Derrida first saw France in 1949 , as he arrived at the
bustling port of Marseilles, full then as now with lively, and
partly illicit, street life. It was the first time he had ever been
away from his home in El Biar, apart from day trips with his
family to Algerian towns. By the time he reached Paris, home-
sickness hit him with unremitting force.
The nineteen-year-old Derrida tried to adjust to life in
Paris. He “was sick all the time... on the edge of a nervous
breakdown,” as he later recalled (Points 342 ). The competitive
examinations for entry to higher levels of schooling, so char-
acteristic of the French system, were “monstrous torture” to
him. If he failed, he would be forced to return to Algeria, a
place that he now found “unbearable” (Points 343 ). Derrida’s
initial homesickness had faded, giving way to absorption in his
daunting schoolwork.
During these early years in France, Derrida was fre-
quently exhausted and sleepless, afflicted by the stress that ac-
companies youthful ambition within a rigid, hierarchical sys-
tem. He began to take sleeping pills and amphetamines, which
exacerbated his despondent, frantic moods. (Sartre was also a
heavy user of amphetamines, then widely available over the
counter and popular among overworked students.)
Jackie Derrida was now enrolled in the unique French in-
stitution known as the hypokhâgne,a boarding school that
prepares teenage students intending to compete for admission
to the École Normale Supérieure. The boarding house where
Jackie lived was crowded and depressing. Things weren’t much
better after he started at the ENS. He stayed for a year near the
Place Maubert in the heart of the Latin Quarter, in a tiny
maid’s room without running water (Counterpath 291 ).
The École Normale, concentrated in the rue d’Ulm, oc-
cupies the narrow streets of the Latin Quarter. Its looming,
cramped buildings can have an oppressive air. These stone
From Algeria to the École Normale 23