Dante and Derrida: Face to Face by Francis J. Ambrosio

Abstract

494 Reviews a danger inherent in bibliographical productions of this kind, and the authors cover thisby thedescriptive material which accompanies each entry. The entries are arranged, conventionally, in alphabetic order of author's surname/ familyname (if this isknown), and are divided according to thenature of themedium employed; hence sections on literature,on film,television and radio, onmusic, on fine art and graphic design, and on digital gaming. In addition to conventional bibliogra phical entries, giving name, date, author, editions, and other publication information, each entry is fullyannotated. The notes give not only an indication of plotlines, but also,where this is judged tobe relevant to the subject, information about theauthor's other works, and the context of thework (i.e. if it isone of a series, part of a collec tion, or relates in some way to other works, which may ormay not be listed in the bibliography). It is, in short, very user-friendly, not only for the scholar, but for the general researcher. The book is solid and a great boon for all Arthurian researchers, especially for those (this reviewer included) who love toopen and use this typeof researchmaterial in book form.However, thewhole is crying out to be digitized. There appears to be no easy way to search for a character, subject, or other particular content, which therewould be with a digital search tool. It is tobe hoped that someone, somewhere, isworking on the digitized continuation for the year 2000 onwards, which will be a searchable database. That having been said, it is good to know that the day of the bibliographical volume is not yet over, and to have the pleasure of 'rooting around' in such a very good and useful one, inwhich the character of the compilers isvery much present. It is a joy to read, but most purchasers will be librarians, as the price will be prohibitive for many individual readers. UNIVERSITY OFHULL LESLEY COOTE Dante andDerrida: Face toFace. By FRANCIS J.AMBROSIO. Albany: State University ofNew York Press. 304 pp. $75. ISBN 978-o-79I4-7005-3. There are few harder books on Dante than this, and not thatmany harder on Der rida. In part this isbecause of some sentences which run on punning impossibly over many lines, sometimes with repetitions, inpart because theDerridean concepts, of the gift,of responsibility, of theOther, and of the secret, are not easy, especially when it comes topairing themwith Dante, where the connections remain neither unique nor obvious, though sometimes having an interesting pay-off. In part it is also because thearguments are intenselypersonal, because Ambrosio's Derrida is theconfessional and more personal writer of Circumfession (in Geoff Bennington and Jacques Der rida, Jacques Derrida (Chicago: University ofChicago Press, I993)) and of The Gift ofDeath (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, I995), with Memoirs of theBlind (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, I993) used in a discussion of blindness im ages inParadiso. Throughout, there is the impact of JohnCaputo's The Prayers and Tears ofJacquesDerrida: Religion withoutReligion (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, I997); inAmbrosio's book, too, discussion ofweeping is prominent. Caputo discusses Circumfession particularly, where Derrida followsAugustine in discussion of themother, a tropewhich Ambrosio relates toDante, in relation to the stilnovist women (he opens with a discussion of theVita nuova). In thisway, Ambrosio's book brings Dante and Derrida into relationship, not primarily by finding a deconstructive possibility in reading Dante, nor by invoking those images of the non-conceptual destabilizing concept, such aswriting, or the supplement, differance, thepharmakon, the hymen, or 'life-death' inDerrida, though he does challenge quite boldly the ex tent towhich Dante may be read as a Christian writer (pp. 215-28), just asmuch as MLR, I03.2, 2oo8 495 he discusses forgiveness ('the for-givingwhich gives giving, the forgiving thatallows giving topass on as promised, topass on as promise', p. I54) and whether an act can remain unforgivable, unconditionally. (This last is taken from an essay 'To Forgive' which appeared in an anthology edited by Caputo, Questioning God (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 200zI).) The Derrida of these texts is,comparatively speak ing,working within an archive which opens onto religion. Hence, as carried over to Dante, there is littlehere that is surprising because of...