Sontag vs. Derrida: A Deconstruction Derby
The death of Susan Sontag on Dec. 29 unleashed the greatest volume of intellectual and pseudo-intellectual eulogizing since
Compiled by Michael Soller
*
Born
* Sontag: New York, Jan. 16, 1933
* Derrida: El Biar, Algeria, July 15, 1930
Obituary word count (approximate)
* 48,820
* 60,980
Number of letter writers who hated one or more obit
* a handful
* 4,254 (at www .humanities.uci.edu /remembering_jd/)
You should feel dumb because
* [Sontag was] "the most intelligent woman in America" (New York Daily News)
* [Derrida was] "the smartest man in the world" (Raphael Simon, The Times)
And because
* Sontag was 33 when she published her first famous essay collection, "Against Interpretation"
* Derrida was 37 when he published his first three major philosophical tomes, including the essay collection "Writing and Difference"
How much a signed copy of above books cost on EBay last week:
* $160 (first edition)
* $8.99 (translation)
Signature concept
* camp
* deconstruction
In a nutshell
* Camp "is the love of the exaggerated, the 'off,' of things-being-what-they-are-not." (Sontag, "Notes on 'Camp' ")
* "The guiding insight of deconstruction is that every structure
How about in doggerel?
* "Susan Sontag -- quicksilver darting between past and future to shed light on the otherwise dark present -- and your conscience that traveled almost at the speed of light" (John Berger, the Observer)
* "You wanna knowda creeda Derrida?/Dere ain't no reader./(Dere ain't no wrider Eider.) (Adrian Salter, letter to the Spectator)
It was the hair, apparently
* Sontag was a "strong-featured beauty with a trademark streak of white shot through her unruly black hair (New York Daily News)
* Derrida was a "snowy-haired French intellectual" (Associated Press)
The president says he's bummed out
* No
* Yes (Jacques Chirac)
Had to share obituary pages with
* Jerry Orbach, actor
* Christopher Reeve, activist/actor
Probably wishes hadn't said
* "The white race is the cancer of human history."
* "The least bad definition of deconstruction is a certain experience of the impossible."
Contrarian comment about Sept. 11
