Memory Assemblages - by Hilan Bensusan (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

Making the claim that reality is more like memory than a permanent substance, this original work draws on Derrida and Malabou to suggest a picture of the world as an assemblage of spectral resonances and disseminations.

In Memory Assemblages, Hilan Bensusan combines elements of continental and analytic philosophy to advance a theory of realism which insists on the reality of spectres, an ultrametaphysical approach departing from metaphysics while attending to the problems that triggered metaphysical investigation. In doing so, Bensusan builds on the reception of Derrida's hauntology, particularly by Latin American scholars in disciplines such as media studies, history, and political theory, and engages with currents of speculative realism as well as contemporary work on idealism and logic.

Challenging the correlationist view in which being and time cannot be considered independently of subjectivity, Bensusan gives an account of exteriority where thought and reality share a common logic of addition. Central to the book is this philosophy of addition, where addition structures the insufficiency and incompleteness of whatever seems to be present: it is an operation that dismantles what has been before in a way that depends on that past consigned to memory. Addition is explored in light of the Derridian supplement, the Epicurean Swerve, Jean-Luc Nancy's notion of struction and the Marxist notion of forces of production. A coda further elaborates the notion of production in this context, arguing for a spectral Marxism and drawing on Deleuze and Guattari's Anti-Oedipus.

Review Quotes

"This book by one of Latin America's most influential and innovative philosophers represents a major undertaking. Nothing less than a profoundly serious attempt to reconsider the nature of reality. With a compelling prose, Bensusan invites us to ponder over the concept of addition in order to think a ground-breaking spectral realism." --Fabián Ludueña Romandini, Professor of Philosophy, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina

"While metaphysicians characterize memory as a phenomenon requiring explanation, this book boldly proposes that memory is the key to explaining the fundamental structure of reality." --César Schirmer dos Santos, Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, Federal University of Santa Maria, Brazil

"In this brilliant and beautifully written book, Hilan Bensusan introduces spectral realism to philosophy, offering a fresh perspective on crucial topics like philosophical realism, memory, and colonial violence. Memory Assemblages is a must-read book that meticulously examines the 'urge' of justice that continues to haunt 'the very fabric of our reality.'" --Juliana Martínez. Associate Professor, World Languages and Cultures. American University, Washington D.C, USA

"In this highly original work, Bensusan builds on his previous ideas in order to produce a novel realist philosophy premised on the constitutive role of memory. This book is a must read for anyone interested in cutting edge twenty-first century approaches to philosophical inquiry." --Niki Young, Lecturer, Department of Philosophy, University of Malta, Malta

"Memory Assemblages by Hilan Bensusan is a powerful, original and brilliant book. Bensusan inscribes memory within the field of metaphysics, associating the past with exteriority and the present with the future. Memory is a spectral phenomenon, related to loss and death, but also to a spatial event, related to the world and to history." --Serge Margel, Philosopher and Philologist, University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland

"Bensusan's trajectory is a monument to the need of perpetually reassembling and reassessing doubts, indexicals, spectres, monads, reminiscences. Any other philosopher would be satisfied with half the fascinating, radical and yet homely variety of solid-melting metaphysics already presented by him. But his work remains a never-ending philosophy of gifts." --Manuel de Pinedo, Professor of Philosophy, University of Granada, Spain

"Hilan Bensusan is a philosopher who knows how to make surprising connections. In this latest book he begins midway between Deconstruction and Speculative Realism, mounting a critique of transparency that brings him to shed new light on the writings of Marx. In so doing he engages in dialogue with important contemporary thinkers ranging from Catherine Malabou to Fred Moten." --Graham Harman, Professor of Philosophy

"Derrida's accounts of survival are haunted by the possibility of terminally dormant memories, of texts permanently orphaned and traces unrecovered. Memory Assemblages shows us how interesting things get when we dispel these spectres of "transcendental death" (that still amply haunt our thinking about memory) and let the specters take center stage. Articulating a novel "spectral realism," Bensusan argues for the diachronic entanglements of retention and retrieval, memory and inheritance and, in doing so, deftly counters the image of a catastrophic present--devouring both its past and its futures. A fascinating and terribly productive contribution to contemporary Continental realisms." --Deborah Goldgaber, Associate Professor, Philosophy, Louisiana State University

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