French Theory, if anything a synthesis, has been mistranslated, misunderstood, misinterpreted, and misaligned, and Americans in general have missed the point, if not the boat.
French Theory is characterized as like a new language that many students and professors alike have been loathe to learn for various reasons. Its detractors and the press generally have been so vehement as to suggest preemptive strike. The editors, having been publishers of many of these writers, are clearly sympathetic, but are ironic rather than defensive. While French Theory as a fad may be a dead issue, many of the issues have already been absorbed, or as in the case of Deleuze, have yet to be considered.
Aspects of this attitude pervade from the first essay by Derrida, who bemusedly refers to the impossible work of deconstruction that should have died, but is still around, to the final supplement which looks back at the Sokal hoax, returned in sequel form, but still plagued with postmodern problems like: What is the purpose and point of this fraudulent entry? The very indeterminacy of meaning of the whole affair, over and above the fake text itself, actually reinforces the conceptuality associated with the author of the first essay, Derrida...
