Is Deconstruction passé ???

Dear Students,

I 'really really badly badly' wish you read Professor Spivak’s latest ‘one-of-its-kind’ Interviews, that she gave to Steve Paulson recently.

PC: LARB

'An academic superstar - a prolific scholar and co-founder of the Institute for Comparative Literature and Society at Columbia University, now in her mid-70s, Spivak maintains the busy schedule of a globe-trotting intellectual'. Steve caught up with her shortly after she traveled to Lagos and before speaking engagements in London and Paris. Their chat ranged over a variety of subjects, on many things close to her heart: her translation of Derrida’s book, her views on her famous essay on the Subaltern, on deconstruction as critical intimacy NOT critical distance, on the hidden biases of the Western Intellectual tradition, on her studies, on her love for everything Indian, on wearing multiple hats, real education as an ethical practice, on her favourite theoretician Gramsci and finally on the crisis of the humanities today.

Well, as one of Spivak’s most ardent, craziest and devoted of fans, I find this interview quite a departure from her usual ‘ivory chair-types’, in that, this interview is simply ‘lovely’! [for want of a better word!]

A Gayatri Spivak is a Gayatri Spivak is a Gayatri Spivak Spivak Spivak! J

Do read this interview HERE,

and also

don’t forget to read HERE my transcript of her plenary talk in Assam, which I had the good fortune to be a part of, and transcribe it too!

In addition, you might also love reading Spivak’s wonderful article titled ‘Many Voices’ HERE.

I could find a lot of interesting correlations and ‘praxis-connect’ between the interview given to Steve and the talk that she gave in Assam. So here’s to you from Spivak’s Plenary talk.