I have a little book on Derrida coming out later this year, aimed at an advanced undergraduate and postgraduate readership and accessible to non-philosophers. Its aim is to explain Derrida’s thought as clearly and faithfully as possible using diagrams and examples, and then to bring him into conversation with the prologue of John’s gospel in the Bible. Fun.
So far so good. But what do you subtitle a book on Derrida in a series called “Great Thinkers”? That’s a tough one, an open invitation to pigeon-hole him in a thoroughly un-Derridean way before you even get past the book’s cover.
Here are some of the options that went back and forth between me and the publisher.
- “Jacques Derrida: Father of Deconstruction”. I don’t think so.
- “The (De)Construction of Idea(s)”. No, on so many levels.
- “Jacques Derrida: Founder of Deconstruction.” Over my dead body.
- “Jacques Derrida: Deconstructing the Transcendental”. Hardly inviting for non-philosophers.
- “Jacques Derrida: An Outsider Several Times Over”. This one is a quotation from Lesslie Hill’s Cambridge Introduction to Jacques Derrida. I thought it gave the wrong impression about privileging the “outside” over the “inside”, which course is not what Derrida does.
So, what did we go for? Here it is: “Jacques Derrida: Host of Deconstuction”. OK, it doesn’t work as well as “hôte de la déconstruction” would in French, but it does have the merit of wresting at least some agency from Derrida and gesturing towards deconstruction as “what happens” (to use his own description). Also, it hints at the ambiguity of Derrida’s relation to “deconstruction”. Finally, casting deconstruction as a parasite invites the idea of the necessary supplement: we could not live without the “alien” parasites in—for example—our gut.
Do you have a better idea? I’d love to hear it, and may end up asking your permission to use it (with appropriate acknowledgment, of course).
How about
Jacques Derrida? I’m sure the publisher will love it . . .Or ‘Jacques Derrida: Over My Dead Body’?
You know what, I’m sorely tempted…
Not too sure if I like it that much myself, but the best I can do for the moment is:
“Jacques Derrida: Indifferent Disseminator of Deconstruction”
OR
“Jacques Derrida: Deconstruction’s Indifferent Disseminator”
Plays on a few themes in Derrida’s work and retains the idea of Derrida as host and the ambiguous relation that you mentioned above.
Hi shesouhehyou, I like what your title is doing on an intellectual level, but it might be just a bit too wordy for the publisher. A 3- and 5-syllable word might be stretching it a bit. It does retain the ambiguous relation well. I wonder if there’s a danger of misunderstanding deconstruction as something inert that Derrida, in his sovereign agency, disseminates. I see you’re trying to get round that with “indifferent”, which to people who don’t know anything abuout Derrida might give the impression that he’s not bothered. C’est compliqué ! Thanks for throwing a suggestion in the pot; I’ll keep stirring…
I readily agree. It was more in the hope it might help trigger something better. Anyway, in the interim another (last one, unless the next is brilliant) came to me. Once again, unfortunately, more playful rather than practical:
“Jacques Derrida: Prophet of/for Deconstruction”
Then again, it may actually appeal to a publisher, if it doesn’t come across as sounding too cheap…
DERRIDA: The Justice of Deconstruction
Nice, Terence. Very nice. My only hesitation is a technical one. The publisher wants the subtitle to describe Derrida, giving the reason (or a reason) why he is a “Great Thinker”. Otherwise, I think “the justice of deconstruction” would do wonderfully.
I chose it because “justice” can also be a title designating a person.
Thanks for the clarification Terence. Would that mean that D presides over or administers deconstuction in some way? Perhaps I’m pushing the term too far…
I was thinking of the idea of Justice of the Peace as being a simple citizen without formal legal training but of “good character”. “Justice of the deconstructive peace” is too abstract, “a Just of Deconstruction” is a little stilted.
It’s really growing on me Terence, thanks for suggesting it. I’ll run it past the publisher if that’s OK and see if it knocks “host” off top spot…
Jacques Derrida: Mother of Invention
Doubt it would get the publishers approval and would take considerable unpacking in your preamble. But a consideration of motherhood and a maternity of ideas rather than, or alongside, paternity would be interesting. Deconstruction is nothing but inventive, open, ‘to come,’ the gift, and so on. There may be connotations of ‘necessity is the mother of invention,’ with the Derridean ‘il faut.’ And perhaps Derrida is to philosophy what Frank Zappa (and The Mothers of Invention) were to popular music offering nonconformity, free-form improvisation, experiments, virtuosity, and satire.