Jean-Luc Nancy’s writings on philosophy, politics, aesthetics, and religion have contributed to the development of contemporary French thought and helped shape the field of continental philosophy. This volume succeeds in highlighting the ongoing relevance, indeed urgency, of Nancy’s philosophical project ‘now’, writes Jodie Matthews

Matthews, Jodie

English

University of Huddersfield Repository

University of Huddersfield RepositoryMatthews, JodieBook Review: Nancy Now edited by Verena Andermatt Conley and Irving GohOriginal CitationMatthews, Jodie (2015) Book Review: Nancy Now edited by Verena Andermatt Conley and Irving Goh. LSE Review of Books. This version is available at http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/23248/The University Repository is a digital collection of the research output of theUniversity, available on Open Access. Copyright and Moral Rights for the itemson this site are retained by the individual author and/or other copyright owners.Users may access full items free of charge; copies of full text items generallycan be reproduced, displayed or performed and given to third parties in anyformat or medium for personal research or study, educational or not-for-profitpurposes without prior permission or charge, provided:• The authors, title and full bibliographic details is credited in any copy;• A hyperlink and/or URL is included for the original metadata page; and• The content is not changed in any way.For more information, including our policy and submission procedure, pleasecontact the Repository Team at: E.mailbox@hud.ac.uk.http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/  LSE Review of Books Review: Nancy Now, ed. By Verena Andermatt Conley and Irving Goh (Cambridge and Malden, MA: Polity, 2014) Jodie Matthews Online 2 February 2015 http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/2015/02/02/book-review-nancy-now/ ͚Noǁ͛, this time in which we live, with its terrors, massacres, and injustices, is a time to ask serious ƋuestioŶs aďout ͚ĐoŵŵuŶitǇ͛, aďout ƌelatioŶs ǁith otheƌs, and how we think about ourselves and our world. ͚Noǁ͛ is the time that philosophical tools to approach these questions are needed. Nancy Now, a collection devoted to the work of French thinker Jean-Luc Nancy is bitingly timely, especially as Europe immediately responds to the Paris shootings directed at satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, the police, and a kosher supermarket. It is for readers to deploy such tools if they are so minded: the remit of this book is to put the theory on display.  The ĐolleĐtioŶ of shoƌt essaǇs is paƌt of PolitǇ͛s Theory Now series, which has previously focused on, amongst others, Paul Virilio, Jean Baudrillard, and Michel Foucault. Bracketed by a prelude authored by the philosopher Giorgio Agamben and a piece by Nancy himself, contributors take up the mantel of ĐoŶsideƌiŶg, iŶ a ďook attuŶed to the ͚Ŷoǁ͛, the concept of time in the work of a thinker apparently dedicated to questions of space. A priority of these essays is to explore, in largely abstract terms, the twenty-first-century Nancy and the web of Continental philosophy in which he is caught, with particular emphasis on his influences (for example, Georges Bataille and Maurice Blanchot) aŶd the dialogue ďetǁeeŶ NaŶĐǇ aŶd JaĐƋues Deƌƌida͛s deconstructions. Gregg Laŵďeƌt͛s ĐoŶtƌiďutioŶ, ͚LiteƌaƌǇ CoŵŵuŶisŵ͛, addƌesses NaŶĐǇ͛s deŵǇthologiziŶg of ͚ĐoŵŵuŶitǇ͛ and is perhaps the chapter most relevant to a philosophical negotiation of events in Paris in early 2015. The chapter looks back, as Nancy has done, to the emergence of this theme in NaŶĐǇ͛s ǁƌitiŶg of the 1980s, for the purpose of highlighting a return to ͚ĐoŵŵuŶitǇ͛ at paƌtiĐulaƌ historical moments. One of the key questions associated with community for Nancy is how to express an idea or sense of community that is truthful and just, avoiding teƌŵs suĐh as the ͚saĐƌed͛, which are in danger of evoking fascist conceptions of community, and the pitfalls of neo-liberalism. These truthful and just conceptions of community are insufficient for any organisation of a mass or ŵultitude of people: ͚iŶ otheƌ ǁoƌds, theƌe ĐaŶ ďe Ŷo ͞politiĐs of ĐoŵŵuŶitǇ͛͟; politiĐs aŶd community are decoupled. This is one in the eye for our contemporary politicians with their endless appeals to this oƌ that ͚ĐoŵŵuŶitǇ͛, aŶd apparently ͚good Ŷeǁs ǁith ƌegaƌd to the thƌeat of a ƌetuƌŶ of totalitaƌiaŶisŵ͛, ďut empties the iŶtiŵaĐǇ out of politiĐs, leaǀiŶg us ǁith oŶe ͚ďased puƌelǇ oŶ ĐalĐulatioŶ aŶd stƌategǇ͛ ;pp. ϱ1-2). Clearly, Lambert does not delineate what, when, and where community is – to do so ƌisks the aďuse of ͚ĐoŵŵuŶitǇ͛ NaŶĐǇ eǆpliĐitlǇ ǁƌites agaiŶst – but marks out the terms by which Nancy frames those problematics, and comments on a philosophically conceived writing or literature ;ƌatheƌ thaŶ the ͚liteƌatuƌe͛ of ĐoŵŵoŶ usageͿ as the means for communicating community.  Geoƌges VaŶ DeŶ Aďďeele͛s complex and engaging Đhapteƌ, ͚MoŶogƌaŵs: TheŶ aŶd ͞Noǁ͛͟ examines two sets of periodic essays from Nancy, considering the relationship between form and ways of thinking, aŶd the ͚ĐhƌoŶiĐ aŶaĐhƌoŶiĐitǇ͛ of ǁƌitiŶg ;p. ϲϲͿ. Aďďeele Ƌuotes aŶ eǆtƌaĐt fƌoŵ a   1993 piece, in which Nancy laments a six-month delay between the writing and publication of a column oŶ BosŶia. Aďďeele Ŷotes that suĐh aŶǆietǇ ͚ǁould seeŵ eǀeŶ ŵoƌe aĐute͛ iŶ the Tǁitter age iŶ ǁhiĐh ͚a stateŵeŶt ŵoƌe thaŶ a feǁ houƌs old ŵaǇ appeaƌ alƌeadǇ hopelesslǇ outdated͛. What Nancy pointed to, however, was not the delay itself, but the fact that, even after it, his comments ƌetaiŶed a ͚siŶisteƌ fƌeshŶess͛. The ďitteƌ ƌepetitioŶs of histoƌǇ that ŵeaŶ a ĐuƌƌeŶt situatioŶ ͚has ŶothiŶg ĐuƌƌeŶt aďout it͛ ;NaŶĐǇ, Ƌuoted oŶ p. ϲϳͿ daŵŶ the idea of histoƌiĐal pƌogƌess aŶd ĐoŵpliĐate ǁhat ǁe ŵight thiŶk of as ͚Ŷoǁ͛ aŶd hoǁ to ƌepƌeseŶt it.    The collection concludes with the poetic posthuŵaŶisŵ of NaŶĐǇ͛s oǁŶ ͚Dialogue BeŶeath the ‘iďs͛, a coŵpositioŶ that ƌefleĐts oŶ the authoƌ͛s heart transplant twenty years previously. Transplantee and Transplant converse, Transplantee comparing his old heart with the new and Transplant ďeŵoaŶiŶg the ͚fƌeŶzied ƌhǇthŵ͛ iŵposed upoŶ it (p. 172). ͚“oŵetiŵes oŶ the ĐoƌoŶaƌǇ aŶgiogƌaphiĐ sĐƌeeŶ͛, saǇs TƌaŶsplaŶtee, at once frightened and loving, ͚I see Ǉouƌ tousled faĐe͛. Transplant reminds Transplantee that without immune-depƌessoƌs, TƌaŶsplaŶtee͛s ďodǇ ǁould ƌejeĐt the heaƌt. TƌaŶsplaŶtee ƌeplies, ͚Yes, ďut it kŶoǁs ŶothiŶg. That pooƌ thiŶg – it believes it is a self-suffiĐieŶt ŵaĐhiŶe͛ ;p. 1ϳ3Ϳ. This shoƌt pieĐe, less thaŶ fouƌ pages loŶg, deŵaŶds a ĐoŶsideƌatioŶ of sovereignty, surveillance and control, boundaries of inside and outside, and the limits of life. The collection does not step beyond Continental theoretical perspectives to locate Nancy, and Ŷeitheƌ does it peƌfoƌŵ sustaiŶed appliĐatioŶs of NaŶĐǇ͛s thought to politiĐal, soĐial, or cultural examples. The ͚fƌeŶzied ƌhǇthŵ͛ iŵposed oŶ NaŶĐǇ͛s tƌaŶsplaŶted heaƌt is inadvertently echoed in the pace with which chapter succeeds chapter – they are short and quite disparate in approach. A ďook of this leŶgth ĐaŶ oŶlǇ hiŶt at the ďƌeadth of NaŶĐǇ͛s areas of reflection, but it succeeds in highlightiŶg the oŶgoiŶg ƌeleǀaŶĐe, iŶdeed uƌgeŶĐǇ, of NaŶĐǇ͛s philosophiĐal pƌojeĐt ͚Ŷoǁ͛ – however much Nancy and his fellow authors would wish to problematize that very idea.                  

Book Review: Nancy Now edited by Verena Andermatt Conley and Irving Goh

LSE Research Online

02/02/2015Book Review: Nancy Now edited by Verena AndermattConley and Irving Gohblogs.lse.ac.uk /lsereviewofbooks/2015/02/02/book-review-nancy-now/Jean-Luc Nancy’s writings on philosophy, politics, aesthetics, and religion have contributed to thedevelopment of contemporary French thought and helped shape the field of continental philosophy. Thisvolume succeeds in highlighting the ongoing relevance, indeed urgency, of Nancy’s philosophical project ‘now’,writes Jodie Matthews. Nancy Now. Verena Andermatt Conley and Irving Goh. Polity. 2014.Find this book: ‘Now’, this time in which we live, with its terrors, massacres, and injustices, is a timeto ask serious questions about ‘community’, about relations with others, and how wethink about ourselves and our world. ‘Now’ is the time that philosophical tools toapproach these questions are needed. Nancy Now, a collection devoted to the workof French thinker Jean-Luc Nancy is bitingly timely, especially as Europe immediatelyresponds to the Paris shootings directed at satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, thepolice, and a kosher supermarket. It is for readers to deploy such tools if they are sominded: the remit of this book is to put the theory on display.The collection of short essays is part of Polity’s Theory Now series, which haspreviously focused on, amongst others, Paul Virilio, Jean Baudrillard, and MichelFoucault. Bracketed by a prelude authored by the philosopher Giorgio Agamben anda piece by Nancy himself, contributors take up the mantel of considering, in a book attuned to the ‘now’, the conceptof time in the work of a thinker apparently dedicated to questions of space. A priority of these essays is to explore, inlargely abstract terms, the twenty-first-century Nancy and the web of Continental philosophy in which he is caught,with particular emphasis on his influences (for example, Georges Bataille and Maurice Blanchot) and the dialoguebetween Nancy and Jacques Derrida’s deconstructions.Gregg Lambert’s contribution, ‘Literary Communism’, addresses Nancy’s demythologizing of ‘community’ and isperhaps the chapter most relevant to a philosophical negotiation of events in Paris in early 2015. The chapter looksback, as Nancy has done, to the emergence of this theme in Nancy’s writing of the 1980s, for the purpose ofhighlighting a return to ‘community’ at particular historical moments. One of the key questions associated withcommunity for Nancy is how to express an idea or sense of community that is truthful and just, avoiding terms suchas the ‘sacred’, which are in danger of evoking fascist conceptions of community, and the pitfalls of neo-liberalism.These truthful and just conceptions of community are insufficient for any organisation of a mass or multitude ofpeople: ‘in other words, there can be no “politics of community”’; politics and community are decoupled. This is onein the eye for our contemporary politicians with their endless appeals to this or that ‘community’, and apparently‘good news with regard to the threat of a return of totalitarianism’, but empties the intimacy out of politics, leaving uswith one ‘based purely on calculation and strategy’ (pp. 51-2). Clearly, Lambert does not delineate what, when, andwhere community is – to do so risks the abuse of ‘community’ Nancy explicitly writes against – but marks out theterms by which Nancy frames those problematics, and comments on a philosophically conceived writing or literature(rather than the ‘literature’ of common usage) as the means for communicating community.Georges Van Den Abbeele’s complex and engaging chapter, ‘Monograms: Then and “Now”’ examines two sets ofperiodic essays from Nancy, considering the relationship between form and ways of thinking, and the ‘chronicanachronicity’ of writing (p. 66). Abbeele quotes an extract from a 1993 piece, in which Nancy laments a six-month1/2delay between the writing and publication of a column on Bosnia. Abbeele notes that such anxiety ‘would seem evenmore acute’ in the Twitter age in which ‘a statement more than a few hours old may appear already hopelesslyoutdated’. What Nancy pointed to, however, was not the delay itself, but the fact that, even after it, his commentsretained a ‘sinister freshness’. The bitter repetitions of history that mean a current situation ‘has nothing currentabout it’ (Nancy, quoted on p. 67) damn the idea of historical progress and complicate what we might think of as‘now’ and how to represent it.The collection concludes with the poetic posthumanism of Nancy’s own ‘Dialogue Beneath the Ribs’, a compositionthat reflects on the author’s heart transplant twenty years previously. Transplantee and Transplant converse,Transplantee comparing his old heart with the new and Transplant bemoaning the ‘frenzied rhythm’ imposed upon it(p. 172). ‘Sometimes on the coronary angiographic screen’, says Transplantee, at once frightened and loving, ‘I seeyour tousled face’. Transplant reminds Transplantee that without immune-depressors, Transplantee’s body wouldreject the heart. Transplantee replies, ‘Yes, but it knows nothing. That poor thing – it believes it is a self-sufficientmachine’ (p. 173). This short piece, less than four pages long, demands a consideration of sovereignty, surveillanceand control, boundaries of inside and outside, and the limits of life.The collection does not step beyond Continental theoretical perspectives to locate Nancy, and neither does itperform sustained applications of Nancy’s thought to political, social, or cultural examples. The ‘frenzied rhythm’imposed on Nancy’s transplanted heart is inadvertently echoed in the pace with which chapter succeeds chapter –they are short and quite disparate in approach. A book of this length can only hint at the breadth of Nancy’s areas ofreflection, but it succeeds in highlighting the ongoing relevance, indeed urgency, of Nancy’s philosophical project‘now’ – however much Nancy and his fellow authors would wish to problematize that very idea.Jodie Matthews is Research Fellow at the University of Huddersfield. Her work explores the historicalrepresentation of British Romanies and Travellers. She is interested in psychoanalysis as a philosophical/textualmethodology, having studied at Cardiff University’s Centre for Critical and Cultural Theory. Read more reviews byJodie.Copyright 2013 LSE Review of Books2/2

Book Review: Nancy Now edited by Verena Andermatt Conley and Irving Goh

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