Monday, June 19, 2006
(10:44 AM) | Adam Kotsko:
My Summer: The Sinister "Phase Two"
Based on my original projections, I should be plowing through a book a day in preparation for the 20th Century exam at this point -- I thought I would have basically everything else "out of the way." The Nancy directed reading took substantially longer than I had anticipated, though, and I only just finished last night. Apparently taking detailed notes on hundreds of pages of dense philosophical prose is not something that can be churned out in a couple days.I just counted up the 20th Century list, and there are 69 authors (although for a few of them, there are two books recommended -- thankfully with an "or" in between them). Of those, I have apparently read 27, though I have no idea how that could have happened. So if I wanted to have the whole list read by the time classes start, that would give me 77 days (not counting today, when I plan to sit around eating bon-bons and watching The View). 42 books over the course of 77 days would give me just under two days per book -- much more manageable than the projected "book a day" figure. Of course, that still doesn't address the issue of actually assimilating and synthesizing that many books. So yeah, I don't know what's going to happen there. I had hoped to take the exam early next semester, but we'll just have to see how things go.
Other than that, I had hoped to get my presentations done for the AAR/SBL before classes start -- the Zizek one will basically write itself at this point, since I've already done a class presentation and a portion of the take-home exam on the topic, but the panel will be a bigger issue, most notably because the stakes are higher.
After finishing up the directed reading, my heart was filled with a desire to write a combined review of the two studies of Nancy that have come out in the last couple years -- B. C. Hutchens' Jean-Luc Nancy and the Future of Philosophy and Ian James's The Fragmentary Demand: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Jean-Luc Nancy. I thought of asking JCRT, but I feel like I've kind of saturated that market for now. I have made one other inquiry and haven't heard back yet -- but if any journal editors are reading and would be interested in such a review, feel free to contact me. I would also be willing to accept any review copies of the James book that any readers may have access to.
In conclusion, I learned from Derrida's book that Nancy has written something entitled La naissance des seins [The Birth of Breasts]. I don't know when I'll get around to reading it -- the Regenstein doesn't have it, and I've sworn off paying shipping from France -- but if any publishers are reading and would like to commission me to translate it, I'd be willing to do it, just out of sheer curiosity. The 20th Century exam can be put on hold in favor of Nancy's book on breasts.
