100 Jackie 1930–1962
to take part in this unjust war and tolerate his captain’s support for
continued French rule in Algeria, Coco hoped to be appointed to
Koléa, but could hardly dare to believe this would happen. He told
Jackie he was ready to teach French, or even German, if there was
no post available in history and geography. In fact, he would even
agree to ‘sweep the classrooms if it means being in Koléa’.^13 On 15
September, his appointment was offi cially declared: abandoning the
uniform and constraints of military life, he returned to Koléa on the
25th, teaching the same pupils as his old cothurne.
For a year, Lucien Bianco, his wife ‘Taktak’, and their baby
daughter Sylvie would share the same house as the Derridas, eating
at the same table in the mess, some distance away from the offi c-
ers. This did not prevent relations with them from being very tense.
Another conscript who had attended classes with Derrida in Fort-
de-l’Eau, unable to bear the conversation of the ‘ultras’ a moment
longer, got up with his plate one day and went over to the table of
the Derridas and the Biancos. ‘This way, at least, I’ve made things
clear,’ he shouted.
In Paris, the situation evolved rapidly. The referendum of 28
September asked the French to ratify the Constitution of the Fifth
Republic: it went through with a ‘yes’ vote of nearly 82 per cent. A
few weeks later, parliamentary elections took place. Still registered
in Paris, Derrida asked Louis Althusser to vote for him by proxy,
even though they did not share the same opinions. The two men
wrote to each other in a manner implicit or metaphorical enough
to get past censorship. Althusser merely explained that he would
do ‘whatever was necessary’: ‘I’ll vote for who you tell me in the
fi rst round. And if he has to withdraw before the second round, I’d
follow your instructions. I hope you’re still in the teaching body,
and that now that it’s autumn the atmosphere has become less
stormy. Tell me what the weather forecasts are saying.’^14 And a
few weeks later, he assured him: ‘You have voted as you wished...
Here is your card.’ But the end of the letter shows that their politi-
cal tendencies were diff erent: ‘In spite of this, I wish you a Merry
Christmas and assure you of my faithful friendship.’^15
On 21 December 1958, General de Gaulle became the fi rst
President of a Fifth Republic that had been tailor-made for him.
The closeness of the Derrida and Bianco couples made the follow-
ing months much less diffi cult. They were preoccupied by the war
and spent hours listening to the radio and reading the papers. Every
week, Jackie and Lucien went together to buy France-Observateur.
The bookstore in Koléa ordered just two copies, and they wondered
who on earth the other buyer could be: many considered this weekly
publication to be anti-French, and they had to remain very dis-
creet. The Biancos and Derridas often read the same books: Doctor