Second Post: Still Testing (But Not Derrida)

My blog title, Gypsy Scholar, probably violates political correctness, but intellectual travel has taken me around the world. I grew up in Arkansas and have lived in Texas, California, Switzerland, Germany, Australia, Israel, and Korea. I've also visited Mexico, Belgium, France, England, Scotland, Italy, Austria, Czechoslovakia (before the split), East Germany (before the union), Denmark, Russia, Singapore, and Japan. Since my scholarly career has brought me through all of these places to the outskirts of Seoul, where I now live, the terms "Gypsy" and "Scholar" both fit. Thus: "Gypsy Scholar."

First Post: Testing (Derrida)

If Jacques Derrida (R.I.P.) had been an American named Jack Deride, would he have been so renowned? Suppose that everything that Derrida had ever written was signed "Jack Deride." Would Deride's Gift of Death sound as je ne sais quois as Derrida's Gift of Death? Doesn't the former sound somewhat ... derisory? The name "Derrida" falls so much more trippingly off the tongue. I maintain that much of Derrida's appeal lies in his being French and having such a name as "Derrida."

(By the way, I've read and benefited from The Gift of Death -- and would have even if the author had been a certain Jack Deride.)