Thinking Difference: Critics in Conversation

Differencehas been a term of choice in the humanities for the last few decades, animating an extraordinary variety of work in philosophy, literary studies, religion, law, the social sciences-indeed, in virtually every area of the academy.In projects ranging from deconstructive readings of canonical texts to a radical rethinking of the sacred, differencehas been the node around which theorists have explored questions of conflict, power, identity, meaning, and knowledge itself in postmodern culture. At this point, what difference does differencemake?In this imaginatively conceived book, Julian Wolfreys talks to thirteen leading scholars about the place of differencein their own work, in their own fields, and in their teaching. How has intellectual engagement with difference-its celebration of otherness and opposition, whether in a work of art or in world politics-shaped teaching, reading, and writing in today's colleges and universities? And at a time when identity politics and cultural critique have been institutionalized by the academy, has differencebeen domesticated? Personal and revealing, these conversations come together as a kind of collective self-portrait of the humanities at one of its important junctures. Thinking Difference offers provocative reflections on what ideas and practices will drive the next generation of critical thinking.Here are original conversations on the career of a key concept with: Nicholas Royle, Derek Attridge, Peggy Kamuf, Avital Ronell, Arkady Plotnitsky, John P. Leavey, Jr., Mary Ann Caws, Jonathan Culler, Gregory L. Ulmer, J. Hillis Miller, John D. Caputo, Kevin Hart, and Werner HamacherPreface Introduction: As If I Were Teaching, in ConversationJulian Wolfreys et al.1. Nicholas Royle The Beginning Is Haunted: Teaching and the Uncanny2. Derek Attridge Encountering the Other in the Classroom3. Peggy Kamuf Symptoms of Response4. Avital Ronell (as interviewed by D. Diane Davis)Confessions of an Anacoluthon: On Writing, Technology, Pedagogy, and Politics5. Arkady Plotnitsky Difference beyond Difference6. John P. Leavey, Jr.Q&A: Whims, Whim-Whams, Whimsies, and the ResponsivebleInterview7. Mary Ann Caws Thinking about This . . . 8. Jonathan Culler Resisting Resistance9. Kevin Hart Going to University with Socrates10. John D. Caputo In Praise of Devilish Hermeneutics11. Gregory L. Ulmer A-mail: Differential Imaging12. J. Hillis Miller The Degree Zero of Criticism13. Werner Hamacher To Leave the Word to Someone Else