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Thursday, October 14, 2004

(11:34 AM) | Adam Kotsko:

Assessing the Response: Derrida Week

On the second to last day of The Weblog's Derrida week, it seems appropriate to catalogue some of the responses across the Internet. First, Samuel Weber and Kenneth Reinhard of the University of California at Irvine are circulating a letter to the editors of the New York Times in protest over their insulting obituary. Among the signatories are J. Hillis Miller, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Slavoj Zizek, Mark Strand, and Adam Kotsko. Scott McLemee's obituary is excellent, as is n+1's memorial piece. For those who read French, there is a special issue of Libération dedicated to Derrida. The coverage at wood s lot has been characteristically excellent, with many links to Derrida's writings. Ogged's brief tribute is similar in that it encourages us to read Derrida's texts. The initial reaction at Pas Au-Delà was very well-done, and he has included many more links that I will not duplicate here.

The Weblog's coverage this week was as follows:

My initial post
Anthony's "The Cancer of Jacques Derrida", which issued the call for a Derrida week
My "The State of the Debt", an account of Derrida's influence on my personal life
Anthony's story of the initial reaction of two of his professors, who knew Derrida personally
My summary of some comic books featuring a villain named Deconstructo
My translation of previously untranslated materials from the expanded French edition of Donner la mort
Anthony's six degrees from Derrida to Bush
Adam Robinson's tribute, following up on two posts at The Pickle
And of course, this post itself, which I will not recursively link.

Tomorrow's Confessional will conclude Derrida week at The Weblog. I thank everyone who has read and linked to our posts here, and I apologize for not providing an exhaustive account of the blogosphere's reactions to Derrida's death -- suffice it to say that the many posts I have read have confirmed my belief that a genuine community of thoughtfulness and thankfulness continues to take root in the ever-broadening circle of blogs, and we should be grateful for the expanded opportunities that technology affords us to be mutually encouraged by each other's faithfulness, even if our direct interaction is necessarily limited.

UPDATE: An anonymous commenter recommends Mark C. Taylor's editorial in the Times, as do I. For a more moderate view, Ralph Luker has recommended Tim Burke's assessment of Derrida's work, which takes into account Derrida's monumental influence while critiquing his philosophical achievement.

Also, there will be a Derrida memorial Random Friday Night at Fred and Bethany's this weekend; Anthony and Jared in particular are invited, though anyone else in the area is certainly welcome to come visit. To my knowledge, Adam Robinson, his girlfriend Allison (who is her own independent person with lots of wonderful gifts and her own unique history, but I know her through Adam and can't remember her last name), and Monica Bennett will be in attendance, along with me, Fred, and Bethany. Other guests will be announced as events warrant.

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(Adam Kotsko has asserted the moral right to be identified as the author of this post.)