Deconstruction: Contrast between the Antagonists

So that's where I wanted to end Act One, with that voiceover by Foucault. It only took eight months!

All the principal elements and characters we need for the story are present. We have established the basic story arc, which is the conflict between Derrida and Lévi-Strauss at the Baltimore Conference,

We will add many details later. For the moment, let's stipulate that we are going to go with the idea I expresssed, to have Derrida fly in at latest on Monday night, and not the morning of the conference. That was not realistic, and we found that we need to change it, so it should be good. Perhaps we will even move it earlier, if we need.

But a few clarifications are needed. .

Let's have Lévi-Strauss arriving on the same flight. We need to highlight the difference between the two men. Let's have Macksey at the airport gate, with a graduate assistant or two, waiting for Lévi-Strauss, and then immediately surrounding him and shepherding him off as he arrives. Derrida comes in ignored, amidst the air hostesses. Macksey is attentive to Lévi-Strauss like the Frenchman is a visiting dignitary. Lévi-Strauss is the guest of honor of the conference. Macksey catches sight of Derrida in the midst of the chaos, and tending to L-S, but he is helpless to attract the attention of the other man, with everything else he needs to do.

Now we see Derrida alone in the airport. Let him see De Man (First Colleague) inside the airport diner eating alone, and Derrida is who goes in, and puts his arm around him at the counter, and De Man gets up and they embrace as friends. He points out Miller (Second Colleague) who is on the pay phone, and who comes over to eat with them. Let everything else about the scene be the same, including the "Raw and the Cooked" and the Baltimore cops.

Later we will see Macksey introduces L-S (and perhaps his wife who came with him?) to the guest house where he will be staying during the conference. It's a perfect little garden house with flowers outside. Later in the evening we will see a celebratory dinner given by Macksey and the Johns Hopkins Humanitites Center in honor of L-S. It is in Mackey's house, at a large table, which is crowded with the other French Structuralists who have already arrived. Among them is certainly Georges Poulet, who makes a toast to L-S, and they join in. Later in the conversation, Poulet is holding forth. Macksey has invited one of his graduate students---perhaps the young woman we have mentioned in the photo-shot scene. The graduate student, during a pause in Poulet's monologue, says, "Proust!" as if it comes her mind.

Poulet grins big, looks at her, holding up finger, "Proust! Oui! Exactemment!"


Also, since Derrida is arriving in the evening, we will need to see him in his hotel. I picture lying on his bed, the window opening. I see a paperback copy of a book. He is reading it or it is on the night stand.  For the moment, let's go with The Deer Park by Norman Mailer. He is alone in his room.