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Biography of Derrida by Benoît Peeters published in more languages

The biography of Jacques Derrida written by Benoît Peeters was published in French in 2011 AD. Benoîts work on this biography was the main reason why La Douce was solely made by François Schuiten. The biography of Derrida was received very well.

Peeters does not present himself primarily as a philosopher and he certainly never claims to have been part of Derrida's inner circle. Despite these limitations, he was really the man for the job, as demonstrated by the willingness of Derrida's widow, Marguerite Aucouturier, to give him full access to her husband's private archives—an absolute novelty in Derrida scholarship. Derrida donated part of these archives to the University of California-Irvine, where he taught during the last years of his life. After a conflict with this institution, he donated the remainder of his personal papers to the French IMEC (the Institut Mémoires de l'Édition Contemporaine), yet many documents are still in the possession of the Derrida family. Peeters's biography takes into account all of these materials, which have been studied through various research stays in California and at the Ardenne Abbey. The seriousness of Peeters's approach and the quality of the biographical data and evidence he has gathered in this book are evident in the more than 100 interviews he conducted with first-hand witnesses 1).

This biography is now translated in English and will be available from October 2012 2). Also a German translation has been made and this version will be available from January 2013 3).