Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Ron Burgundy. Derrida
I found this week's reading from Derrida extremely difficult to grasp. It seems that attempts to encompass several theorists ideas as he goes about his writing, in a way to show the irony of language and signs. One of his main ideas in the article stems from the word differance that he creates. This "differance" is a hard thing to grasp because as Derrida states it is "neither a word or a concept". He explains how difficult it is in speech to accentuate that he is saying differance versus difference because of the unavailability to see it and therefore understand the difference (ironic) between the two. Derrida explains how the simple changing of a letter of the word difference changes its signification even though phonetically it seems to be the same thing. This concept takes us back to De Saussre and his theories on the language, specifically the sign, signifier, and signified. Because Derrida's "differance" is not a word or a concept perhaps we could refer to it as a "sign" that he himself applies meaning to and therefore creates a signifier and the signified. "Differance" did not exist until Derrida brought it into existence and had no meaning until Derrida applied a specific meaning to it. The simple act of switching the "e" to an "a" signifies, in the English language, that there is some sort of reason behind the spelling and therefore a different meaning to the word. It is interesting in order to better understand difference that Derrida would create a difference, from the "e" to the "a" in order to better explore the concepts behind the single word "difference".
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We warned you that these readings would get harder as the semester went on, but luckily we don't have much longer to go! Even though you struggled to understand the concept behind difference and differance you do a good job in deciphering the surrounding concepts, like signs. Reviewing your notes and finding another theorist who relates will help you understand what he's trying to say even more, especially DeSaussure. I'd love to see you connect DeSaussure with Derrida in your post-class to see how your understanding changes after class. :)
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