ADIEU: TO EMMANUEL LEVINAS

Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press, 1999. First Edition. First Printing.. Hardcover. As New/As New Dust Jacket.. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press, 1999. Hardcover. As New/As New. First Edition/First Printing. 156 pages. The author's fullest statement on ethics. One of the most important philosophical texts of the 20th century. The first appearance of the title in English and in the United States. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions, particularly the Softcover Edition. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only and as part of Stanford University's legendary "Meridian Crossing: Aesthetics" Series. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents Jacques Derrida's "Adieu: Emmanuel Levinas" in a felicitous English translation. The speech given by the philosopher at Emmanuel Levinas' funeral on December 27, 1995 in its definitive, final form. An ethics of hospitality as the authentic response to every human encounter, particularly of The Other (foreigners, immigrants, minorities, poor people), Derrida reaffirms and expounds on Levinas' "face-to-face" ethics, and in sharp contrast to the ethics of say, Alain Badiou and Slavoj Zizek, among contemporary thinkers. "The word 'adieu' names a fundamental characteristic of human being: The salutation or benediction prior to all constative language (in certain circumstances, one can say 'adieu' at the moment of meeting), and that given at the moment of separation, sometimes forever, as at the moment of death, it is also the a-dieu, for God or to God before and in any relation to the other. Extends his work on Levinas in previously unexplored directions via a radical re-reading of Totality and Infinity and other texts, including the lesser-known Talmudic readings. Argues that Levinas, especially in Totality and Infinity, bequeaths to us an 'immense treatise of hospitality', a meditation on the welcome offered to The Other. Derrida raises these questions in the most explicit of terms, moving back and forth between philosophical argument and the political discussion of immigration laws, peace, the state of Israel, and xenophobia, reminding us with every move that thinking is not a matter of neutralizing abstraction, but a gesture of hospitality for what happens and still may happen" (Publisher's blurb). An absolute "must-have" title for Jacques Derrida collectors. This title is a great book. This is one of few copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing (American) still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. Please note: Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original by a University Press. Copies available online have serious flaws, are subsequent printings, or are remainder-marked. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare copy thus. One of the greatest philosophers of the 20th century. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER JACQUES DERRIDA TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0804732671.