Who Is Jacques Derrida?
Jacques Derrida was a French philosopher credited with being the father of deconstructionism. Experts consider Derrida to be a vital contributor to the fields of modern philosophy and literary criticism. Derrida heavily influenced the forming of deconstructive theater, and his work had large political ramifications on the education system of France. The philosopher was born in 1930 to a Jewish family living in Algeria. Rather than attend an all-Jewish school after Jews were expelled from public school, Jacques Derrida secretly stayed away from school for a year, reading philosophy and avidly playing soccer. Derrida eventually attended Harvard University and began teaching philosophy at the Sorbonne in France. Jacques Derrida became fascinated with the interpretation of linguistics, and began publishing work on literary theater in the 1960s. In 1967, Derrida published three books that would become the foundation of his international reputation, Of Grammatology, Writing and Difference, a
Jacques Derrida was born in El-Biar, Algeria in 1930, into a family he has said was Jewish in a ‘banal’ way. He studied in France and the USA before doing his French military service (1957-59) during the Algerian ‘crisis’ and the rise to power in France of General Charles de Gaulle. He taught at the Sorbonne from 1960 to 1964 and then at the Ecole Normale Superieure (1965-84) as well as having visiting teaching positions in various American universities (Yale, Cornell, Johns Hopkins and the University of California, Irvine). He is currently director of Studies at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences, Paris, and Professor at the University of California, Irvine. He lives in Paris with his wife, Marguerite Aucouturier, and two cats (see Angela Bennie’s ‘What’s the Big Idea’ Sydney Morning Herald, 7 August 1999, Spectrum p5). José Borghino is the executive Director of the Australian Society of Authors. he’s been reading and enjoying Derridean deconstruction for almost twenty years.
