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vii acknowledgments this book has been years in the making, and i have accumulated debts too numerous to do justice to. i would like to thank all those brilliant readers who provided critical responses to elements of it: Mark Kelly, alison Ross, Nina Philadelphoff-Puren, Sarah tayton, Vicki Sentas, Justin Clemens, eve Vincent, Costas Douzinas, Liz humphries, Nick heron, Yoni Molad, eric Santner, Sean O’Beirne, Craig McGregor, John Cleary, Daniel McLoughlin, Rory Dufficy. thanks also to the two anonymous reviewers, whose helpful comments enabled me to refine the manuscript and sharpen my argument, to andrew Kenyon and Cathleen Collins at SUNY Press, and to Rory Dufficy for his fine work on the index. alison Ross deserves special thanks for reading numerous drafts, starting with the first one and ending with the final draft, and providing feedback that was always critical, generous, and incisive. this work has benefited immensely from conversations (and arguments) with the following friends and colleagues: ellen Roberts, andrew Benjamin, thanos Zartaloudis, Bryan Cooke, Sarah Roberts, alex Murray, andrea Maksimovic, Dimitris Vardoulakis, adam Bandt, Damien Lawson, adam Nash, amir ahmadi, alex Ling, Ben Golder, ihab Shalbak, Paul Patton, Kim Mereine, Lauren Bliss, Richard Bailey, tad tietze, tyson Wils, Ben Noys, andy Schaap, Juliet Rogers, adam Bartlett and Jon Symons. this book would literally not have been possible without the experiment in the creation of a general intellect that is the Melbourne agamben reading group. i thank all its past and present members. Finally, i am especially grateful to ihab, for bringing such joy to my life. this book is for my brothers, Joe and Nick Whyte, and is dedicated to the memory of Liz and Don Whyte. a portion of the first chapter appeared as “Particular Rights and absolute Wrongs: Giorgio agamben on Life and Politics,” Law and Critique (2009, 20:2), 147–161. an earlier draft of the third chapter appeared as “‘i Would Prefer Not to’: Giorgio agamben, Bartleby and the Potentiality of the Law,” Law and Critique (2009, 20:3), 309–324. an early draft of a portion of viii / aCKNOWLeDGMeNtS the final chapter appeared as “a New Use of the Self: Giorgio agamben on the Coming Community,” Theory and Event, vol. 13:1 (2010), http://muse. jhu.edu/login?uri=/journals/theory_and_event/v013/13.1.whyte.html. ...

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