Peter Salmon

Who was Jacques Derrida, and why does he have such a towering, and foreboding reputation across modern philosophy? For some he is the source of the crisis of alternative facts. For far right terrorist Anders Brievik, 'Derridian deconstruction' was the cause for the end of truth. In 1992, 18 philosophers wrote an open letter to the Times to complain when he was awarded an honorary degree by Cambridge University. For others, he is a film star thinker who covered every possible subject from literature, politics, and language. Born in Algiers, the young Jackie, named after a character in a Chaplin movie, only to change to Jacques once he moved to Paris, was always an outsider. Here, despite an obvious genius, he found it difficult to find himself. However, in 1967, he changed the whole course of philosophy in one go- with the development of the ideas of deconstruction. Immediately, his reputation as a complex and confounding thinker was established. Feted by some, abhorred by others, Derrida's influence across late 20th century thought is unquestionable. And here Peter Salmon introduces the key concepts, showing that, despite the impression of being eclectic, Derrida was a writer who spent his life on a series of interlinked themes- ethics, friendship, language. Accessible, provocative and beautifully written, An Event, Perhaps introduces to a new readership the life and thinking of a philosopher whose influence over the 21st century is likely to be as important as it was on the previous century.

A Biography of Jacques Derrida

An Event, Perhaps

Philosopher, film star, father of “post truth”—the real story of Jacques Derrida Who is Jacques Derrida? For some, he is the originator of a relativist philosophy responsible for the contemporary crisis of truth. For the far right, he is one of the architects of Cultural Marxism. To his academic critics, he reduced French philosophy to “little more than an object of ridicule.” For his fans, he is an intellectual rock star who ranged across literature, politics, and linguistics. In An Event, Perhaps, Peter Salmon presents this misunderstood and misappropriated figure as a deeply humane and urgent thinker for our times. Born in Algiers, the young Jackie was always an outsider. Despite his best efforts, he found it difficult to establish himself among the Paris intellectual milieu of the 1960s. However, in 1967, he changed the whole course of philosophy: outlining the central concepts of deconstruction. Immediately, his reputation as a complex and confounding thinker was established. Feted by some, abhorred by others, Derrida had an exhaustive breadth of interests but, as Salmon shows, was moved by a profound desire to understand how we engage with each other. It is a theme explored through Derrida’s intimate relationships with writers sucheven as Althusser, Genet, Lacan, Foucault, Cixous, and Kristeva. Accessible, provocative and beautifully written, An Event, Perhaps will introduce a new readership to the life and work of a philosopher whose influence over the way we think will continue long into the twenty-first century.

This, then, is my coffee story. I should have written it years ago, of course, before my lungs turned to black rubber and left me arse to bedsheet in a prison hospital - a traitor to my country, to my family, to my wives, Moira and the first one, to my Ethiopian friends, but mostly to Lucy, who came out of the jungle with a coffee bean in one hand and a silver lighter in the other. Let me tell you about Lucy. Hope and hatred, lust and idealism, cowardice, bravery and atonement. England, Ethiopia, Cuba, America. But always coffee. Bring me one more cupful you saccharine, sacrilegious bastards. We may be in for an all-nighter.

The Coffee Story

There is now a substantial body of psychological knowledge, based on research and clinical experience, which supports and guides best practice in dealing with health- and illness-related behaviour. Peter Salmon offers a strong conceptual framework which unifies this knowledge within clinical contexts and problems. Based on the author's special interests in acute physical illness and surgery, this text shows how the beliefs, emotions and behaviour of individuals (both lay people and health professionals) can have a profound effect on the processes of understanding, communication and coping in the course of diagnosis and treatment. Peter Salmon, a senior figure in clinical health psychology, has extensive experience of training medical and health care professionals, and of dealing with patients and families. His book offers * A focus on acute illness and surgery, in contrast to the many other books which deal with chronic illness and health promotion * An introduction to psychological concepts and models, situated within the clinical reality of presentation, diagnosis, communication, treatment, and the patient-professional relationship * Guidance on evaluation of research and clinical practice which will help to inform a better understanding of behaviour and relationships in acute illness and surgery and wider medical contexts. Students and professionals in clinical health psychology, health care and medicine should read this book for an accessible, authoritative account of how psychological knowledge can help them, why people feel and behave as they do, and which medical situations can be enlightened and facilitated by the integration of psychological principles into therapeutic practice. This book appears in The Wiley Series in Clinical Psychology Series Editor: J. Mark G. Williams University of Wales, Bangor, UK

A Guide for Psychologists, Counsellors, Nurses and Doctors

Psychology of Medicine and Surgery

"In 1922 Percy Grainger was the most famous musician in the world, a pioneer of the recording age who celebrated his wedding at the Hollywood Bowl in front of 20,000 people. When his mother committed suicide, jumping from a New York skyscraper, it made the front page of the New York Times. Blue Rosesis a story of obsessive love, of grand ambition, and grand failure. By turns funny, sexy, and tragic it celebrates the life of the virtuoso pianist and avant-garde composer - aan artist who pushed against every boundary, until he lost everything. a Peter Salmon chartsaGrainger's fall fromacelebrity and success, athroughaartistic and sexual obsession,atoward the figure of tragedy he became, railing against a world that had forgotten him, in thisabrilliant fictional re-imagining of the life of one of Australia's most fascinating and enduringaartists.a "

Blue Roses

At the end of his sorry life, Teddy Everett, reluctant heir to the Everett fortune realises that he may have been at his best when he was 14, the night Kebreth made him a communist by rubbing coffee bean oil on his face. Then he was with Lucy, who gave him Chinese burns and taught him how to smoke. As he remembers his family, his wives (and their lovers) he tries to understand what happened to that boy. Fuelled by caffeine and full of vituperation, this is a riotously original debut of honour, cowardice and bravery.

Peter Salmon

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