Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Don't Blame Yourself if You Can't Understand Theorists
I just had to share this. Ever wonder why we can't understand some theorists? Dieter Freundlieb in Poetics Today (16.2) notes that "poststructuralists such as Foucault and Derrida often seem to use scholarly language and argumentation for purely strategic purposes rather than for participation in a communal and democratic effort to reach consensus. Occasionally, this is even openly admitted, as when Derrida, commenting on his allegedly often misunderstood phrase that there is nothing outside the text (and similar statements), said it served a strategic function." Now I know why I am unable to read through an entire Derrida essay in one sitting.
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I have no patience for writers who don't even try to communicate efficiently. If they start from a lack of respect, it's hardly surprising that I don't return it.
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