaning, it strivesâagainst the grain of languageâto offer a sober revelation of truth. Literatureâon the other handâflaunts its own meretriciousness, abandons itself to the Dionysiac play of language. In Disseminationâmore than any previous workâDerrida joins in the revelry, weaving a complex pattern of puns, verbal echoes and allusions, intended to âdeconstructâ both the pretension of criticism to tell the truth about literature, and the pretension of philosophy to the literature of truth.â âPeter Dews, The New Statesman