It goes without saying that political correctness is not the only thing that makes parody difficult these days. There are also the excesses of academic culture. New York University is generally regarded as a reasonably serious educational institution; anyway, it certainly charges its students as if it were. What are we to make, then, of the fact that this “private university in the public service” (NYU’s motto) declared October “Derrida Month” after the French deconstructionist and part-time NYU faculty member Jacques Derrida? When we first saw the flyer announcing the month-long series of symposia, lectures, films, hommages, and general exercises in hagiography, we thought perhaps it was some sort of hoax. But no, it is meant earnestly if not, exactly, seriously. On October 16, for example, one could attend “Face to Face with Deconstruction,” in which Joonsung Yoon was scheduled to deliver “Seeing ...

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