Acknowledgments
John Kulka and Jennifer Banks, my editors at Yale University
Press, accompanied me every step of the way. This book would
not exist without their care and enthusiasm. The anonymous
readers for Yale were also extraordinarily helpful, and Jack
Borrebach provided expert copyediting. Harvey Yunis read
and usefully commented on my discussion of Plato. I greatly
appreciate the support of David Bromwich and John Hollan-
der, as well as the patience of Harold Bloom, Michael Fox, and
Tzvetan Todorov, who answered my questions about their per-
sonal experience of Derrida.
The Martha Gano Houstoun fund at the English Depart-
ment of the University of Houston supported the writing of
this book in essential ways. I am grateful to the Houstoun fam-
ily and to the English Department’s Houstoun Committee.
Richard Armstrong and Rob Zaretsky, of the Honors College
at the University of Houston, offered help and insight; the
Honors College was a true intellectual home during my work
on the book. In New York, the Frederick Lewis Allen Room of
the New York Public Library provided a place to work and an
inspiring sense that I was surrounded by many distinguished
writers, past and present. I thank my father, Lewis J. Mikics;