In Defense of Secrets - by Anne Dufourmantelle (Paperback)

About the Book

In an age that prizes political and personal transparency, In Defense of the Secret champions the secret as what permits relation and ensures our humanity.

Book Synopsis

Finalist, French-American Foundation Translation Prize

In an age that prizes political and personal transparency, In Defense of Secrets champions the secret as what permits relation and ensures our humanity.

Psychoanalyst 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, In Defense of Secrets 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.

Tracking 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--In Defense of Secrets 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.

For 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.

From the Back Cover

Finalist, French-American Foundation Translation Prize

"In an epoch when transparency, openness, and candor, are constantly enjoined on us, and in which the message 'Secrets Kill' is driven home by everything from twelve-step groups to Lifetime TV, Dufourmantelle shows the powers that secrecy continues to hold. This urgent book will open new perspectives on a world marked by the rise of Wikileaks, Big Data, and social media."--Michael Moon, Emory University

Psychoanalyst 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 book on 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.

In our age, when political and personal transparency seems to be prized above all--lives posted on the internet, information leaked, whistles blown--In Defense of Secrets champions what remains hidden, private, veiled, hushed, just out of sight.

The secret may be deadly if unheard or misused, but Dufourmantelle shows how it is equally the source of creativity and of ethics. An ethics of the secret, we can hear her to say, means listening hard and sensitively, respecting the secret in its secret essence, unafraid of what it has to say.

Anne Dufourmantelle, taught at the European Graduate School. Her books include In Praise of Risk; Power of Gentleness; Blind Date; and, with Jacques Derrida, Of Hospitality.

Lindsay Turner is Assistant Professor of English and Literary Arts at the University of Denver.

Review Quotes

In an epoch when transparency, openness, and candor are constantly enjoined on us, and in which the message 'Secrets Kill' is driven home by everything from twelve-step groups to Lifetime TV, Dufourmantelle shows the powers that secrecy continues to hold. This urgent book will open new perspectives on a world marked by the rise of Wikileaks, Big Data, and social media.---Michael Moon, Emory University

About the Author

Anne Dufourmantelle (Author)
Anne Dufourmantelle (1964-2017), philosopher and psychoanalyst, taught at the European Graduate School and wrote monthly columns for the Paris newspaper Libération. Her books in English include In Praise of Risk; Power of Gentleness; Blind Date; and, with Jacques Derrida, Of Hospitality.

Lindsay Turner (Translator)
Lindsay Turner 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.