I, Daniel

How to become Jacques Derridas reader? By letting his texts engender you. Such a birth is taken literally by Jeremy Stewart, who proves by algebra that he is the authors bastard son. In this wonderful, intense, witty, and gripping exercise in autotheory, deconstruction meets autofiction with a vengeance. (Jean-Michel Rabat, Professor of English at the University of Pennsylvania, American Academy of Arts and Sciences) With I, Daniel, Jeremy Stewart offers a reading, both rigorous and adventurous, of Envois, one of Jacques Derridas most fascinating works. Unfolding and refolding the text around a blind spot in the philosophers journey, seeking to recognize in the twists and turns of this variously encrypted text the traces of an unutterable filiation, he takes us with him into the labyrinth, losing ourselves to better find ourselves. Through his personal commitment, Jeremy Stewart gives this close reading its full legitimacy, with the name Daniel playing the role of rvlateur, in the photographic sense of the term. (Benot Peeters, author of Derrida: A Biography) Jacques Derridas book The Post Card: From Socrates to Freud and Beyond (1987) has often been read in purely philosophical terms. Derrida, alluding to Freuds talk of theoretical fiction, describes the opening section (Envois) as a project for a fiction. Envois (that is, sendings) takes the form of hundreds of postcards to an unnamed lover. Enter a figure called Daniel. In some ways, he resembles Derridas unrecognized third son. In others, he resembles the author; this books creative-critical approach thus turns scandalously personal. In addressing literary questions, it draws on dreams, faith, the authors middle name, and a testimony to illegitimacy. One of Envois key conceits is that it is the preface to a book [] not [yet] written. Taking, as cues, fleeting references to the biblical book of Daniel and George Eliots novel Daniel Deronda, Envois is read as a preface not so much to an unwritten book as to the text that is the name Daniel.