Friday, March 27, 2009

On not being read or misread: Resistance to resistance

A number of very famous philosophers who regard their writings as resistant nevertheless sometimes get angry and defensive when they think they have been misread or not read at all.

Foucault is both hilarious and angry about the reviewing / nonreading process in his essay "Monstrosities of Criticism," diacritics 1.1. (1971).

Jacques Derrida frequently complains about how his works or the works of others have gone unread, especially by those who attack.
Here are just three examples:


2 comments:

jma said...

I only made it part of the way through this post. But I strongly disagree with you that most philosophers enjoy having their work misinterpreted!

Richard Burt said...

Very clever and comic, my friend. You are too quick-witted for me!