Judging by its ingredients, the alchemy of Derrida and Law was all but assured. In 1949, the young Jackie Derrida, freshly arrived in Paris from Algeria, opted for studies in philosophy as he believed to be unequipped to tackle the classics, logical pathway for the passionate reader of literature and aspiring writer whom he was…
Tag: Violence
“For without exception the cultural treasures [the historian] surveys have an origin which he cannot contemplate without horror. They owe their existence not only to the efforts of the great minds and talents who have created them, but also to the anonymous toil of their contemporaries. There is no document of civilization which is not at the same time a document of barbarism” (Walter Benjamin)…
Herodotus, First Orientalist ? – Conclusion
Questioning the responsibility of Herodotus in the Orientalist project is asking the question of alternatives. Saïd himself seems to praise the curiosity and adventurous mind of Herodotus. Herodotus’ very presence in the debate is also liable to his enterprise of not only travelling to foreign places, but also of maintaining records of them…