Join our discussion of Jacques Derrida’s Of Grammatology. We will continue our discussion by finishing part II.

Critical Theory Chicago meets Mondays at the Harold Washington Library 6-8pm in the 6th floor north study room. Note: The library is closed Feb. 18th. We will be at Half Sour at Polk and Clark

“The opposition of dream to wakefulness, is not that a representation of metaphysics as well? And what should dream or writing be if, as we know now, one may dream while writing? And if the scene of dream is always a scene of writing? At the bottom of a page of Emile, after having once more cautioned us against books, writing, signs (‘What is the use of inscribing on their brains a list of symbols which mean nothing for them?’), after having opposed the ‘tracing’ of these artificial signs to the “indelible characters” of the Book of Nature, Rousseau adds a note: ‘…the dreams of a bad night are given to us as philosophy. You will say I too am a dreamer, I admit, but I do what others fail to do. I give my dreams as dreams, and leave the reader to discover whether there is anything in them which may prove useful to those who are awake.’” – The final paragraph in Of Grammatology

Discussion Schedule

Add all of these discussions to your calendar:

November 12

“Introduction to the ‘Age of Rousseau'” through “The Battle of Proper Names” (PDF-Link Pages 150-168)

November 26

“Writing and Man’s Exploitation by Man” through “…That Dangerous Supplement…”(PDF-Link Pages 168-189, stop before “From/Of Blindness to the Supplement”)

December 10

“From/Of Blindness to the Supplement” through “The Place of the ‘Essay'” (PDF-Link Pages 189-209 Stop before “Writing. Political Evil, and Linguistic Evil.”)

January 7

“Writing. Political Evil, and Linguistic Evil.” (PDF-Link Pages 209-234, Stop before Section II. “Imitation”)

January 21

“Imitation” up to (not through) “The Turn of Writing” (PDF-Link Pages 234-254)

February 4

“The Turn of Writing” up to (not through)Articulation) (PDF-Link Pages 254-266)

February 18 (Library is closed: We will be at Half Sour at Polk and Clark)

“Articulation” up to (not through) “From/Of the Supplement to the Source: The Theory of Writing” (PDF-Link Pages 266-301)

March 4

“From/Of the Supplement to the Source: The Theory of Writing” up to (not through) “The Alphabet and Absolute Representation” (PDF-Link Pages 301-325)

March 18

“The Alphabet and Absolute Representation” to the end (PDF-Link Pages 325-344)