JD19

Description

"The Traumatic Event of Derrida's Time"

This paper begins with Derrida’s statement that “every event as such is traumatic.” The peculiar temporality of trauma is well known and much discussed, but the focus in this article is not so much on the time of trauma but on the trauma of time so as to consider what a Derridean understanding of trauma might tell us about Derridean time. The key phrase appears toward the end of Derrida’s “Typewriter Ribbon”: “By reason of […] unforeseeability, […] every event as such is traumatic. Even an event experienced as a ‘happy’ one. This does, I concede, confer on the word ‘trauma’ a generality that is as fearsome as it is extenuating. […] An event is traumatic or it does not happen, does not arrive” (159). In other words, the unforeseeable event is that which distinguishes the future to come (l’avenir) from the anticipated future. Effectively, therefore, in order for the future to happen, every moment must be event-ful or nothing other than what is expected could occur; the “present” is always surprising, throws a curveball, or exceeds expectations. But if every “present” is event-ful, and every event is traumatic, then every “present” is traumatic. “Time,” this paper argues, is traumatic.

Period	2019
Event type	Seminar
Location	Klagenfurt, AustriaShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International