Jacques Derrida and Superman are Dead: Part II

*

Derrida, a French philosopher died at age 74 of pancreatic cancer on Friday, October 8, 2004. Unlike Christopher Reeves his life was not People Magazine Cover worthy. However, his notion of deconstruction has been applied to texts in architecture, philosophy, law, linguistics, and literature and will probably influence Western thought for centuries. Having said that, I refuse to embark on a description of deconstruction because Derrida himself denied that the process can be divulged in logical form. Yet, it is not a process to do away with authority in texts, rather it is to be used to describe and understand discrepancies within them. Additionally anything I might say about Derrida’s ideas can be deconstructed, and so proven to be one of many possible seemingly conflicted positions concerning Derrida.

Instead, I write a brief ditty that leads nowhere and everywhere.

A juicy onion,
Sharp, sweet, and
Provoking
has layers.

Lift them away
One by one
Till there
Is not
one.

Dice it.
Cook it.
Puree it.
Grill it.
Caramelize it.
Eat it raw.
Eat it with liverwurst.
Have it any way you like.

It doesn’t matter.
You and I will beg to differ.

It is not one.
It is not the other.
It is each and every.
It is all.
It is none.

* Horacio Portel “Derrida en Castellano,” Jacques Derrida, “http://personales.ciudad.com.ar/Derrida/” Friday, October 22, 2004, 11:59 PM EDT.


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