Collaboration Peter Hill and J.J. Voss (Photographer)
S U P E R F I C T I O N S
Mensonge
A little known French philosopher whose biography was written by Malcolm Bradbury.
The following quote from this great work sums up its tone:
"As Francois Mitterand was heard to say the other day, teasing at a shrimp vol-au-vent
at some Quay d'Orsay reception to do with the Channel Tunnel,'Aujourd'hui, mes amis,
et les anglais, nous sommes tous de necessite structuralistes.'
"And we may take it Mitterand's statement was true, or as true as true is in a time when,
thanks to deconstruction , truth is very much an open question. For it is quite certain
that these two separate yet related tendencies (structuralism and deconstruction )
are our philosophy, our condition, our crisis and our promise, and we cannot say nay
to them. Whether we realise it or not, they dominate the flavour of life and thinking
in the last quarter of the 20th century just as existentialism did in the third quarter.
They are, in the realm of cognition, what Texas is to California in the realm of growth
potential and property values, but with the added advantage of not being directly oil
related. Where existentialism was intense and heavy, strong on plight and anguish,
structuralism-deconstruction , in keeping with the times, is clean absurdism or cool
philosophy; it is laid back, requires no weighty black gear, and goes very well with
Perrier water and skiing."
