Forgiving Derrida for Dying

Aalborg University Guest Lecture, Oct. 18, 2004

"Forgiving Derrida for Dying" is a short personal essay, detailing some of my spectral memoirs of Jacques Derrida, 9-11 and life in the institutions. It frames the movie Derrida in several senses, ultimately reversing the movie's alternative title 'Chasing Derrida' into 'Derrida Chasing (Me)'. Derrida's haunting of my autobiography is told through a number of anechdotes about the multiple personae Derrida embodies in the imagination of his audience.

Read the presentation version of this paper...

This lecture is one of four talks framing a screening of the movie. We call the event 5 Faces of Derrida.


Movie still 
 Image of Ground Zero N.Y., September 12, 2001             


In Memoriam... Friday Oct. 8, 2004:





Joel Robine/Agence France Presse-Getty Images

Jacques Derrida in January 2004, at his home in France. Derrida died on October 8 after a lengthy battle with pancreatic cancer.