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An asemic reading of Jacques Derrida’s The Post-Card: From Socrates to Freud and Beyond views the text as a visual open-signifier where semantic legibility collapses into the raw materiality of the trace. Asemic writing is a wordless, open semantic form of writing that has no specific conceptual content, meaning it is readable through its visual forms and gestures rather than parsed for vocabulary. [1, 2]
Analyzing The Post-Card through an asemic lens reveals that the text operates not as a stable vessel of philosophical meaning, but as a graphic performance of deconstruction.
1. The Postcard Image as an Asemic Matrix
The foundational anchor of the book is a real postcard Derrida found at the Bodleian Library, depicting an illustration of Plato standing behind a seated Socrates. [1, 2]
- The Reversal of Signs: In the image, Socrates holds the stylus (writing), while Plato points an index finger (dictating or reading). This upends the historical consensus that Socrates spoke and Plato wrote.
- The Gesture Over Meaning: Viewed asemically, the illustration strips both philosophers of their canonical texts. We do not see what they are writing; we only see the act and physical choreography of writing. The image functions as an asemic glyph—a representation of inscription that frustrates the reader's ability to extract an authorized message.
2. The "Envois" as Blank Spaces and Postcards
The first section of the book, "Envois" (Sendings), consists of a series of love letters written on the backs of these postcards. [1]
- The Materiality of the Inscription: Derrida explicitly foregrounds the physical limitations of the medium. The text is shaped by the borders of the cardboard, the presence of the stamp, and the address line.
- The Fifty-Two Blank Pages: Crucially, large blocks of text are explicitly cut or omitted, replaced by blank spaces and silent markers. In asemic art, the space around the scribble is as expressive as the line itself. These blank enclosures reject verbal communication, operating instead as a visual grid of "absolute drift," where meaning is endlessly deferred and never arrives.
3. The Graphic Performance of Différance
Asemic writing is the purest expression of Derrida's concept of the trace and différance (the concept that meaning is both inherently different and perpetually deferred). [1, 2, 3]
- The Unreadable Script: Because an asemic mark mimics the handwriting of a language without carrying its code, it forces the viewer to confront the physical shape of writing.
- The Open Horizon: Derrida’s epistolary style in The Post-Card mirrors this. The letters are addressed to an anonymous, shifting "you," making it impossible for an outside reader to ground the context. The text ceases to function as traditional literature and instead becomes a sprawling, abstract web of lines. It is an indexical gesture toward a communication that is always failing to deliver its parcel. [1, 2, 3]
4. Telecommunication and the Scattered Mark
Derrida obsesses over the vulnerabilities of the postal network: postcards can be intercepted, misread, lost, or destroyed. [1, 2, 3]
- Destinerrancy: This is Derrida's term for the inherent possibility that a letter will never reach its destination.
- The Asemic Mutation: When a letter is stripped of its sender, its receiver, and its definitive context, it is functionally rendered asemic. It transforms from a targeted semantic message into an aesthetic object floating through space. The text of The Post-Card mimics this destination failure, forcing the reader to abandon the search for a singular, coherent thesis. Instead, we are left to look at the writing rather than through it. [1, 2, 3]
Summary Table: Semantic vs. Asemic Interpretations
| Textual Element [1, 2, 3] | Traditional Semantic View | Asemic View |
|---|---|---|
| Socrates & Plato Picture | An inversion of the historical lineage of Western philosophy. | A graphic icon depicting the abstract, non-verbal performance of writing. |
| The "Envois" Letters | A philosophical romance and critique of psychoanalysis. | A visual grid of fragmented text blocks and expressive blank spaces. |
| Postal Metaphor | The structure of communication and institutional transfer. | The fragmentation and drift of signs when stripped of their semantic code. |
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