At the Frontiers of the Institution 1991–1992 445
doing so, as it were, without any safety net.’^15 And Avital Ronell
confi rmed the importance of these moments:
Even if he devoted himself to it entirely, the seminar cor-
responded to a kind of quietude. All his obligations were in
abeyance. For two or three hours, he had the fl oor, and he
could speak as he wished. He showed an almost childish pride
in never stopping for a drink of water. And he refused to envis-
age any kind of break, which irritated me a bit. But he would
never have tolerated some people attending only the fi rst part,
or arriving only at the start of the second.^16Though Derrida felt comfortable at the École des Hautes Études,
he still dreamed of a place at the most prestigious of French
academic institutions: the Collège de France. Bergson, Valéry,
Merleau-Ponty, Lévi-Strauss, Foucault, Barthes, and many others
had taught there. It was the place for ‘consecrated heretics’, as
Bourdieu called it once – he himself had been professor there since
- In spite of his up-and-down relations with him, the author of
Distinction would have liked to ensure that Derrida was elected to
the Collège de France. But when he initially fl oated the idea in the
spring of 1990, at in informal meeting, he encountered stiff opposi-
tion. In search of allies, Bourdieu turned to Yves Bonnefoy, who
held the chair of poetics.
Bonnefoy and Derrida had known each other since at least 1968;
they had both been friends of Paul de Man, whom they felt was
scandalously little known in France. After pondering the matter,
Bonnefoy decided that the chances of success were high:
You have a few enemies in the place, but not so many, and it
would all depend on our scientists. Bourdieu himself aroused
some suspicions, as he knows, but less than he might believe.
So for my part I have high hopes, and I’ve told our friend that I
was ready to introduce you if he felt it was desirable. This could
reassure some of our colleagues.^17Derrida was very touched by this support. He feared that his can-
didacy might involve Yves Bonnefoy in many diffi culties, but he was
happy that the plan did not seem too desperate a venture. During
the autumn of 1990, preliminary negotiations were cautiously
pursued. Bonnefoy had made overtures to André Miquel, who was
apparently the best placed to weigh up the votes for and against
Derrida. If the result was favourable, Derrida could embark on
drawing up an offi cial application. Bonnefoy confi rmed that he was
ready to commit himself ‘completely (and happily)’ to defending