Jacques Derrida died last Friday. Although it’s trendy these days to knock the man and his writings, I always found something of interest in his texts, and I was particularly fond of Glas.
L’essence de la rose, c’est sa non-essence: son odeur en tant qu’elle s’évapore. D’où son affinité d’effluve avec le pet ou avec le rotl ces excréments ne se gardent, ne se forment même pas. Le reste ne reste pas. D’où son intérêt, son absence d’intérêt. Comment l’ontologie pourrait-elle s’emparer d’un pet? Elle peut toujours mettre la main sur ce qui reste aux chiottes, jamais sur les flouses lâchés par les roses. Il fait donc lire l’anthropie d’un texte qui fait péter les roses. Et pourtant le texte, lui, ne disparaît pas tout à fait, pas tout à fait aussi vite que les pets qui le soufflent.
[J. Derrida. Glas pp69b–70b.]
Translation:
The essence of the rose is its nonessence: its odor insofar as it evaporates. Whence its effluvial affinity with the fart or the blech: these excrements do no stay, do not even take form. The remains remain not. Whence its interest, its lack of interest. How can ontology lay hold of a fart? It can always put its hand on whatever remains in the john, but never on the whiffs let out by roses. So the anthropy of the text does not itself altogether disappear, not altogether as quickly as the farts that blast, prompt, spirit off the text.
[J. Derrida. Glas pp58b–59b; translated by John P. Leavey, Jr., & Richard Rand.] Posted by jim at October 11, 2004 08:14 AM
So what's the difference between that and this Willem van Aelst still life, except that various sorts of transience (check the watch, the butterfly, the fading flowers) are more clearly expressed in the latter? OK, he's confusing us to make us identify with the rose and the fart (I think), but don't the Low Countries Golden Age painters do the same, much more effectively, with their elaborate portraits of framed portraits and their frozen pots of beer?
Posted by: Trevor@Kaleboel on October 17, 2004 12:26 PMHey, Trevor. I never said Derrida was original. Just that I liked some of his texts. I admit, I've always liked those Flemish, and higher up, painters, too. Thanks for the links.
Posted by: jim on October 17, 2004 01:45 PMSorry to bark.
Posted by: Trevor@Kaleboel on October 17, 2004 01:50 PMNot a problem, Trevor. Sorry I snapped. I'd rather have you barking than the Flying Pigs of Spicy Ham Product befowling the blog's commentary.
Posted by: jim on October 18, 2004 08:32 AMLeland de la Durantaye, assistant professor of English at Harvard recalls:
A telling (if apocryphal) Kansas appearance: An audience member stood up and recounted the scene from The Wizard of Oz in which Dorothy and her friends finally meet the wizard, who is powerful and overwhelming until Toto pulls away the curtain to reveal a very small man. "Professor Derrida, are you like that?" the audience member asked. Derrida paused before replying, "You mean like the dog?"
Posted by: Ratso on November 20, 2004 04:57 PM