Pierre Alferi (; 10 April 1963 â 16 August 2023) was a French novelist, poet, and essayist. Alferi was the son of the French philosopher Jacques Derrida and psychoanalyst Marguerite Aucouturier.
Alferi studied at the ÃÂcole Normale Supérieure, rue d'Ulm and completed his agrégation. After his dissertation on William of Ockham, supervised by Louis Marin, Alferi began to primarily write poetry. Alferi was also a literary translator who has translated works by John Donne, Giorgio Agamben and Meyer Schapiro from English and Russian into French. He had also written songs for several performing artists including Jeanne Balibar. Between 1991 and 1992, Alferi was writer-in-residence at the Fondation Royaumont, and at the French Academy in Rome between 1987 and 1988.
Alferi was co-founder (with Suzanne Doppelt), of the literary journal Détail, and La Revue de Littérature Générale (with Olivier Cadiot). Alferi taught at the ÃÂcole nationale supérieure des beaux-arts in Paris, the ÃÂcole nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs in Paris, and the European Graduate School. His work is considered singular and unclassifiable as it includes poetry, drawing, music, novel and philosophy. Alferi was also a translator of poetry and philosophy including the work of Agamben.
Pierre Alferi was born in Paris on 10 April 1963 to Jacques Derrida, philosopher and inventor of deconstruction and Marguerite Derrida, a psychoanalyst. He was of Algerian-Jewish descent through his father, and Czech descent through his mother. He tried to remain discreet about his ancestry, namely his famous philosopher father Derrida, by adopting his maternal grandmother's name for public life.
Alferi suffered from cancer and died in Paris on 16 August 2023, at the age of 60.