In Memory of Derrida
Jacques Derrida died of pancreatic cancer on Friday in Paris... Actually I do not have particular "memory" of the Algeria-born French/Jewish philosopher, nor the in-depth meaning of Deconstructionism, of which he has been called le père. While Derrida himself refused to give a definition, News.Telegraph, announcing the news, displays its professionism by explaining:
"The deconstructive approach argues that all writing has multiple layers of meaning which even its author might not understand and which leave it open to an endless process of reinterpretation."
Except a few articles he wrote on other writers and literatures, I have not even finished a book of his besides one or two chapters of Of Grammatology and Writing and Différance, while I was struggling with my thesis a few years ago. I won't remember ... for "the trouble with reading Mr. Derrida," his deconstructed philosophy in deconstructed signifiers, "is that there is too much perspiration for too little inspiration." (The Economist, 1992)
The long obituary on New York Times (via Eamonn Fitzgerald) reviews his prolific life not without something you can digest with more pleasure, like:
As a young man, Mr. Derrida confessed, he hoped to become a professional soccer player. And he admitted to being an inveterate viewer of television, watching everything from news to soap operas. "I am critical of what I'm watching," said Mr. Derrida with mock pride. "I deconstruct all the time."Longtin has suggested to set up a reading group of Derrida's works as a tribute, not forgetting to remark that no one in Hong Kong understands. See if a group can devour the inheritance of our age. This resourceful Derrida Online may be a starting point.
3 Comments:
Maybe I should regret not going to see Derrida speak in Melbourne four years ago... how interesting he died almost a decade after Deleuze threw himself out of the window - dying of cancer doesn't really feel becoming of a philsopher now does it (insert a thousand jokes on deconstruction here please, or if you are paricularly evil, try comparing cancer with the rhizome)? I remembered how Derrida wrote in his eulogy that he and Deleuze had always been "admirers" of each other... somehow I can't recall there was a title by Deleuze call Derrida, or someone calling this century a Derridian Century. Nonetheless, my copy of _of grammatology_ too was left mostly unfinished on my shelves in Melbourne. - CH
http://www.humanities.uci.edu/remembering_jd/Many are unhappy about the obituary published by the New York Times.
Toby, Thanks for the link indeed. Having quoted from the now-notorious obituary, I felt like I have had praecox-blueprint "complacently lent itself to spreading unchecked rumors about aluminum tubes and arms of mass destruction." (Letter by Denis Hollier) What a shame.
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