Professor Simon Wortham
Faculties, departments and locations
- Kingston School of Art
- Department of Humanities
- School of Creative and Cultural Industries
- Penrhyn Road
Pro Vice-Chancellor Research, Kingston University
- Email:
- [email protected]
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
Manic joy: Irmgard Keun and the politics of life under/over fascism
Wortham, Simon, 2026, Minor Literature[s], Published
Walser on Walser
Wortham, Simon, 2023, Minor Literature[s], Published
Caught on the hop: politico-philosophical writing of the 'leap'
Wortham, Simon, 2022, Paragraph (45), 3pp 316-335, Published
To give the differend its due: damages/distress
Wortham, Simon, 2022, Philosophy Today (66), 2pp 307-326, Published
Antinomies of the super-ego: Etienne Balibar and the question of the psycho-political
Wortham, Simon Morgan, 2017, Philosophy Today (61), 4pp 863-876, Published
What is a complex?
Wortham, Simon Morgan, 2017, Journal for Cultural Research (21), 2pp 127-139, Published
Fleeced
Wortham, Simon Morgan, 2016, Paragraph (39), 2pp 149-164, Published
Joking apart
Wortham, Simon Morgan, 2014, Clinical Science (36), 2pp 274-276, Published
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, 187pp 52-54, Published
Education should be a right for all
Dixon, Paul, Favretto, Ilaria, Finn, Peter, Smart, Jackie, Spencer, Philip, Stockhammer, Engelbert, Stuart, John, Suess, Eleanor, Giaxoglou, Korina, Goldsmith, Carlie, Hallward, Peter, Hawkins, Sue, Swift, Allan, Upstone, Sara, Vallee-Tourangeau, Frederic, Wells, Julian, Wilson, Scott, 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, Blackburn, Robert, Botting, Fred, Brady, Mary, Osborne, Peter, Pinnock, Winsome, Piper, Jason, Choat, Simon, Chu, Jonathan, Cinpoes, Radu, Coultas, Valerie, Dines, Martin, Caygill, Howard, Chadwick, Howard, Chanter, Tina, Roberts, Mike, Rogers, David, Sandford, Stella, Searby, Michael, Siddiki, Jalal Uddin, Ponto, Maria, Raphael, Sam, Reid, Trish, Agnew, Eadaoin, Alliez, Eric and Auerbach, Paul, 2014, The Guardian, Published
Survival of cruelty
Morgan Wortham, Simon, 2013, The Southern Journal of Philosophy (51), S1pp 126-141, Published
Time of debt: on the Nietzschean origins of Lazzarato's indebted man
Morgan Wortham, Simon, 2013, Radical Philosophy, 180pp 35-43, Published
What we owe to retroactivity: the origin and future of debt
Wortham, Simon Morgan, 2013, Postmodern Culture (23), 3, Published
Afterword: Impossible Divisions
Wortham, Simon Morgan, 2013, SAQ: South Atlantic Quarterly (112), 1pp 163-170, Published
L'Arret de mort, insomnia, dreaming, sleep: Derrida, Blanchot, Levinas
Wortham, Simon Morgan, 2012, Derrida Today (5), 1pp 111-139, Published
'By force of love ... something should happen to God, and someone happen to him': the other's other(s) in Derrida
Wortham, Simon Morgan, 2011, Textual Practice (25), 6pp 1051-1073, Published
Resistances - after Derrida after Freud
Wortham, Simon Morgan, 2011, Mosaic: a journal for the interdisciplinary study of literature (44), 4pp 51-61, Published
Infant criticism: Agamben's potential
Morgan Wortham, Simon, 2011, Paragraph (34), 1pp 137-151, Published
The chance of thinking - conjurations
Morgan Wortham, Simon, 2011, Parallax (17), 1pp 65-77, Published
"The discipline of the question": rereading Derrida's "Violence and metaphysics"
Wortham, Simon Morgan, 2010, Derrida Today (3), 1pp 137-150, Published
Anonymity writing pedagogy: Beckett, Descartes, Derrida
Morgan Wortham, Simon, 2009, Symploke (16), 1-2pp 93-105, Published
Law of friendship: Agamben and Derrida
Morgan Wortham, Simon, 2007, New Formations (62)pp 89-105, Published
Counter introduction
Wortham, Simon Morgan, 2007, Textual Practice (21), 2pp 213-229, Published
Editorial
Morgan Wortham, Simon, 2007, Textual Practice (21), 2pp 203-211, Published
'The fidelity of a guardian': the 'double keeping' of Jacques Derrida
Wortham, Simon Morgan, 2006, Parallax (12), 3pp 85-98, Published
Unheard of
Wortham, Simon Morgan, 2006, Textual Practice (20), 1pp 121-140, Published
Auditing Derrida
Wortham, Simon Morgan, 2004, Parallax (10), 2pp 3-18, Published
The claim of the humanities: a dialogue between Simon Morgan Wortham and Christopher Fynsk
Morgan Wortham, Simon and Fynsk, Christopher, 2004, Culture Machine, Published
Obsessional writing
Wortham, Simon Morgan, 2004, Textual Practice (18), 1pp 47-63, Published
Responding: a discussion with Samuel Weber
Wortham, Simon Morgan and Hall, Gary, 2002, South Atlantic Quarterly (101), 3pp 695-724, Published
Responding: a discussion with Samuel Weber
Weber, Samuel, Morgan Wortham, Simon and Hall, Gary, 2001, Culture Machine, Published
Teaching deconstruction: giving, taking, leaving, belonging, and the remains of the university
Morgan Wortham, Simon, 2001, Diacritics: a review of contemporary criticism (31), 3pp 89-107, Published
"To come walking": reinterpreting the institution and the work of Samuel Weber
Wortham, Simon, 2001, Cultural Critique: an international journal of cultural studies (48), 1pp 164-199, Published
Van Gogh's shoes, or, does the university have two left feet?
Wortham, Simon, 1999, Culture Machine (1), Published
Surviving theory, "as if I[t] were dead": Derrida and interdisciplinarity
Wortham, Simon, 1998, Eurasip Journal on Advances in Signal Processing (34)pp 152-166, Published
Bringing criticism to account: economy, exchange and cultural theory
Wortham, Simon, 1997, Economy and Society (26), 3pp 400-418, Published
Multiple submissions and little scrolls of parchment: censorship, knowledge, and the academy
Wortham, Simon, 1997, New Literary History (28), 3pp 501-523, Published
Sovereign counterfeits: the trial of the Pyx
Wortham, Simon, 1996, Renaissance Quarterly (49), 2pp 334-359, Published
The Glasse of majesty: reflections on new historicism and cultural materialism
Wortham, Simon, 1996, Angelaki (2), 2pp 47-57, Published
Reading Robert Walser: criticism, creativity, correspondence
Wortham, Simon (2025). London, U.K.: (UCL Press) [Published]
Robert Walser and the politics of neglect
Wortham, Simon (2025). Cham, Switzerland: [Published]
Berlin W, or, méssalliance: posthumous fragments
Wortham, Simon (2022). London, U.K.: [Published]
Early mass: a novel by Peter Müller
Wortham, Simon (2021). London, U.K.: [Published]
The Small
Morgan Wortham, Simon (2020). London, U.K.: [Published]
Hope: the politics of optimism
Wortham, Simon (2019). London, U.K.: [Published]
Resistance and psychoanalysis: impossible divisions
Morgan Wortham, Simon (2017). Edinburgh, U.K.: [Published]
Samuel Weber: acts of reading
Morgan Wortham, Simon (2017). Abingdon, U.K.: (Routledge) [Published]
Desire in ashes: deconstruction, psychoanalysis, philosophy
(2016). London, U.K.: (Bloomsbury Academic) [Published]
Modern Thought in Pain: Philosophy, Politics, Psychoanalysis
Morgan Wortham, Simon (2014). Edinburgh, U.K.: (Edinburgh University Press) [Published]
The poetics of sleep: from Aristotle to Nancy
Morgan Wortham, Simon (2013). London, U.K.: [Published]
The Derrida Dictionary
Morgan Wortham, Simon (2010). London, U.K.: (Continuum) [Published]
Derrida: writing events
Morgan Wortham, Simon (2008). London, U.K.: (Continuum) [Published]
Encountering Derrida: legacies and futures of deconstruction
(2007). London: (Continuum) [Published]
Experimenting: essays with Samuel Weber
(2007). New York: [Published]
Counter-institutions: Jacques Derrida and the question of the university
Morgan Wortham, Simon (2006). New York: (Fordham University Press) [Published]
Rethinking the university: leverage and deconstruction
Wortham, Simon (1999). Manchester, U.K.: [Published]
In debt to Derrida: deconstruction and monetary criticism
Wortham, Simon (2024). In: Tinguely, Joseph J., (eds.), Cham, Switzerland:pp 685-700 [Published]
Derrida, Jacques (1930-2004)
Wortham, Simon (2021). [Published]
Critiquing poststructuralism: the recent politics of French thought
Morgan Wortham, Simon (2019). In: Goh, Irving, (eds.), New York, NY:pp 111-130 [Published]
Deconstruction: politics, ethics, aesthetics
Morgan Wortham, Simon (2018). In: Stocker, Barry, Mack, Michael, (eds.), London:pp 407-425 [Published]
'There shall be no mourning'
Morgan Wortham, Simon (2016). In: Morgan Wortham, Simon, Alfano, Chiara, (eds.), London, U.K.: Bloomsbury Academicpp 43-71 [Published]
The Archive, The Event, and the Impression
Morgan Wortham, Simon (2014). In: Mays, Sas, (eds.), London, U.K.: Routledgepp 185-201 [Published]
Archive-Abilities
Morgan Wortham, Simon (2013). In: Senatore, Mauro, (eds.), London, U.K.: Bloomsbury Academic [Published]
Introduction
Weiner, Allison and Morgan Wortham, Simon (2007). In: Weiner, Allison, Morgan Wortham, Simon, (eds.), London: Continuumpp 1-9 [Published]
Introduction: experimenting
Morgan Wortham, Simon and Hall, Gary (2007). In: Morgan Wortham, Simon, Hall, Gary, (eds.), New York:pp 1-12 [Published]
Of debts, dreams and jokes: or, Weberian theatricality
Wortham, Simon Morgan and Hall, Gary (2007). In: Morgan Wortham, Simon, Hall, Gary, (eds.), New York:pp 44-84 [Published]
Deconstruction (1966)
Morgan Wortham, Simon (2006). In: Clark, Robert, (eds.), Norwich, U.K.: [Published]
Giorgio Agamben (1942-)
Morgan Wortham, Simon (2006). In: Clark, Robert, (eds.), Norwich, U.K.: [Published]
The event
Morgan Wortham, Simon (2006). In: Clark, Robert, (eds.), Norwich, U.K.: [Published]
Anthologizing Derrida
Morgan Wortham, Simon (2004). In: Di Leo, Jeffrey R., (eds.), Lincoln, U.S.:pp 326-341 [Published]
Censorship and the institution of knowledge in Bacon's New Atlantis
Wortham, Simon (2002). In: Price, Bronwen, (eds.), Manchester: Manchester University Presspp 180-198 [Published]
"Pairt of my taill is yet untolde": James VI and I, the pheonix, and the royal gift
Wortham, Simon (2002). In: Fischlin, Daniel, Fortier, Mark, (eds.), Detroit, U.S.:pp 182-204 [Published]