8 Towards Independence 1960–1962
The Derridas quickly found an apartment in Fresnes, in Val-de-
Marne, very close to Orly airport. It was a four-room fl at in a
brand-new block on the way to Versailles. Marguerite, who had
resumed her studies in ethnology, was about to begin a one-year
apprenticeship in the basement of the Musée de l’Homme, then start
a thesis with André Leroi-Gourhan on the particular features of the
liturgy of the Sephardim of Algiers, especially the funeral rites she
had observed during the two years she had spent in Koléa.^1
As for Jackie, he was still feeling low in spirits and dreaded
having to take up his new post. ‘I didn’t know the year had ended so
badly for you, like some of the dark days of the fi rst years in Paris,’
Michel Monory wrote.^2 Fortunately, the new academic year did
not start until 24 October, which gave him a bit of time to prepare
his lectures. As the sole assistant in general philosophy, Derrida
was working under several professors. The burden of work was
considerable and he was soon ‘caught up in the absurd whirlpool of
teaching and Paris. Ever since October, I’ve been so busy I’ve hardly
have time to draw breath, without a moment to pause and live life.’^3
Anything more than the essential work, which was already substan-
tial, seemed too much for him. And commuting between Fresnes
and Paris was less easy than he had hoped.
All the same, compared with his year in Le Mans, the change for
the better was considerable. Once the eff ects of his depression had
started to fade, Derrida appreciated his new job at its true worth.
‘Of those four years,’ he later said in 1992, ‘all I can remember is
this: I was happy teaching then, more than I’ve ever been in higher
education since.’^4 In fact, this was the only truly university job he
would ever have in France. In one of his last texts, a homage to Paul
Ricoeur written for the Cahier de l’Herne devoted to the latter, he
looked back on that period at the Sorbonne:
In those days, the assistants occupied a strange place, which
it’s diffi cult to imagine now. I was the only assistant in ‘general