Professor Simon Wortham
Faculties, deparments and locations
- Kingston School of Art
- Department of Humanities
- School of Creative and Cultural Industries
- Penrhyn Road
Pro Vice-Chancellor Research, Kingston University
- Email:
- s.wortham@kingston.ac.uk
About
After completing my DPhil at the University of Sussex in 1993, my research has concentrated on the connections between continental philosophy, literary theory and a variety of political and psychoanalytic texts.
I have published books on the philosophical question of the university institution, on the question of sleep as a complex and surprisingly persistent topic within the history of philosophy, on the European philosophical tradition's relationship to problems of pain and suffering, on the complicated interplay between psychoanalytic and political ideas of resistance; and the writings of Jacques Derrida. My last academic monograph explored the legacy of philosophical discourses of optimism and pessimism in order to assess the limits and possibilities of contemporary political hope. Since then, I have written a trilogy of novels published by Ma Bibliotheque, the first appearing in 2020. My new book, Reading Robert Walser: Criticism, Creativity, Correspondence, includes a novella based on the author's correspondence as well as chapters on the question of address, both in epistolary writing and creative performances. The book will be published by UCL Press in 2025.
While at Kingston, I have supervised PhDs on topics as varied as psychoanalysis, trauma, and creative writing; resistance, revolution, and fascism; Kantianism and speculative realism; and deconstruction and performativity.
Qualifications
- DPhil, Sussex University
- MA Critical Theory, Sussex University
- BA English Literature, Sussex University
Domains
Close Advisory Board, Textual Practice
Advisory Board, New Formations
Editorial Board, Derrida Today
Member of the AHRC Peer Review College, 2022-25
Groupement d'intérêt scientifique (GIS) Archives démocratie scientific council
Publications
Berlin W, or, méssalliance : posthumous fragments
Wortham, Simon (2022). London, U.K.: (Ma Bibliothèque)
Early mass : a novel by Peter Müller
Wortham, Simon (2021). London, U.K.: (Ma Bibliothèque)
The Small
Morgan Wortham, Simon (2020). London, U.K.: (Ma Bibliothèque)
Hope : the politics of optimism
Wortham, Simon (2019). London, U.K.: (Bloomsbury Academic)
Resistance and psychoanalysis : impossible divisions
Morgan Wortham, Simon (2017). Edinburgh, U.K.: (Edinburgh University Press)
Samuel Weber : acts of reading
Morgan Wortham, Simon (2017). Abingdon, U.K.: (Routledge)
Modern Thought in Pain: Philosophy, Politics, Psychoanalysis
Morgan Wortham, Simon (2014). Edinburgh, U.K.: (Edinburgh University Press)
The poetics of sleep: from Aristotle to Nancy
Morgan Wortham, Simon (2013). London, U.K.: (Bloomsbury)
The Derrida Dictionary
Morgan Wortham, Simon (2010). London, U.K.: (Continuum)
Derrida: writing events
Morgan Wortham, Simon (2008). London, U.K.: (Continuum)
Counter-institutions: Jacques Derrida and the question of the university
Morgan Wortham, Simon (2006). New York: (Fordham University Press)
Rethinking the university: leverage and deconstruction
Wortham, Simon (1999). Manchester, U.K.: (Manchester University Press)
Walser on Walser
Wortham, Simon, 2023, Minor Literature[s]
Caught on the hop : politico-philosophical writing of the 'leap'
Wortham, Simon, 2022, Paragraph (45), 3, pp 316-335
To give the differend its due : damages/distress
Wortham, Simon, 2022, Philosophy Today (66), 2, pp 307-326
Antinomies of the super-ego : Etienne Balibar and the question of the psycho-political
Morgan Wortham, Simon, 2017, Philosophy Today (61), 4, pp 863-876
What is a complex?
Morgan Wortham, Simon, 2017, Journal for Cultural Research (21), 2, pp 127-139
Fleeced
Morgan Wortham, Simon, 2016, Paragraph (39), 2, pp 149-164
Joking apart
Morgan Wortham, Simon, 2014, The Oxford Literary Review (36), 2, pp 274-276
The pig's head. Book review of: 'Prolegomena to any future materialism, Volume 1: The outcome of contemporary French philosophy' by Adrian Johnston
Morgan Wortham, Simon, 2014, Radical philosophy, 187, pp 52-54
Education should be a right for all
Agnew, Eadaoin, Alliez, Eric, Auerbach, Paul, Blackburn, Robert, Botting, Fred, Brady, Mary, Caygill, Howard, Chadwick, Howard, Chanter, Tina, Choat, Simon, Chu, Jonathan, Cinpoes, Radu, Coultas, Valerie, Dines, Martin, Dixon, Paul, Favretto, Ilaria, Finn, Peter, Giaxoglou, Korina, Goldsmith, Carlie, Hallward, Peter, Hawkins, Sue, Haywood, Peter, Higginbottom, Andrew, Ichijo, Atsuko, Isaac, Marina, Jensen, Meg, Kayyali, Reem, Kettyle, Ann, Lambrou, Marina, Latimer, Amanda, Linton, Marisa, Lipsedge, Karen, Malabou, Catherine, O Maoilearca, John, McQuillan, Martin, Micklethwaite, Paul, Morgan Wortham, Simon, O'Brien, Catherine, Osborne, Peter, Pinnock, Winsome, Piper, Jason, Ponto, Maria, Raphael, Sam, Reid, Trish, Roberts, Mike, Rogers, David, Sandford, Stella, Searby, Michael, Siddiki, Jalal Uddin, Smart, Jackie, Spencer, Philip, Stockhammer, Engelbert, Stuart, John, Suess, Eleanor, Swift, Allan, Upstone, Sara, Vallee-Tourangeau, Frederic, Wells, Julian and Wilson, Scott, 2014, The Guardian
Survival of cruelty
Morgan Wortham, Simon, 2013, The Southern Journal of Philosophy (51), S1, pp 126-141
Time of debt: on the Nietzschean origins of Lazzarato's indebted man
Morgan Wortham, Simon, 2013, Radical philosophy, 180, pp 35-43
What we owe to retroactivity: the origin and future of debt
Morgan Wortham, Simon, 2013, Postmodern Culture (23), 3
Afterword: Impossible Divisions
Morgan Wortham, Simon, 2013, SAQ: South Atlantic Quarterly (112), 1, pp 163-170
L'Arret de mort, insomnia, dreaming, sleep: Derrida, Blanchot, Levinas
Morgan Wortham, Simon, 2012, Derrida Today (5), 1, pp 111-139
'By force of love ... something should happen to God, and someone happen to him': the other's other(s) in Derrida
Morgan Wortham, Simon, 2011, Textual Practice (25), 6, pp 1051-1073
Resistances - after Derrida after Freud
Morgan Wortham, Simon, 2011, Mosaic: a journal for the interdisciplinary study of literature (44), 4, pp 51-61
Infant criticism: Agamben's potential
Morgan Wortham, Simon, 2011, Paragraph (34), 1, pp 137-151
The chance of thinking - conjurations
Morgan Wortham, Simon, 2011, Parallax (17), 1, pp 65-77
"The discipline of the question": rereading Derrida's "Violence and metaphysics"
Morgan Wortham, Simon, 2010, Derrida Today (3), 1, pp 137-150
Anonymity writing pedagogy: Beckett, Descartes, Derrida
Morgan Wortham, Simon, 2009, Symploke (16), 1-2, pp 93-105
Law of friendship: Agamben and Derrida
Morgan Wortham, Simon, 2007, New Formations (62), pp 89-105
Counter introduction
Morgan Wortham, Simon, 2007, Textual Practice (21), 2, pp 213-229
Editorial
Morgan Wortham, Simon, 2007, Textual Practice (21), 2, pp 203-211
'The fidelity of a guardian': the 'double keeping' of Jacques Derrida
Morgan Wortham, Simon, 2006, Parallax (12), 3, pp 85-98
Unheard of
Morgan Wortham, Simon, 2006, Textual Practice (20), 1, pp 121-140
Auditing Derrida
Morgan Wortham, Simon, 2004, Parallax (10), 2, pp 3-18
Obsessional writing
Morgan Wortham, Simon, 2004, Textual Practice (18), 1, pp 47-63
The claim of the humanities: a dialogue between Simon Morgan Wortham and Christopher Fynsk
Morgan Wortham, Simon and Fynsk, Christopher, 2004, Culture Machine
Responding: a discussion with Samuel Weber
Morgan Wortham, Simon and Hall, Gary, 2002, South Atlantic Quarterly (101), 3, pp 695-724
Responding: a discussion with Samuel Weber
Weber, Samuel, Morgan Wortham, Simon and Hall, Gary, 2001, Culture Machine
Teaching deconstruction: giving, taking, leaving, belonging, and the remains of the university
Morgan Wortham, Simon, 2001, Diacritics: a review of contemporary criticism (31), 3, pp 89-107
"To come walking": reinterpreting the institution and the work of Samuel Weber
Wortham, Simon, 2001, Cultural Critique: an international journal of cultural studies (48), 1, pp 164-199
Van Gogh's shoes, or, does the university have two left feet?
Wortham, Simon, 1999, Culture Machine (1)
Surviving theory, “as if I[t] were dead”: Derrida and interdisciplinarity
Wortham, Simon, 1998, (34), pp 152-166
Bringing criticism to account: economy, exchange and cultural theory
Wortham, Simon, 1997, Economy and Society (26), 3, pp 400-418
Multiple submissions and little scrolls of parchment: censorship, knowledge, and the academy
Wortham, Simon, 1997, New Literary History (28), 3, pp 501-523
Sovereign counterfeits: the trial of the Pyx
Wortham, Simon, 1996, Renaissance Quarterly (49), 2, pp 334-359
The Glasse of majesty: reflections on new historicism and cultural materialism
Wortham, Simon, 1996, Angelaki (2), 2, pp 47-57
In debt to Derrida : deconstruction and monetary criticism
Wortham, Simon (2024). In: Tinguely, Joseph J., (ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Philosophy and Money : Volume 2 : Modern Thought. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, pp 685-700
Critiquing poststructuralism : the recent politics of French thought
Morgan Wortham, Simon (2019). In: Goh, Irving, (ed.), French Thought and Literary Theory in the UK. New York, NY: Routledge, pp 111-130
Deconstruction : politics, ethics, aesthetics
Morgan Wortham, Simon (2018). In: Stocker, Barry, (eds.) and Mack, Michael, (eds.), The Palgrave Handbook of Philosophy and Literature. London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp 407-425
'There shall be no mourning'
Morgan Wortham, Simon (2016). In: Morgan Wortham, Simon, (eds.) and Alfano, Chiara, (eds.), Desire in ashes: deconstruction, psychoanalysis, philosophy. London, U.K.: Bloomsbury Academic, pp 43-71
The Archive, The Event, and the Impression
Morgan Wortham, Simon (2014). In: Mays, Sas, (ed.), Libraries, Literatures, and Archives. London, U.K.: Routledge, pp 185-201
Archive-Abilities
Morgan Wortham, Simon (2013). In: Senatore, Mauro, (ed.), Performatives After Deconstruction. London, U.K.: Bloomsbury Academic
Introduction
Weiner, Allison and Morgan Wortham, Simon (2007). In: Weiner, Allison, (eds.) and Morgan Wortham, Simon, (eds.), Encountering Derrida: legacies and futures of deconstruction. London: Continuum, pp 1-9
Introduction: experimenting
Morgan Wortham, Simon and Hall, Gary (2007). In: Morgan Wortham, Simon, (eds.) and Hall, Gary, (eds.), Experimenting: essays with Samuel Weber. New York: Fordham University Press, pp 1-12
Of debts, dreams and jokes: or, Weberian theatricality
Morgan Wortham, Simon (2007). In: Morgan Wortham, Simon, (eds.) and Hall, Gary, (eds.), Experimenting: essays with Samuel Weber. New York: Fordham University Press, pp 44-84
Deconstruction (1966)
Morgan Wortham, Simon (2006). In: Clark, Robert, (ed.), The literary encyclopedia. Norwich, U.K.: The Literary Dictionary Company Limited
Giorgio Agamben (1942-)
Morgan Wortham, Simon (2006). In: Clark, Robert, (ed.), The literary encyclopedia. Norwich, U.K.: The Literary Dictionary Company Limited
The event
Morgan Wortham, Simon (2006). In: Clark, Robert, (ed.), The literary encyclopedia. Norwich, U.K.: The Literary Dictionary Company Limited
Censorship and the institution of knowledge in Bacon's New Atlantis
Wortham, Simon (2002). In: Price, Bronwen, (ed.), Francis Bacon's New Atlantis: new interdisciplinary essays. Manchester: Manchester University Press, pp 180-198
"Pairt of my taill is yet untolde": James VI and I, the pheonix, and the royal gift
Wortham, Simon (2002). In: Fischlin, Daniel, (eds.) and Fortier, Mark, (eds.), Royal subjects: essays on the writings of James VI and I. Detroit, U.S.: Wayne State University Press, pp 182-204