The work of Jacques Derrida can be seen to reinvent most theories; here Robert Smith offers a reading of the philosophy of Derrida and an investigation of theories of autobiography. Smith argues that for Derrida autobiography is not so much a general condition of thought as a general condition of writing that mocks any self-centered finitude of living and dying. In this context, Smith thinks through Derrida's texts in a new way, and finds new perspectives to analyze classical writers including Hegel, Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, Freud and de Man.