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Derrida, Jacques 1930-2004

Passed away at age 74 after a lengthybattle with pancreatic cancer. Survived by

his wife, the psychoanalyst Marguerite

Aucouturier. The two met at his AlmaMater, the Ecole normale suprieur, and

were married in 1957. Also survived by

two sons, Pierre and Jean. M. Derrida, an

Algerian-born Jew who became one of

Frances best known and mostcontroversial intellectuals, was the author

of more than 50 books. He has often been

referred to as the father of deconstruction.

1930-2004Dates based on the Judeo-Christian calendar, asopposed to, say, the Mayanor Chinese, imply a tacitEurocentrism

Passed away

Euphemistic substitution for thestarker term,dead, is anexample of avoidance and,nevitably, disconnection. Topass in this context is to passo, the latter to assuredly being

a somewhere, presumablyHeaven. Those who have gone

somewhere often return, adialectic of coming and goingnappropriate to the text unlesshe subjects initial Judaism gave

way to Buddhism.

age 74

See noteon dates.

Derrida, Jacques

Placing family name before firstname acts as depersonification.Deprives subject of individualityand subjugates him to his clan.

DERRIDA OBITUARY DECONSTRUCTED

lengthy

A descriptive indeterminacyRelative to lesser or longerperiods, it can only beunderstood in the context ofthe reader.

battle

Martial language: a fascisticdevice that reinterprets otherwisesomatic phenomenon.

SurvivedFrom Latin supervivere:literally, to live above. An

implication of uxorialxanthippism

his wifeUse of the term acts asacceptance and normalization ofphallogocentric husband/wifemanichaeism

sychoanalyst

mplicit in use of this term isvasion and feigned ignorance ofhe deep fissures that existetween the various schools to

which it is a referent.

Aucouturier

iterally, at the fashionableressmakers. Placed in

uxtaposition with the serio-ironicerm psychoanalyst, the textakes on an anarchic disjunction

Alma MaterLatin: Fostering mother. Thman and woman were borof the fostering mother. Birtand death co-exist in thesame text as a kind ofcircularity.

normale suprieur

The oxymoronnormal/superior either jarsthe reader out of the text orthe text out of the reader.

Pierre and JeanThe two most commonnames in France. Thereader will associatecharacteristics of all the

Jeans and Pierres whomthe reader has known andsubstitute for the otherwiseundescribed sons.

deconstruction

Note similarity todestruction, detractionand distraction.

Algerian-born.. FrancesElision of the relevant colonio-istoric subtext reveals throughbsence.

uthor of more than 50 booksOr were the more than 50 bookshe author of M. Derrida?

referred

A problem inmetadescription:to what canreferred refer?

fatherSee note on Alma Mater.