Very Little ... Almost Nothing: Death, Philosophy and Literature

The 'death of man', the 'end of history' and even philosophy are strong and troubling currents running through contemporary debate. We seem to be confronted with such an 'end' at every turning. Yet following Nietzsche's notorious heralding of the 'death of god', philosophy's response to the issue of finitude has been found wanting.

Very Little...Almost Nothing accounts for this lack in philosophy through an exploration of Blanchot's conception of literature, Levinas' notion of the il y a, Cavell's reading of romanticism and the presence of death in Beckett's work. These themes are drawn together not in an attempt to restore meaning in the face of finitude, but to enable us to see the meaningless of life as an achievement, the achievement of the ordinary or the everyday.

A compelling reading of the convergence of literature and philosophy, Very Little...Almost Nothing opens up new ways of understanding finitude, modernity and the nature of the imagination.