The great French thinkers have not gone anywhere (From Left Bank to left behind, Review, 13 June). It is the complacent dismissal by those such as Sudhir Hazareesingh of Jacques Derrida and Jean Baudrillard as “indulging in abstract word games” that prevents the consideration of the profound relevance of critiques precisely by those such as Derrida and Baudrillard to today’s politics; a politics defined by a crony capitalism committed to a denial of Derrida and Baudrillard’s readings (albeit each in their own ways) of the implications of perspective and textuality. “Sweeping grand theories”, as Derrida above all demonstrated, are the problem, not the solution.
Karín Lesnik-Oberstein
Professor of critical theory, University of Reading
