I interpret Derrida's fear of writing, as simply him second guessing what he has written and then coming to terms with justification and getting over it. He says that he only has fear when he is going to sleep, and it seems not to bother him while he is writing so I believe that he feels completely comfortable with his work overall.
I experience some anxiety while I am writing, but I have more while I read through it after I am done. I tend to re-write and fix things, but am not confident if I should leave it alone or if I changed it too much. I also want to make sure that I write what I mean to say and not confuse my reader.
My fear is moviated by my lack of confidence, but as I write more and more for my writing class, I am begining to feel better. I am now have a book that can help with my grammar and punctuation which will help me gain some more confidence.
I believe that Derrida is very confident in his writing and does not ever write things that he doesn't mean to write, he gives his writing a power that he feels can be hurtful if not done properly, he also completely understands and enbraces that power, he takes it very seriously.
I agree with you about Derrida's fear of writing. In the video I felt that he was making his fear into an huge issue. I also feel that most writers have the same anxiety and fear about their own writing. I think Derrida was also afraid of offending or upsetting people. Although its understand, he has the right as an author to write his own beliefs and ideas.
ReplyDeleteNancy, it does seem that Derrida's fear of writing is quite over dramaticized because if he really felt that scared about his work then he would edit it and take out whatever he felt was controversial.. Having said that he is drama queen. I think that this is kind of a tool for him in a way to get us to have more confidence in his writing. If we are to believe in what he says then it only makes sense for him to want us to have confidence in him or we would not be reading his work at all. If a reader does not believe in what he is writing then he or she is a fake and their thoughts should not be taken seriously.
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