Nome di Derrida

Although Jackie Derrida had a deep interest in the hidden meanings of proper names, he never left us a satisfactory deconstruction of his own name. This article therefore attempts to fill this gap by examining – in a Derridean way – the name “Jackie”, whose etymology refers to the sphere of subversion. In order to achieve that, the paper takes into account two other characters from Jewish history named “Jackie” – the biblical Jacob and Jacob Frank –, who entertain an ambivalent relationship with the notion of sovereignty and embody a paradoxical coincidence of rebelliousness and obedience. The contribution then argues that – in a manner not unlike his namesakes – Derrida rejects the classical definition of power and shows the double-bind of operative de facto sovereignty and ineffectual de jure sovereignty. In conclusion, it is suggested that deconstructing the name “Jackie” helps illustrate the incompatibility of the Greek category of archè with Jewish spirituality.