Faute de frappe: Derrida’s typos

“I type very quickly, very badly, with many errors [ fautes],” Jacques Derrida confessed in a late interview. This paper proposes that the typographical error – usually viewed as a mere “accident” – may in fact be understood as a productive site for deconstructive reading and thought. Drawing on Nietzsche’s suggestion that the typewriter acts as a “collaborator” in thinking, this paper examines Derrida’s use of the typewriter, with particular attention to his typos. Following Derrida’s reading in the Geschlecht series and his own typographical practice, this paper argues that the typo should be thought of as the condition of possibility of every type – and as a defining difference between Derrida and Heidegger.