Is giving possible? Is it possible to give without immediately entering into a circle of exchange that turns the gift into a debt to be returned? This question leads Jacques Derrida to make out an irresolvable paradox at what seems the most fundamental level of the gift's meaning: for the gift to be received as a gift, it must not appear as such, since its mere appearance as gift puts it in the cycle of repayment and debt. Derrida reads the relation of time to gift through a number of texts: Heidegger's Time and Being, Mauss's The Gift, as well as essays by Benveniste and Levi-Strauss that assume Mauss's legacy. It is, however, a short tale by Baudelaire, "Counterfeit Money," that guides Derrida's analyses throughout. At stake in his reading of the tale, to which the second half of this book is devoted, are the conditions of gift and forgiveness as essentially bound up with the movement of dissemination, a concept that Derrida has been working out for many years. For both readers of Baudelaire and students of literary theory, this work will prove indispensable.

Relishing the last year together, through heartbreak and chemo Above all, this is a love story. Two strong, artistic people face the kind of diagnosis nobody wants. With searing effect, this memoir shows the full dimensions of terminal illness interspersed by tales of a colorful, unusual past. Given Time is both heart-wrenching and surprisingly uplifting.

When Ben Bradshaw is involved in a car accident, his wife doesn't survive. Eight months pregnant at the time, her death leaves him devastated. But the accident also has far-reaching consequences for another family. Jack Fitz, a child at the time, witnesses the crash and sees his own little sister's body lying nearby. Years later, he still harbors a ticking rage and a desire for revenge. In a surprising turn of events, Ben and Jack become unlikely friends, even though Jack has never revealed his true identity to Ben. As their friendship deepens, Jack must grapple with the decision of whether to seek the justice he's been longing for or to continue down this path of unlikely companionship. Forgiveness is complicated, and this powerful novel explores the complexities of grief, revenge, and redemption. Will Jack find the closure he seeks, or will his past continue to consume him? Find out in this gripping and thought-provoking story.

The interconnections of time with historical thought and knowledge have come powerfully to the fore since the 1970s. An international group of scholars, from a range of fields including literary theory, history of ideas, cultural anthropology, philosophy, intellectual history and theology, philology, and musicology, address the matter of time and temporalities. The volume's essays, divided into four main topical groups question critically the key problem of context, connecting it to the problem of time. Contexts, the essays suggest, are not timeless. Time and its contexts are only partly "given" to us: to the primordial donations of time and world correspond our epistemic, moral, and practical modes of receiving what has been granted. The notion of context may have radically different parameters in different historical, cultural, and disciplinary situations. Topics include the deep antiquity, and the timeless time of eternity, as well as formal philosophies of history and the forms of histories implicit in individual and community experience. The medium specific use of time and history are examined with regard to song, image, film, oral narration, and legal discourse.

Ann Lauterbach's experimental and compelling choice for the 2003 Verse Prize merges dramatic forms and poetry with dazzling results.