In Support of Philosophy 1973–1976 271
phallus as “privileged signifi er” (Lacan)’.^14 This was a major issue,
since feminism was at this time making major theoretical advances.
Luce Irigaray – whose books Speculum of the Other Woman and This
Sex Which is Not One caused quite a stir in 1974 – did not conceal
what she owed to Derrida in her attempt to think feminine sexuality
in terms other than those prescribed by the economy of phallic power
and the Freudian tradition. The book The Newly Born Woman, pub-
lished by Catherine Clément and Hélène Cixous in 1975, developed
similar themes. Between Derrida and what would soon be known
as ‘feminine studies’ a real alliance was established. His relationship
with Sylviane Agacinski surely played a part.
This period, immensely busy on the French scene, was also the time
when Derrida’s American career really started to take off. Until
now, Derrida had stayed in Baltimore for only two long periods
in 1968 and 1971. The rest of the time, he organized a seminar in
Paris with a group of students from Johns Hopkins and Cornell. A
third stay of over two months in Baltimore had been scheduled for
1974, but Derrida had declined it the year before, explaining that
insurmountable obstacles prevented him from going:
These are mainly diffi culties to do with school: the children’s,
fi rst and foremost. Pierre has just started at the lycée and Jean
at ‘big school’, and in each case we have been warned about the
consequences of an absence of three months from school. And
it would be too psychologically painful for me to be separated
from them for such a long time. There is my school too: they
have made no bones about the fact that my many absences
(trips to give lectures or classes, especially when they last a
while) were not to the taste of the management and students of
the École – especially since one of my colleagues, Althusser, is
often ill and has, as the result of a serious relapse, just had to
leave the École to be hospitalized; no one can as yet be sure how
long he will be away.^15Derrida assured his correspondent that this decision was a very
tough one, since he had excellent memories of his previous times
at Johns Hopkins and had made many friends there. As he would
probably not be able to go for the next few years, he recommended
that they invite Lucette Finas in his stead, a suggestion that met
with a lukewarm response. The real situation seemed a little more
complicated than he had stated. In a letter to Paul de Man, Derrida
said that he wished to have a talk about all this with him, since his
relations with Johns Hopkins had been ‘making [him] feel awkward
for some time’.^16 He probably did not have a real counterpart on the
campus. Paul de Man immediately grabbed this opportunity and,