Although the daytime is still so hot that I had to try to stay comfortable with my half-sleeve shirt, in the evening times I find it is getting chilly eventually, which means the seasons are moving from summer to autumn. This morning, I went to a library to borrow something (as you might know, for me visiting this library means enjoying shopping for fresh vegetables or fruits in any supermarket), and found Jacques Derrida's book "Monolingualism of the Other". TBH, I have never read Derrida's books so decided to borrow it.
At AEON, I started reading that Derrida's book and (although, Derrida's style was too abstract/difficult for me to enjoy its content) found it was about the relationship between one's identity and their language. For example, I am Japanese and speak the Japanese language. However, can this language be called/treated as my own? Thinking about this with Derrida's very sensitive/gentle discussion, I find that it can be so "political" for me because the fact of my speaking Japanese can be given by outer factor I couldn't have controlled (but I have to say this... I could have misunderstood/misread this book even though it is very interesting for me).
Even though I am too foolish to understand Derrida's strict discussion in this book, I find that inside me these languages (for me, I speak Japanese and English) must exist as the materials the world afforded from outside there. I will read this book again and again like Wittgenstein's works to question the relationship between my identity and languages as a mission/lifework of mine.
After having dinner, I attended a Zoom meeting with my friends. There, we shared our funny stories and useful pieces of information about each one's life (I talked about the manga I have been into, Tokiko Komaki's manga "My Leisurely Language Diary"), and also talked about the coming Japanese movie "Route 29" which had been once made in our town by using its drive-in ("Route 29" means the national roadway which goes through our town). After that, even though I wanted to think about the next presentation I would do at the end of this month, I got very sleepy and therefore gave up. This says I am already not young.
