Dear all,

List members, particularly those in the HE sector, might be interested to
see this, if they haven't already. It has been passed to me by a concerned
subject librarian!

Charlotte Berry
Archivist, Special Collections, University of Exeter



> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: 	FW: University of California sues over Derrida Papers
> Date: 	Mon, 5 Feb 2007 10:38:02 -0000
> From: 	Vernon, Teresa <[log in to unmask]>
> Reply-To: 	French Studies Library Group <[log in to unmask]>
> To: 	[log in to unmask]
>
>
>
> Article from the US Chronicle of Higher Education posted on the WESS-ROM
> list forwarded for information.
> Teresa Vernon
> Curator, French Collections
> The British Library
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *From:* WESS Romance Language Discussion Group
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] *On Behalf Of *Adan Griego
> *Sent:* 01 February 2007 17:24
> *To:* [log in to unmask]
> *Subject:* University of California sues over Derrida Papers
>
> in case you have not yet seen this one.  Bonne Lecture!
> Thursday, February 1, 2007
> imap:[log in to unmask]:143/fetch%3EUID%3E.INBOX%3E46764?part=1.2&filename=3971cf.jpg
>
> <http://chronicle.com/> http://chronicle.com/daily/2007/02/2007020101n.htm
>
>
>        *U. of California Sues the Family of Jacques Derrida Over the
>        Noted Philosopher's Papers*
>
> By RICHARD BYRNE and AISHA LABI <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
>
> The University of California has sued the family of Jacques Derrida, a
> pioneer in contemporary philosophy and literary theory who died in 2004.
> The lawsuit is the first public eruption of a bitter, behind-the-scenes
> battle that involves both the papers and, perhaps, the legacy of the
> thinker.
>
> The lawsuit, which was filed in federal court in Central California in
> late November, focuses on the ultimate disposition of Derrida's papers,
> many of which are housed at the University of California at Irvine. At
> the time of his death, Derrida taught both at Irvine and at the School
> for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences, in Paris.
>
> The Derrida papers at Irvine were donated by the author to the
> university in 1990. The papers are the centerpiece of the university's
> Critical Theory Archive, which is part of the Special Collections and
> Archives section of Irvine's libraries.
>
> According to a guide to the Derrida archive, the papers include
> "manuscripts, typescripts, and recordings" that provide comprehensive
> documentation of his activities as a student, teacher, and scholar. The
> collection spans the years 1946 to 1998, the guide adds, but contains
> "no material that might be described as 'personal,' such as private
> correspondence."
>
> What is at stake in the battle may be the remainder of Derrida's papers,
> which are held by his estate or in other repositories, including the
> Institute of Contemporary Publishing Archives, known by its French
> acronym IMEC, near the city of Caen, in northwestern France.
>
> *Quiet Storm*
>
> The lawsuit attracted virtually no attention until recent weeks, when
> reports of its existence -- and the reaction of Derrida's family members
> to the lawsuit when they were served with papers sometime in January --
> spread among faculty members at Irvine.
>
> One professor at Irvine, Peter O. Krapp, posted an item on his personal
> blog <http://www.distraction-economy.com> on Sunday about the lawsuit.
> An associate professor of film and media studies, Mr. Krapp studied with
> Derrida. In addition to writing scholarly articles about the philosopher
> and translating some of his work, Mr. Krapp serves as curator of the
> world's most comprehensive Derrida bibliography and Web site.
> <http://www.hydra.umn.edu/>
>
> In an interview, he said that, to his understanding, the lawsuit was an
> attempt at a "pre-emptive" action against the possibility that Derrida's
> family might try to withdraw the archive in its entirety from Irvine.
>
> Repeated attempts by /The Chronicle/ to reach Marguerite Derrida, the
> philosopher's widow, were unsuccessful this week. Ms. Derrida and the
> philosopher's three sons -- Pierre, Jean, and Daniel Derrida -- were
> named as defendants in the lawsuit.
>
> Jackie Dooley, head of the university's special collections and
> archives, referred questions from /The Chronicle/ to a university
> spokeswoman.
>
> Christine Byrd, an assistant director of media relations at Irvine, told
> /The Chronicle/ that "in the very near future," the university "expects
> to resolve this issue, in a manner we feel confident will satisfy the
> Derrida family."
>
> She added that the university had no further comment on the lawsuit. She
> declined to elaborate on the substance of meetings that were held this
> week between university administrators and faculty members to forge a
> solution to the dispute.
>
> *Lasting Influence*
>
> As the creator of an approach to textual scholarship known as
> deconstruction, Derrida remains a vital (and controversial) figure in
> the humanities almost two and a half years after his death. The winter
> 2007 issue of a prominent scholarly journal, /Critical Inquiry,/ for
> instance, is devoted to texts about and remembrances of the thinker.
>
> "He was a dearly beloved person on that campus," said W.J.T. Mitchell,
> the editor of /Critical Inquiry/ and a professor of English and art
> history at the University of Chicago. Without knowing the details of the
> lawsuit, he added that the idea of any legal action against the Derrida
> family was "appalling on the face of it."
>
> The Derrida papers already in Irvine's archive have been fully processed
> and are now accessible to scholars. But the battle over the remainder of
> the philosopher's papers has now burst into public view, with possible
> competition as a powerful spur.
>
> Sandrine Samson, assistant director of collections at the IMEC archive,
> which houses a considerable amount of Derrida's correspondence,
> confirmed that there was friction between Ms. Derrida and Irvine.
>
> "It's certain that there is a problem, and the problem is a difference
> of interpretation," she said. "The university thought that the entire
> archive would come to them."
>
> Ms. Samson also said that Ms. Derrida had told the institute that she
> wanted the other manuscripts in her possession to go to IMEC. As for the
> material now housed at the institute, Ms. Samson said that "it was not
> at all a provisional deposit -- that much is certain."
>
> *National Pride and Archives*
>
> The irony of a battle between research libraries in France and the
> United States over Derrida's papers is a sharp one. For many years after
> he burst onto the American cultural scene, in the late 1960s, Derrida
> was an intellectual superstar in the United States but a lesser light in
> the firmament of the country where he began his career as a scholar.
>
> Mr. Mitchell cites an anecdote in his own introduction to the latest
> issue of /Critical Inquiry,/ in which Derrida replied to a 1994 question
> about the death of deconstruction with wry humor: "Deconstruction has
> been dying for quite a while," the philosopher said. "The first reports
> of its dying came to us a long time ago, and no doubt it will continue
> dying for some time to come. And it seems to be dying more in some
> places than others. For instance, in France, deconstruction is not
> dying. It was declared dead long ago."
>
> If the scrum over Derrida's papers does signal a brightening of
> Derrida's intellectual luster in France, Mr. Mitchell observed, "that
> would be a reversal."
>
> Mr. Krapp, the Irvine professor, pointed to another irony: Derrida was
> obsessed with archives and the idea of archives. He even wrote a book,
> translated into English as /Archive Fever: A Freudian Impression/
> (University of Chicago Press, 1997), about the archives of Sigmund Freud.
>
> Derrida "was suspicious about archives, and what can happen with them,"
> Mr. Krapp said. But despite his apprehension, he added, Derrida "was
> very generous" in his gift to Irvine.
>
> Discussion about Derrida's archive and what to do with it, he said,
> "should be an invitation to return to the thought of the archive." The
> lawsuit, he concluded, is "a distraction" from that conversation.
> Copyright <http://chronicle.com/help/copyright.htm> © 2006 by The
> Chronicle of Higher Education <http://chronicle.com/>
>
>
> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> Adan Griego
> Curator for Latin American,
> Mexican American & Iberian Collections
> Green Library-HRG
> Stanford University
> Stanford, CA 94305-6004
> (650) 723-3150 / 725-1068 (fax)
> [log in to unmask]
> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>
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-- 
Charlotte Berry
Archivist
Special Collections
Old Library
University of Exeter
Prince of Wales Road
EXETER EX4 4SB
UK

Tel: 01392 263879 (direct) or 01392 262096
Fax: 01392 263871