Posted by Ed
I don't have anything to say about the death of Jacques Derrida that hasn't already been said by someone who knows his work much better than I do. Until a few minutes ago, I therefore wasn't planning to write anything about him at all. But then I came across an anecdote in this BBC obituary that I just had to share:
He was so influential that last year a film was made about his life - a biographical documentary.At one point, wandering through Derrida's library, one of the filmmakers asks him: "Have you read all the books in here?"
"No," he replies impishly, "only four of them. But I read those very, very carefully".
Update:
Scott McLemee has written a Derrida obituary for The Chronicle of Higher Education. (It actually deals with its subject's ideas, which is a rarity in an obituary these days!)
> he originally hoped to become a professional soccer player ...
Which brings to mind Ian Frazier's takeoff on Beckett's alternative career (when asked what he would have liked to have done had he not become a writer, he chose commercial airline pilot; thus, 'LGA-ORD').
Posted by: nnyhav at October 13, 2004 02:43 PM