Literature, an impossible conceit Reflections from a number of derridean formulations

The article explores some formulations from Jacques Derrida about the limits of literature, a theoretical problem that constitutes a strong point of discussion in contemporary criticism and that is anticipated by derridean thinking. The texts analyzed here correspond to three interviews with the philosopher –by Derek Attridge (in 1989), Elizabeth Weber (in 1990) and Catherine Paoletti (in 1998)– and “Notas sobre deconstrucción y pragmatismo” –a conference by Derrida in which he answers the questions of Ernesto Laclau, Simon Critchley and Richard Rorty. The revision of these four texts allows to observe how Derrida constructs his thinking in dialogue with others, in a relationship in which others’ listening is important; and it allows to reflect on the problem of the limits between literature, philosophy and literary criticism, three border genres linked to the desire of singularity in writing and to the relation of ‘destinerrancy’ –between the text, the destiny attributed to it and an other who responds