Coming

Coming is a lyrical, erudite examination of the French notion of jouissance. How did jouissance evolve from referring to the pleasure of possessing a material thing (property, wealth) to the pleasure of orgasm, from appropriation to dis-appropriation, from consumption to consummation? The philosophers Adèle van Reeth and Jean-Luc Nancy engage in a lively dialogue, ranging from consumerism to video games to mysticism and from Spinoza, Hegel, andAugustine to the Marquis de Sade, Marguerite Duras, and Henry Miller. Four additional essays are new to the American edition.

Jean-Luc Nancy is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the Universite Marc Bloch, Strasbourg, as well as a respected commentator on art and culture. His wide-ranging thought is developed in books including Listening; Dis-Enclosure: The Deconstruction of Christianity; Noli me Tangere: On the Raising of the Body; Corpus; and Corpus II: Writings on Sexuality, all published by Fordham University Press.

Adèle Van Reeth is the producer and host of France Culture Radio's daily program on philosophy. She also contributes to the program "Le Cercle" on Canal Plus Cinéma and to Philosophie Magazine.

Charlotte Mandell has translated over forty books and is the recipient of numerous awards. Her translations of Jean-Luc Nancy's The Fall of Sleep, Listening, and After Fukushima were all published by Fordham University Press.

Preface to the English Language Edition

Why Speak of Coming [Jouissance]?

Coming
Preliminaries
Are We Alone in Jouissance?
From Animal Instinct to Desire of the Other: How to Go from Plaisir to Jouir?
Toward Infinity and Beyond: Is There an Art to Jouir?
The Condemnation of Jouissance
From Profit to Consumption/Consummation: Can We Enjoy Everything?
Some Bibliographical Reference Points

Body of Pleasure

Rühren, Berühren, Aufruhr (Moving, Touching, Uprising)

Neither Seeing Nor Having [Ni le voir ni l'avoir]

Nude Enumerated

Bibliography