BUILDING UP DECONSTRUCTIONISM

At Barnard College, a group of academics remembered the life and work of French philosopher and literary theorist Jacques Derrida, who died last month.

Barnard professor Serge Gavronsky was the memorial’s principal organizer. Speakers included another Barnard professor, Keith Moxey; Mary Ann Caws of the CUNY Graduate Center; Michael Beaujour and Avital Ronell of New York University; Eduardo Cadava of Princeton University, who studies the 19th-century trade in guano, a substance used as fertilizer; and Jean-Michael Rabate of the University of Pennsylvania.

In his remarks, Michael Beaujour said Derrida was among the three people who most filled him with awe. He said no matter what field one explored- linguistics, semiotics, psychoanalysis, epistemology – “there you met” Derrida, who was “already ahead of us.”

Mr. Beaujour recalled a class Derrida taught in his native tongue at NYU’s Maison Francaise. His French was precise, logical, subtle, “absolutely staggering,” and “quasi-Talmudic.” By contrast, he recalled one of Derrida’s public talks, about which Mr. Beaujour said, to audience laughter, “The lecture was in something like English.”

Taylor Carman, who co-edited “The Cambridge Companion to Merleau-Ponty,” is at work on a general introduction to that French phenomenologist’s work.

At the event, Mr. Carman asked, “What kind of philosopher was Derrida?” He also asked that the audience ponder “what kind of non-philosopher” Derrida was.

Mr. Carman cautioned installing Derrida in a pantheon of greats, as he was “suspicious of such gestures.” Derrida was a scrupulous observer, Mr. Carman said, and a careful reader; he exposed instabilities in texts by such authors as Hegel. Derrida’s painstaking textual observation made him rather skeptical.

Ms. Caws recalled his visiting lectures at the CUNY Graduate Center, which were “mind-boggling.” Derrida, she said, showed the freedom to look at texts differently.

In those years, she said, there were signs around the hallways that were put up that read “Algerian go home.” “I ripped them off the wall,” but he probably saw some.

Keith Moxey spoke on Derrida and art history. Derrida’s contribution has led to challenging the practice of connoisseurship and notions of style. His work has mounted challenges to art historical practice, he said.

Mr. Rabate recalled a humorous anecdote about Derrida writing nonstop – even while at the wheel during his commute to Paris from the suburb where he lived, Ris-Orangis. Praising Derrida, he recalled his uncanny ability to relate to so many different fields of inquiry.

Ms. Ronell said she was still numb and dumbstruck at his loss. On his intellectual daring, she said he put himself “always at risk.”

“Jacques Derrida was never against the Enlightenment,” she added. He was “not going to position himself against the Enlightenment, since it never had arrived.”

Concluding the moving tribute, Mr. Gavronsky closed by describing Derrida as follows: “I take him as a poet – a major poet.”

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FILM FOCUS

The Knickerbocker caught up with the people behind the film “Master of the Game” (Sunn Classic Pictures), in which a Jew stands up to his Nazi captors. Tony Award-winning Broadway producer Stewart F. Lane and actress Bonnie Comley hosted a reception for the film at their Upper West Side home.

The movie stars the talented Uygar Aktan, who also wrote the screenplay and is one of the producers. Also in the film is Alex Affolter, who has previously co-starred in three of Mr. Aktan’s plays.

The movie has cosmopolitan origins. The Turkish Mr. Aktan met Dutch-born Mr. Affolter in Greece. “I’m from Holland but don’t particularly feel Dutch,” Mr. Affolter told the Knickerbocker.

Mr. Aktan is the son of a diplomat and studied in a private German school in Turkey before living in Greece. The film, which was directed by Jeff Stolhand, was shot in Austin, Texas. Mr. Aktan said that it resonates with non-Jews as well as Jews, addressing issues such as identity, tolerance, and difference.

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TRAIN TALK

“I jumped with joy when I received my acceptance letter in July,” said Carolyn Jordan. She is one of the 73 vendors chosen from a pool of more than 400 applicants to participate in the Grand Central Terminal Holiday Fair opening today in Vanderbilt Hall and running until Christmas Eve. Ms. Jordan, who sells charming handmade bread-dough Christmas tree ornaments, is one of the few original vendors fortunate to be called back for each of the Fair’s seven years.

Lynda Diamond sells her hats to the Museum of Arts and Design on West 54th Street, and has a booth in the Grand Central Terminal Holiday Fair for the fourth year.

“I’m an artist but I sell hats that I design or crochet in order to make a living. I’ve sold 40 to 50 hats in one day here in the past, and my product is high-end, not inexpensive, because the quality is so good. This is my favorite market.” she said.

Children’s clothing is sold at the Paradis Found booth. “I design and make the children’s items from vintage camp blankets and vintage chenille blankets from the ’40s and ’50s. Look, all the tots’ hats are reversible,” said Dana Paradis, who is enjoying a third season at the Fair.

Participation may be an honor, but it comes at no small price. This year the fee for a booth is $10,000 to the craftsmen and artisans for the privilege to sell for four weeks in one of the city’s most central and populous locations.

Sunday and Monday the vendors were busy at work setting up their booths with the help of Gerard Fortunato, a Local 1 stagehand union worker hired by Grand Central to help the vendors. “I construct sets for Broadway plays such as ‘Dracula’, ‘White Christmas’ and ‘The Lion King,'” he said. “This is a great change for me because it’s fun, easy, and different.”

“A half million people come through here every day – that’s the size of Cleveland walking through our doors daily,” said Paul Kastner, a vice president at Jones Lang LaSalle, the retail managers of Grand Central Terminal. “This is a one-stop spot for shopping, grocery-purchasing, and dining,” he added.

“The main concourse is the world’s largest room, often called ‘The People’s Cathedral,’ said Mr. Kastner. “CBS had television studios in Grand Central where the present tennis courts are, and Jackie Gleason shot his TV series there. Look at the unevenness of the floors in Vanderbilt Hall where the booths are. For over 100 years that was a large and popular waiting room with people constantly walking in and out. Their path marks have indented the marble floor. At the end of the waiting room were quite grand restrooms, during the heyday of train travel. People alighted from a long train ride and went directly to the restroom to shower, have their hair done by a stylist or barber, and get a manicure, makeup, or shave. I guess they wanted to enter New York looking as well-groomed as possible after a long journey.”