Wednesday, June 01, 2005
(6:08 PM) | Adam Kotsko:
Shorter Jean-Luc Nancy
"It'd be really fascinating to do a study of the philosophical significance of Christianity. I don't really feel up to it at the moment, though, so here are a few essays, which can be taken as preliminary exercises leading up to such a study."Presumably, that's why the subtitle of his latest book is [translated] "The Deconstruction of Christianity, 1." Of course, we all remember the infamous Given Time: 1. Counterfeit Money, so although I don't mean to cast aspersions on Nancy's character at all -- I've never met the guy and am unfamiliar with his work ethic -- this book may be all we get.
Incidentally, even after reading the introduction, in which the term was ostensibly explained, I can't think of a good translation for "déclosion." It does not appear in any of the three French dictionaries I have checked, so I would want to do a "clever" translation, like they do -- perhaps "dis-closure" will do for the sake of my review. He does seem to be proposing the term as something on the level of "deconstruction" -- perhaps a different way of getting at "the same thing," perhaps another methodology, I don't know. In any case, I've only read the introduction, so we'll have to wait and see how the term comes into play in the rest of the book.
I daresay that this is the first time that the blogospheric "Shorter" meme has been deployed on Jean-Luc Nancy.
