12 Postcards and Proofs 1979–1981
At the symposium on the work of Peter Szondi held in Paris on 23
June 1979, Derrida met someone whose importance would soon
become apparent. He related it immediately, in one of the ‘Envois’
of The Post Card:
On the way out, diverse presentations. ‘With you, one can no
longer present oneself,’ a young American (I think) woman says
to me. She gives me to understand that she has read (before me,
therefore, she was just coming from the US), ‘Moi, la psychana-
lyse’, in which I let play, in English, the so-diffi cult-to-translate
vocabulary of presentation, of presentations, of ‘introductions’,
etc. As I was insisting on getting her name (insisting is too
strong), she said ‘Metaphysics’, and refused to add a single
word. I found this little game rather clever and I felt, through
the insignifi cant frivolity of the exchange, that she had gone
rather far (I was told afterward that she was a ‘Germanist’).^1Avital Ronell tells the story rather diff erently:
I’d come to this conference with my friend Gisèle Celan-
Lestrange, Celan’s widow. At that time, my status was unclear:
I was still something of a student, even though I’d already
begun teaching. I wasn’t prepared for this meeting, on that day.
I didn’t think there would be so few of us in the hall. During
the break, Derrida came over to me and asked me who I was.
I don’t know why I replied: ‘But... don’t you recognize me?’
He gazed at me in embarrassment. ‘Er... no, I don’t think so.’
I insisted. ‘Really? But that’s not very nice. I’m metaphysics.’
I was staging myself like an eff ect of his text. He was dumb-
struck, a bit lost: ‘So, you’re metaphysics.. .?’ I’d been hoist by
my own petard, and more or less obliged to carry on with the
game. I added something like: ‘Yes, and I don’t much like the
way you’ve been treating me up until now.. .’^2