Nancy Now

Jean-Luc Nancy stands as one of the great French theorists of "deconstruction." His writings on philosophy, politics, aesthetics, and religion have significantly contributed to the development of contemporary French thought and helped shape and transform the field of continental philosophy. Through Nancy's immense oeuvre, which covers a wide range of topics such as community, freedom, existence, sense/ touch, democracy, Christianity, the visual arts and music, and writing itself, we have learned to take stock of the world in a more nuanced fashion. In this collection, contemporaries of Nancy and eminent scholars of continental philosophy, including Giorgio Agamben, Étienne Balibar, Ginette Michaud, Georges Van Den Abbeele, Gregg Lambert and Ian James, have been invited to reflect on the force of Nancy's "deconstruction" and how it has affected, or will affect, the ways we approach many of the most pertinent topics in contemporary philosophy. The collection also includes Jean-Luc Nancy's previously unpublished 'Dialogue Beneath the Ribs', where he reflects, twenty years after, on his heart transplant. Nancy Now will be of critical interest not only to scholars working on or with Nancy's philosophy, but also to those interested in the development and future of French thought.

Notes on Contributors vii Prelude: The Silhouette of Jean-Luc Nancy x Giorgio Agamben 1 Introduction: Time in Nancy 1 Irving Goh and Verena Andermatt Conley 2 Nancy’s Inoperative Community 20 Etienne Balibar 3 “Literary Communism” 37 Gregg Lambert 4 Monograms: Then and “Now” 59 Georges Van Den Abbeele 5 Extended Drawing 90 Ginette Michaud 6 Differing on Difference 110 Ian James 7 (Mis)Reading in Dis-Enclosure 127 Isabelle Alfandary 8 Sovereignty Without Subject 152 Irving Goh 9 Dialogue Beneath the Ribs 171 Jean-Luc Nancy Notes 175 Index 210