note to self

EXORBITANT. Derrida characterizes his method as such - ex-orbitant, out of the orbit, having-reached-escape-velocity - and the whole time in 'Signature - Event - Context' he talks about the 'horizon' of experience, of presence, etc. From Horizon to Orbit was a heading I used in my head all the time when I was writing the PhD - and of course Horizon and Orbit are both episode titles of Blake's 7, so the secret Blake's 7 thread would still be there - but also, could you read 'horizon' in relation to 'horizon of expectation' (Jauss and possibly also Gadamer)? Deconstruction as exorbitant as opposed to the earth-bound (and therefore - gasp - HEIDEGGERIAN) aesthetic of reception?

(Sorry. All of this is because I think the new title for Teh Book is going to be Empire After Earth, and also because I'm writing a lecture on Derrida for tomorrow morning and having ideas I want to record but no time to think them through properly...)

j's birthday

J turned sixty last weekend, and the indescribably lovely Kerry stood us dinner at the Bath Priory hotel together with J's good friends Annie and Viv. Here's us (left to right: J, me, Viv, Annie):



(I am, as so often, slightly in awe of the company I keep...)