It wouldn’t be right to note the passing of Professor Derrida without also paying tribute to another public figure who died this week — a man whose influence on the intelligensia was far more profound (and certainly more comprehensible): Rodney Dangerfield. His reading from James Joyce’s Ulysses in the movie Back To School is surely one of the finest literary renditions ever recorded. We’ll miss you, Rodney.
7 thoughts on “Nothing But Respect”
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Dangerfield’s work will endure long after Derrida’s is deconstructed.
A great man. a great American. He always had my respect and my love.
A great man. a great American. He always had my respect and my love.
I forgot to sign my comment. my appologies.
He always made me laugh. Rodney will indeed be missed.
BTW, wasn’t it Dylan Thomas rather than James Joyce? Great movie.
It was Dylan Thomas. I just saw this again on TV a couple of days ago. No doubt it was played as a tribute to his passing.
I was actually remembering the scene where he yells, “yes, yes,” in class after his English professor reads from Ulysses, not the part where he does the Dylan Thomas poem as a part of his final exam (which is also inspired). But come to think of it, in the Ulysses scene, the English prof is the one who does the reading, not Dangerfield; Dangerfield’s role in the scene is simply imagining himself making out with her on a blanket in a field of wildflowers as she reads.