“In the Watermark of Some Margin”: Heidegger’s Other Gesture

This paper offers a reflection on the complicated relationship between Derrida and Heidegger, particularly as concerns the issue of difference in their respective thoughts. Taking one of Geschlecht III’s most stunning passages as my point of departure, I walk the reader through some of Derrida’s own remarks on his relationship to Heidegger, before arriving at the différend that seems to exist between them as regards the notion of difference itself. I argue that the margins of Heidegger’s text inscribe a quite radical thinking of difference not at all incompatible with Derridean différance. In conclusion, I turn to Heidegger’s “Anaximander Fragment” where, in the margins of Heidegger’s text, we find a marginal note that, given its content, could surely have been written by Derrida himself.

Reply to “Comments on ‘How Much Does the Upward Advection of the Supergradient Component of Boundary Layer Wind Contribute to Tropical Cyclone Intensification and Maximum Intensity?’”

This is a reply to the comments by Smith et al. (2020, hereafter SGM20) on the work of Li et al. (2020, hereafter LWL20) recently published in the Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences. All the comments and concerns by SGM20 have been well addressed or clarified. We think that most of the comments by SGM20 are not in line with the intention of LWL20 and provide one-sided and thus little scientifically meaningful arguments. Regarding the comment on the adequacy of the methodology adopted in LWL20, we believe that the design of the thought (sensitivity) experiment is adequate to address the scientific issue under debate and helps quantify the contribution by the upward advection of the supergradient component of boundary layer wind to tropical cyclone intensification, which is shown to be very marginal. Note that we are open to accept any alternative, better methods to be used to further address this scientific issue.

Eine merkwürdige griechische Randnotiz Überlegungen zum koptischen Kodexblatt Paris BNCopte164 II fol. 16m recto

A papyrus codex which contained the Sahidic version of the Gospel of John exhibits a highly interesting “marginal note”. On the bottom margin of one page (Paris BNCopte164 II fol. 16m) one finds traces of the beginning of five lines written in Greek in a cursive hand usually used in documentary papyri. A closer look at the Greek cursive suggests that these lines originally belonged to the text of a fifth-century protokollon.

Encore la note marginale de la première page du manuscrit de la Chanson de la croisade albigeoise

Edition of the erased marginal note of the first page of the manuscript of the Chanson de la croisade albigeoise (BnF fr. 25425). This note seems to indicate the name of the person responsible for the text as a whole, who is very likely the same as the – hitherto anonymous – author of the second part of the Chanson. It was probably added in order to correct the information given by the first lines of the text in this manuscript.

From Conversion to Ritual Murder: Re-Contextualizing the Circumcision Charge

In the 1230s, Christian authorities prosecuted Norwich Jews on charges of having seized and circumcised a five-year-old boy in an effort to convert him to Judaism. In the same decade, English chroniclers began to depict this case as an attempted ritual murder. According to Roger Wendover and Matthew Paris, Jews circumcised the boy with the intention of crucifying him at Easter. This article explores what the near simultaneous development of these two intriguing and seemingly disparate narratives suggests about thirteenth-century Christian perceptions and portrayals of circumcision. In so doing, it ushers research on medieval Christian attitudes toward circumcision into new spheres, deepens understandings of thirteenth-century Christian anxieties about conversion to Judaism, and brings to light a marginal note in the autograph copy of Matthew Paris’ Chronica majora that may constitute evidence of evolving Christian views of the relationship between the bodies of Jews’ alleged victims and the body of Christ.

Cush will come to Zion with a tribute (Isaiah 18:7)

In this chapter, 18:1-2, 4-6 is identified as the original poem against Cush inherited by the supposed late-exilic redactor who added v 7 at the end of the poem. Verse 3 was originally a marginal note on 17:12-14 written in the post-exilic period which was mistakenly copied into the verse’s current position. The only intentional secondary addition made to the original oracle against Cush is v 7 where one finds some points of contact with chs 40-55. Verse 7 foretells that the Cushites who were stricken by YHWH in the past will one day acknowledge his sovereignty and bring tributary gifts to Zion. The future restoration of a once afflicted people, their journey to Zion, and various connections with chs 40-55 all suggest that 18:7 is a continuation of the same vision first set out in 14:1-2.

Der Briefbericht des Frater Simon über den Fall von Konstantinopel 1453

Although claiming the authority of an eye-witness account, frater Simon’s letter is almost certainly a ficticious description of the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks in 1453. This presumed lack of authenticity has obviously prompted modern scholarship for a long time to be oblivious to this contemporary and exclusive source on the events, preferring well-known and reliable sources such as Leonard of Chios and Isidore of Kiev. However, since frater Simon’s letter has survived in two different versions and ten manuscripts from the 15th century, it is clearly more than a marginal note. Rather is it a remarkable contribution to the literary treatment of the Turkish threat and timeless moral instruction.With his portrayal of the pagan Mehmed II as a just ruler, the recurring moral instructions and the lack of a call to arms. Simon’s text stands out against themyriad of more or less contemporary depictions. In preparation for a critical edition the paper gives an analysis of the text and an overview of the extant manuscripts.