Contemporary continental thought is marked by a move away from the
"linguistic turn" in twentieth-century European philosophy, as new
materialisms and ontologies seek to leave behind the thinking of
language central to poststructuralism as it has been traditionally
understood. At the same time, biopolitical philosophy has brought
critical attention to the question of life, examining new formations of
life and death. Within this broader turn, Derridean deconstruction, with
its apparent focus on language, writing, and textuality, is generally
set aside.
This book, by contrast, shows the continued relevance of deconstruction
for contemporary thought's engagement with resolutely material issues
and with matters of life and the living. Trumbull elaborates Derrida's
thinking of life across his work, specifically his recasting of life as
"life death," and in turn, survival or living on. Derrida's activation
of Freud, Trumbull shows, is central to this problematic and its
consequences, especially deconstruction's ethical and political
possibilities. The book traces how Derrida's early treatment of Freud
and his mobilization of Freud's death drive allow us to grasp the
deconstructive thought of life as constitutively exposed to death, the
logic subsequently rearticulated in the notion of survival. Derrida's
recasting of life as survival, Trumbull demonstrates, allows
deconstruction to destabilize inherited understandings of life, death,
and the political, including the dominant configurations of sovereignty
and the death penalty.
