Drawing on a reading of an excerpt from Jacques Derrida's Circonfession, the paper revisits the question of sacrifice, exploring in this case its possible contributions to a reflection on contemporary literary studies. If sacrifice is the declaration of a choice, the sacrificial structure may be useful in thinking about literature and its relations with demands of different sorts, highlighting possible similarities between literary theory and theology in their responses to difference. Reading Derrida's book, a text written during an illness endured by his mother, allows the paper to evaluate how literature responds to the ethical dilemmas present in every text.
Concept of literature; Jacques Derrida; sacrifice