Werner Hamacher (, 1948 – 2017) was a German

literary critic A genre of arts criticism, literary criticism or literary studies is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical analysis of literature' ...

and

theorist A theory is a systematic and rational form of abstract thinking about a phenomenon, or the conclusions derived from such thinking. It involves contemplative and logical reasoning, often supported by processes such as observation, experimentation, ...

influenced by

deconstruction In philosophy, deconstruction is a loosely-defined set of approaches to understand the relationship between text and meaning. The concept of deconstruction was introduced by the philosopher Jacques Derrida, who described it as a turn away from ...

. Hamacher studied

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

comparative literature Comparative literature studies is an academic field dealing with the study of literature and cultural expression across language, linguistic, national, geographic, and discipline, disciplinary boundaries. Comparative literature "performs a role ...

and

religious studies Religious studies, also known as religiology or the study of religion, is the study of religion from a historical or scientific perspective. There is no consensus on what qualifies as ''religion'' and definition of religion, its definition is h ...

at the

Free University of Berlin The Free University of Berlin (, often abbreviated as FU Berlin or simply FU) is a public university, public research university in Berlin, Germany. It was founded in West Berlin in 1948 with American support during the early Cold War period a ...

and the

École Normale Supérieure École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by Secondary education in France, secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing i ...

(

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

), where he met and came to know

Jacques Derrida Jacques Derrida (; ; born Jackie Élie Derrida;Peeters (2013), pp. 12–13. See also 15 July 1930 – 9 October 2004) was a French Algerian philosopher. He developed the philosophy of deconstruction, which he utilized in a number of his texts, ...

.Werner Hamacher.
Faculty Webpage at European Graduate School. Biography and bibliography. From 1998 to 2013 he was a Professor in the University of Frankfurt's Institute for General and Comparative Literature (''Institut für Allgemeine und Vergleichende Literaturwissenschaft''),Werner Hamacher.
at Frankfurt University. Institut für Allgemeine und Vergleichende Literaturwissenschaft (German) and since 2003 he was on the faculty of the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland. He was previously Professor of German and the Humanities at

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

and taught for a number of years at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

. He was the author of ''Pleroma—Dialectics and Hermeneutics in Hegel'' and ''Premises: Essays on Philosophy from Kant to Celan'' and the editor of the series ''Meridian: Crossing Aesthetics'', published by

Stanford University Press Stanford University Press (SUP) is the publishing house of Stanford University. It is one of the oldest academic presses in the United States and the first university press to be established on the West Coast. It is currently a member of the Ass ...

. He translated a selection of essays by Paul de Man into German.

Translations

*Hamacher, Werner. ''Para-la filología / 95 Tesis sobre la Filología'', Buenos Aires, Miño y Dávila editores, 2011. *Hamacher, Werner. ''Lingua amissa'', Buenos Aires, Miño y Dávila editores, 2012.

References

External links

Werner Hamacher.
Faculty Webpage at European Graduate School
Werner Hamacher.
at Frankfurt University. Institut für Allgemeine und Vergleichende Literaturwissenschaft. (German) __NOTOC__ 1948 births 2017 deaths Academic staff of European Graduate School 20th-century German philosophers Continental philosophers Deconstruction German literary critics German male writers {{Germany-academic-bio-stub