The Territories of Deconstruction 1984–1986 367
published the proceedings of the conference on ‘The Ends of Man’
in 1981 and, perfectly naturally, two years later, the text of the paper
Derrida had given on that occasion, ‘On a newly arisen apocalyptic
tone in philosophy’. But something quite diff erent was now at stake.
As Derrida wrote to Jean-Luc Nancy, Delorme was proposing to
take over the whole series ‘La philosophie en eff et’, in better condi-
tions than could be off ered by Flammarion. He said that he was
prepared to publish, without further discussion, four books per
year, except for collective works or very big volumes, which would
need to be negotiated case by case. Derrida wished to discuss this
as soon as possible with Kofman, Nancy, and Lacoue-Labarthe.
Personally, he could see ‘only advantages to this move, which would
also be a homecoming’.^36
The three co-directors agreed with Derrida’s analysis. And the
move soon came about: on 15 July 1985, Charles-Henri Flammarion
acknowledged, without bitterness, their wish to bring to an end the
series which they had been running at Flammarion.
I understand and endorse this decision, and I would like to
thank you for the work of refl ection and publication that you
have undertaken and entrusted to us. Admittedly, this work
has encountered a few diffi culties, to which the solution has
not always been adequate. [.. .] The fact remains that these
ten years will have made it possible to publish some important
works that have left their mark, or are destined to do so, on
the fi eld of philosophy. It is also true that the intellectual situ-
ation, as well as the current state of publishing, has altered, and
perhaps calls for new ideas.^37For Derrida himself, over and above the series, the move to
Galilée was more than just a detail. A real relationship of trust and
complicity soon sprang up between himself and Michel Delorme.
Galilée was the polar opposite of the big publishing houses – the
very model of a ‘counter-institution’ of the kind Derrida liked, a
space of freedom where he could publish what he wanted, as he
wanted, at an increasingly sustained speed. Admittedly, Delorme
was not really a reader, let alone a partner in philosophical discus-
sions, but this was probably not what Derrida was looking for.
In the remarkable catalogue of human sciences that Galilée was
about to produce, his work was indubitably the centre: some forty
or so books by him would be published between 1986 and 2004.
But Derrida was in good company. As well as Kofman, Nancy,
Lacoue-Labarthe, and all the writers given a home in their series,
Galilée published several fi ne authors such as Étienne Balibar, Jean
Baudrillard, André Gorz, Jean-François Lyotard, Paul Virilio, and
many others.