Conclusion

The Conclusion addresses the shared impossibility of legacy in Freud and Derrida by exploring a number of key differences between psychoanalysis and deconstruction. For Freud, psychoanalysis is interminable because the work of understanding one’s past is always exposed to an unpredictability that haunts the calculating technique of the analyst. For different reasons, Derrida figures deconstruction as an endless task, though one not without implications for the interminability of psychoanalysis. In this vein, the Conclusion examines a term privileged by both Derrida and Freud: ‘resistance’. For Derrida, the irreducible resistance of Freud’s legacy to interpretation has consequences for how we should engage with this legacy, explored here with respect to Lacan’s contrapuntal inheritance of Freud. This resistance also has consequences, however, for how we should engage with Derrida’s work today and for ongoing debates over the linguistic-materialist legacy of deconstruction.