From Husserl to Artaud 1963–1964 143
ductive months in the year for him, when he needed to prepare his
lectures and write the articles or papers that people were starting to
request on all sides. So, in order to enjoy a bit of peace and quiet, he
would get up even earlier than during the rest of the year. He swal-
lowed a cup of coff ee, and started writing at 6 a.m., knocking off
for breakfast at around 9 a.m., then attempting to carry on working
until at least lunch, in spite of the noise and commotion around him.
At the beginning of August 1964, when Derrida was still exhausted
by the overwork of the previous months, Sollers repeated how much
he would like to publish an article by him in a forthcoming number
of Tel Quel. Derrida, who had ‘a great liking for Tel Quel’, had for
some months been thinking about a text which could be entitled
‘Writing (or the letter) from Hegel to Feuerbach’. But he was afraid
the text would be too long for a review.^50 Sollers liked the subject,
and would be happy to publish the text in two issues, so long as it
did not exceed fi fty or so pages in length. But he also asked Derrida
whether he might not have ‘something to say about Artaud’ for a
special issue he was preparing.
On 30 September, back in Paris, Derrida had to admit that the
text on writing had, unfortunately, got bogged down on his arrival
in Nice. He had only just got back to it, but thought he would not
be able to polish it off for quite a while. As for Artaud, Sollers’ letter
had rekindled the desire to re-read him, something he had not done
since his teens, and maybe to write something about him. ‘But here
too, I’d need time. My job will soon be making its presence felt.’^51
Two months later, in spite of his various classes and other profes-
sional obligations, the article on Artaud had made good progress;
it would be called ‘La parole souffl ée’. Derrida hoped to fi nish it
during the winter break.^52