''Peeters has ransacked the voluminous Derrida archives and interviewed scores of his friends and colleagues. The result is a marvellously compelling account, lucidly translated by Andrew Brown. The man who emerges from this portrait is an agonised soul with sudden outbreaks of gaiety, an astonishingly original thinker with more than a dash of vanity who nevertheless made himself fully available to the humblest student.''Terry Eagleton, The Guardian‘'Exhaustive and exhilarating.'’The Scotsman''A real tour de force. Assimilating a vast amount of material Derrida’s own voluminous publications, unpublished documents and correspondence, and conversations with a host of acquaintances Ð Benoit Peeters has produced a compelling narrative that sheds light on all aspects of Derrida’s remarkable career.''Jonathan Culler, Cornell University‘'If you've ever given up on Derrida, this portrait of him as a lovable, thin-skinned and narcissistic outsider in France who shot to fame in the United States should make you reconsider.'’New Statesman‘'In his impressive, massive biography... Benoit Peeters, a former student of Derrida’s, tells a captivating tale of the enfant terrible outsider.'’Wichita Eagle