{"product_id":"in-defense-of-secrets-9780823289233","title":"In Defense of Secrets","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eFinalist, French-American Foundation Translation Prize\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eIn an age that prizes political and personal transparency, \u003ci\u003eIn Defense of Secrets\u003c\/i\u003e champions the secret as what permits relation and ensures our humanity.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003ePsychoanalyst and philosopher Anne Dufourmantelle drowned in 2017 in an attempt to rescue two children caught in the ocean. Her work lives on, though, in this provocative and necessary book. Through etymologies and case studies, personal history and incisive commentary on contemporary society, \u003ci\u003eIn Defense of Secrets\u003c\/i\u003e returns us to the fundamental psychic scene of the secret. The secret, for Dufourmantelle, is not a code to be cracked or a firewall to be penetrated but a dynamic and powerful entity that permits relation and that ensures our humanity. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eTracking the secret though art and literature, philosophy, psychoanalysis, and sociology, from the Inquisition to the present, Dufourmantelle's writing spirals around the question of the secret's value. In our age, when political and personal transparency seem to be prized above all--lives posted on the Internet, information leaked, whistles blown, taboos absent except with respect to the secret itself--\u003ci\u003eIn Defense of Secrets\u003c\/i\u003e champions what remains hidden, private, veiled, hushed, just out of sight. The secret is on the side of nature, not science; organic growth, not technology; love's generosity, not knowledge's grasp. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFor Dufourmantelle, the secret is a powerful and dynamic thing: deadly if unheard or misused, perhaps, but equally the source of creativity and of ethics. An ethics of the secret, we can hear her say, means listening hard and sensitively, respecting the secret in its secret essence, unafraid of it and open to what it has to say.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAnne Dufourmantelle (Author) \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003eAnne Dufourmantelle\u003c\/b\u003e (1964-2017), philosopher and psychoanalyst, taught at the European Graduate School and wrote monthly columns for the Paris newspaper \u003ci\u003eLibération\u003c\/i\u003e. Her books in English include \u003ci\u003eIn Praise of Risk\u003c\/i\u003e; \u003ci\u003ePower of Gentleness\u003c\/i\u003e; \u003ci\u003eBlind Date\u003c\/i\u003e; and, with Jacques Derrida, \u003ci\u003eOf Hospitality\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eLindsay Turner (Translator) \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003eLindsay Turner\u003c\/b\u003e a poet and translator, is Assistant Professor of English and Literary Arts at the University of Denver. She has translated books by Stéphane Bouquet, Souleymane Bachir Diagne, Frédéric Neyrat, and Ryoko Sekiguchi. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Fordham University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50371699605778,"sku":"9780823289233","price":22.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_0c8e0bbe-e455-4362-8d01-8ffe81984b56.jpg?v=1728537435","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/in-defense-of-secrets-9780823289233","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}