From analytic epistemology to gender theory, testimony is a major topic in philosophy today. Yet, one distinctive approach to testimony has not been fully appreciated: the recent history of contemporary continental philosophy offers a rich source for another approach to testimony. In this book, Gert-Jan van der Heiden argues that a continental philosophy of testimony can be developed that is guided by those forms of bearing witness that attest to limit experiences of human existence, in which the human is rendered mute, speechless, or robbed of a common understanding. In the first part, Van der Heiden explores this sense of testimony in a reading of several literary texts, ranging from Plato's literary inventions to those of Kierkegaard, Melville, Soucy, and Mortier. In the second part, based on the orientation offered by the literary experiments, Van der Heiden offers a more systematic account of testimony in which he distinguishes and analyzes four basic elements of testimony. In the third part, he shows what this analysis implies for the question of the truth and the truthfulness of testimony. In his discussion with philosophers such as Heidegger, Derrida, Lyotard, Agamben, Foucault, Ricoeur, and Badiou, Van der Heiden also provides an overview of how the problem of testimony emerges in a number of thinkers pivotal to twentieth- and twenty-first-century thought.

This book reveals the strain of a moment in American cultural history that led several remarkable writers -- Emerson, Warner, and Melville -- to render loss in innovative ways. These three key writers rejected Calvinist and sentimental models of bereavement, creating instead the compensations of a mature American literature.

A Goodreads Best Science Fiction Choice Award Nominee A New York Public Library Top 10 Book of 2022 An immersive, electrifying space-fantasy, Neon Yang's debut novel The Genesis of Misery is full of high-tech space battles and political machinations, starring a queer and diverse array of pilots, princesses, and prophetic heirs. "This is Joan of Arc meets Gideon the Ninth with a touch of Pacific Rim thrown in as a treat. A mind-blowing rollercoaster ride of a space opera, propulsive and strange in the best way."—Rebecca Roanhorse, New York Times bestselling author It’s a story you think you know: a young person hears the voice of an angel saying they have been chosen as a warrior to lead their people to victory in a holy war. But Misery Nomaki (she/they) knows they are a fraud. Raised on a remote moon colony, they don’t believe in any kind of god. Their angel is a delusion, brought on by hereditary space exposure. Yet their survival banks on mastering the holy mech they are supposedly destined for, and convincing the Emperor of the Faithful that they are the real deal. The deeper they get into their charade, however, the more they start to doubt their convictions. What if this, all of it, is real? A reimagining of Joan of Arc’s story given a space opera, giant robot twist, the Nullvoid Chronicles is a story about the nature of truth, the power of belief, and the interplay of both in the stories we tell ourselves. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Her name is Frankie. At least, that’s what she calls herself. She looks human, but she’s no more human than she is a faith-healer. That doesn’t stop her from using her...more unique abilities to take care of certain needs. It’s those abilities that lead to a chance encounter with an unusual woman in Florida. It’s a chance encounter with fate that will set these two down a collision course with destiny. This short story is loosely connected to the Kit Colbana Files. Can be read as a stand-alone.

Robert Garin Carlyle never expected his life to take such a dramatic turn. While visiting a friend in Europe, he experiences a violent encounter outside her university. Now, Robert is on the run, trying to prove his innocence and find the true killer. He becomes a modern day pirate as his life-changing journey forces him into the ports of Liverpool, Dublin, Lisbon, and more. He hides his true identity but runs into some bad business while learning the dark secrets of the shipping trade. The murder of Samantha Atwater is the reason for everything Robert has done. He must avenge her death and clear his name. However, when surrounded by evil, some of it rubs off. Robert hopes to eventually be the hero, but he might find new motivation to stay in the shadows and sink deeper into darkness.