Adieu to Emmanuel Levinas

by Jacques Derrida, Pascale-Anne Brault (Translation), Michael Naas (Translation)

This volume contains the speech given by Derrida at Emmanuel Levinas's funeral on December 27, 1995, and his contribution to a colloquium organized to mark the first anniversary of Levinas's death. For both thinkers, the word adieu names a fundamental characteristic of human 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. In this book, Derrida extends his work on Levinas in previously unexplored directions via a radical rereading of Totality and Infinity and other texts, including the lesser-known talmudic readings. He 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. The conjunction of an ethics of pure prescription with the idea of an infinite and absolute hospitality confronts us with the most pressing political, juridical, and institutional concerns of our time. What, then, is an ethics and what is a politics of hospitality? And what, if it ever is, would be a hospitality surpassing any ethics and any politics we know? As always, 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, 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.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Theory

168 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Jacques Derrida was a French philosopher best known for developing deconstruction, a method of critical analysis that questioned the stability of meaning in language, texts, and Western metaphysical thought. Born in Algeria, he studied at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, where he was influenced by philosophers such as Heidegger, Husserl, and Levinas. His groundbreaking works, including Of Grammatology (1967), Writing and Difference (1967), and Speech and Phenomena (1967), positioned him at the center of intellectual debates on language, meaning, and interpretation.
Derrida argued that Western philosophy was structured around binary oppositions—such as speech over writing, presence over absence, or reason over emotion—that falsely privileged one term over the other. He introduced the concept of différance, which suggests that meaning is constantly deferred and never fully present, destabilizing the idea of fixed truth. His work engaged with a wide range of disciplines, including literature, psychoanalysis, political theory, and law, challenging conventional ways of thinking and interpretation.
Throughout his career, Derrida continued to explore ethical and political questions, particularly in works such as Specters of Marx (1993) and The Politics of Friendship (1994), which addressed democracy, justice, and responsibility. He held academic positions at institutions such as the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales and the University of California, Irvine, and remained an influential figure in both European and American intellectual circles. Despite criticism for his complex writing style and abstract concepts, Derrida’s ideas have left a lasting impact on contemporary philosophy, literary theory, and cultural criticism, reshaping the way meaning and language are understood in the modern world.

Reviews

[Thomas Zwilling]

I'm gonna say at least two thirds of this was comprehensible, which I'm satisfied with.

[Yeast · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sometime Derrida is more a fan of Levinas than his interlocutor, but the book is mostly refreshing & adding new insights into Derrida's own project.

[Juancho Vizcaino · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Si la relación con el otro, supone una separación infinita, una interrupción infinita en donde aparece el rostro ¿ qué sucede, dónde y a quien le sucede, cuando otra interrupción viene, en el momento de la muerte, a tornar todavía más infinita esa separación, primera interrupción, desgarradora en el seno de la interrupción misma?”

[Jose · Rating 4 out of 5]

I initially considered taking the summer class from Sydney University on Derrida. But it was a bit out of my budget, hence just going over books haven’t read on the syllabus. Couple of essays that are very insightful.

[Mariam Rawwas · Rating 4 out of 5]

A clear and concise reflection on Levinas' life and work. The pun on A/dieu - goodbye/at God - is illuminating here. What I find most important is Derrida's treatment of Levinas' relation to Zionism, especially his skepticism at Levinas' optimism regarding its utopian promise.

[Brig · Rating 3 out of 5]

we need to talk about the fact that this argument is just stolen from luce irigaray!

[Sophie · Rating 5 out of 5]

À-Dieu.

[Noah · Rating 5 out of 5]

A collection of just two essays, the first of which is highly personal and equally moving eulogy delivered by Derrida at Levinas's funeral. The second essay is a longer introductory address delivered at a symposium for the first anniversary of Levinas's death. It is at once a radical rereading of Totality and Infinity according to the insight that "the vocabulary of welcoming...provide[s:] the keys..to this book", an examination of the relationship between ethics and justice--of the way in which the face-to-face encounter with the Other is always also an encounter with the third, a suggestion contra Irigaray (and against his own previous reading of Levinas) that Levinas's reading of feminine alterity can function as a "feminist manifesto", an exploration of Levinas's always ambiguous relationship to Zionism, an exposition of an ethics and politics of hospitality in the context of global concerns around immigration (both legal and illegal [sans papiers:]), and a thinking through of Levinas's claim that peace is prior to war to the extreme paradox that war may be the continuation of peace by other means.

[Leonardo]

En su Adiós a Emmanuel Lévinas, Derrida trata de disociar la decisión de sus habituales predicados metafísicos (autonomía, conciencia, actividad, soberanía) y la piensa como "la decisión de otro en mí".

Visión de Paralaje Pág.327

[Nathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely the best text by Derrida I have read so far. Adieu and Hospitality, when read either together or in proximity, are complimentary reads.