DERRIDA’S DISSERTATION MICHAEL BOLERJACK
Derrida’s Dissertation Š 2012 Michael Bolerjack
Jacques Derrida originally planned, if one may put it that way, to write a dissertation titled “The Ideality of the Literary Object,” before he began his teaching career. Eventually he was awarded the degree from the state on the basis of his body of work, something like a dozen books by the writing of “The Time of a Thesis.” I liked the proposed title he was to have used, presumably about Husserl and Joyce or Mallarme, and re-motivated it for the last seminar I took, from the late Robert Joseph Yankow. Over three nights we traded points in a debate over whether Euripides and his hero were right or wrong. The issue was perhaps not so much impiety to the gods, but rather the status of magic from a Christian point of view. This essay is dedicated to Dr. Yankow, recalling his humor and respect, and his graciousness to me during the nights of our debate.