DECONSTRUCTING DERRIDA

Congratulations on Mitchell Stephens’ thoughtful article about Jacques Derrida. I couldn’t help but wonder whether I understood what I was reading. In the context of my morning toast and coffee, was understanding possible? Had my toast been wheat rather than rye, would my context have been so altered as to seriously alter my understanding? Or the fact that I rose at 6 a.m. rather than at my usual 6:30?

The thought also occurred to me that Derrida is a brilliant Jewish comic, an intellectual Don Rickles, who chides us for our complacency and startles us into laughter and awareness.

FRANK FILOSA

Beverly Hills