This is a biography of Jacques Derrida with an emphasis on following his philosophical development and looking at how he is considered now among his followers and the wider philosophical world. I’m no expert and in fact I’m a total novice but I got a lot out of this book and I will read some more of Derrida and then go back at some stage to read this biography again.

There are few “contemporary” philosophers who polarised opinion as much as Derrida and that is why this book is fascinating. Was Jacques Derrida a rock star genius or a con man? Mr Salmon does not shirk from looking at all aspects of Derrida’s character and although the book is written for someone with some understanding of his philosophy, a complete novice interested in how Derrida’s thinking tied together, will get a lot out of this book. It is also a great introduction to continental philosophy and its impact.

I was given a copy of this book by Netgalley in return for an honest review.

Derrida. Deconstruction. Post-modernism. French philosophy in general. Pretty forbidding subjects for some of us, and so I was delighted to find this biography and exploration of Derrida’s work and ideas at least relatively easy to follow and much more comprehensible than I’d feared. It’s an intellectual and academic book, which is to be expected when the subject is Derrida, and I’m sadly aware that much of Derrida’s thinking remains opaque to me. But at least I’ve dipped my toe into the water and all credit to the author for making his book as readable and accessible as it can be.

TL;DR

Peter Salmon’s An Event, Perhaps is a gateway book that will surely lead people to the dangers of deconstruction and post-modernism. This excellent biography is a wonderful introduction to a titan of French philosophy. Highly Recommended.

Review: An Event, Perhaps by Peter Salmon

As an undergraduate, I didn’t take any philosophy classes, and I regret that. My introduction to philosophy was through the book, The Simpsons and Philosophy. A friend gifted it to me and changed my life. I loved it, and instead of going straight to the philosophical texts, I read more of the popular culture and philosophy books. Years later, I enrolled in a literary criticism class at night school to complete a certificate in writing. The literature in question was Buffy the Vampire Slayer. During the class, we would watch an episode and read one or more essays by a single philosopher. Some of whom I’d heard before; many more that I hadn’t. All of the writings I struggled with but grasped eventually. All except for the one by Jacques Derrida. I remember loving the lecture but being baffled by the reading. I’d given up on Derrida until he resurfaced as one of Jordan Peterson’s devils. I had trouble matching Peterson’s anger towards Derrida with the content of the paper that I read. So, I began to seek out Derrida’s books. They were still opaque to me, but thanks to YouTube and Podcasts, learning about Derrida has never been easier. To be clear, it’s not easy, just easier. But I still haven’t returned to the primary source, Derrida’s texts. After reading An Event, Perhaps by Peter Salmon, I’m interested in giving him another shot. Peter Salmon has created in An Event, Perhaps an accessible, intellectual biography of this rock star philosopher. It enlightens as it humanizes.

An Event, Perhaps begins in October 1966 when Derrida delivered a paper at Johns Hopkins University. At that moment, deconstruction was born. This moment shook the philosophical discipline of Structuralism, and that moment began a discipline that is often misunderstood and dismissed. This book mixes analysis of Derrida’s ideas with documentation of his life. Peter Salmon situates Derrida’s intellectual development with his personal growth. Whether denied schooling in Algeria to his covering for Louis Althusser during Althusser’s mental health breakdowns, Derrida’s life is reflected in his philosophical pursuits. How could his ‘hauntology’ not come from his living in the shadow of his deceased older brother? Salmon does an excellent job of mixing biography with analysis, and it makes the text readable for a hobbyist like me while still containing commentary on Derrida’s ideas.
The text is a mostly linear following of Derrida’s life working its way through his bibliography. The man was a powerhouse of philosophical output, and Salmon takes us from paper to book to paper. I haven’t read the majority of the works listed here; Salmon piques my curiosity. I might just have to go back and give Derrida another read.

A Life, Perhaps

I have read zero biographies of philosophers. Thus, I cannot tell you if An Event, Perhaps succeeds in that genre, but in the larger field of biography, Salmon has written a wonderful text. I didn’t just learn about the man, I felt for him because of this text. His life, his triumphs, his mistakes, all made his ideas more intriguing. Setting aside the ideas, An Event, Perhaps succeeds as a biography. It reads well. I had expected a dry, scholarly tone, but the book reads like a biography with dense philosophical ideas woven seamlessly in. If other biographies of philosophers are like this, I’m going to have to seek them out.

One of the things that stuck with me was Derrida’s relationship to Althusser. I can’t say why, but this friendship stood out. Maybe because of Althusser’s mental health and Derrida’s care for the man? Salmon painted this friendship here and there throughout the text, but these were some of my favorite non-philosophy moments. Even after Althusser’s murderous breakdown, Derrida (and others) continued to care for the man. One wonders how in today’s culture would view that care. Althusser’s mental illness does not excuse his actions. That’s not arguable. But Derrida’s (and others) compassion is an example of the best of humanity. Althusser’s guilt doesn’t become Derrida’s simply because Derrida makes grocery runs for the ill man. The fact that this friendship stuck out above the philosophical should show that An Event, Perhaps offers more than just ideas. It grounds the text in Derrida’s humanity.

As with any biography, drama abounds. As with any academic, the drama comes in the form of those who disagree with Derrida. I appreciated that An Event, Perhaps treated this drama as the intellectual disagreements they were. While hurt feelings and bad blood did exist, Salmon shows that Derrida didn’t hold grudges and tried to acknowledge those who he argued against. I knew about his disagreements with Michel Foucault but not that he and Jacques Lacan were at odds. These feuds, if you could call them that, give the text and life a feeling of the salacious without actually being salacious. Learning about these disagreements reminded me of one of my favorite quotes, “The politics of the university are so intense because the stakes are so low.” While the stakes weren’t low for the philosophers involved, neither were they life and death. I’m not proud, but I really enjoyed learning of these ‘feuds’ and Derrida’s reactions to them.

An Event, I Think

An Event, Perhaps covers a wide breadth of Derrida’s work. The reader gets to dip their toes into Derrida’s ideas. It’s a gateway book that will surely lead people to the dangers of deconstruction and post-modernism. This book conveyed a lot of his intellectual ideas in a way that I could understand, and more importantly it felt like an opening into the confusing world of deconstruction.
While I appreciated Salmon’s writing about Glas, he didn’t make the book sound appealing. Of course that’s not Salmon’s fault. I struggle with experimental writing in this vain. But after Salmon’s description, I have to wonder at what Derrida would have done with today’s media. What would have have done with YouTube or Twitter? Could he have made an interactive book as a website?

Conclusion

Peter Salmon’s An Event, Perhaps is a wonderful book. It’s an excellent biography, a fantastic introduction to Derrida’s work, and an overall worthy read. I know one day, it’ll make a good re-read for me. In An Event, Perhaps Peter Salmon has created an accessible biography that seamlessly weaves the personal with the philosophical.

An Event Perhaps by Peter Salmon will be published by Verso Books on October 13th, 2020.

8 out of 10!

I knew almost nothing about Derrida before reading this book. I found it to have enough academic content to be a "meaty" book to satisfy people who are serious about philosophy while being accessible to people with only a basic understanding (maybe one college course; I'd taken four) of philosophy. The author points up Derrida's oddness and brief life as well as his unique approach to philosophy. Good for people and libraries with an interest in modern philosophy and/or semi-academic 20th century biographies.