Dead Theorists

Jean Baudrillard died today. My first reaction, as it has been for the recent deaths of other great thinkers and theorists (such as Jacques Derrida), was surprise that he was still alive (until, well, quite recently). I guess I don't think of theorists as actual people, but rather, as abstract intellects from whom fascinating, earth-changing ways of looking at the world flow. I think it also has something to do with a timelessness I associate with academics and university in general — who knows how old some of our professors really are? Some seem older, some seem younger (including the much-missed Bruce Stovel), and some seem eternal (Prof. Gordon-Craig, who taught Bailey's father in grad school).

Other "I didn't know he was still alive" deaths:

• Jacques Derrida: Oct. 2004
  
• Edward Said: Sept. 2003
  
• Pierre Bourdieu: Jan. 2002
  

But, as I gird myself (gird! hee!) for the arrival of a much-maligned Jane Austen biopic, I do wonder whether the person or the life matters at all, when his/her work is so rich. After all, we'll always have the simulacrum.