Arresting Language: From Leibniz To Benjamin

Arresting Language: From Leibniz to Benjamin

Review"Eight unique essays . . . recommended for lage academic or specialized collections." -- Library JournalSpeech act theory has taught us "how to do things with words." Arresting Language turns its attention in the opposite direction-toward the surprising things that language can undo and leave undone. In the eight essays of this volume, arresting language is seen as language at rest, words no longer in service to the project of establishing conventions or instituting legal regimes. Concentrating on both widely known and seldom-read texts from a variety of philosophers, writers, and critics-from Leibniz and Mendelssohn, through Kleist and Hebel, to Benjamin and Irigaray-the book analyzes the genesis and structure of interruption, a topic of growing interest to contemporary literary studies, continental philosophy, legal studies, and theological reflection.Beginning with an exposition of H