recent Cairo visitor departs

It was my privilege to host noted Deleuze authority Dan Smith in Cairo for several days; he just left. Dan teaches at Purdue, of course, but is a visiting faculty member this semester at the American University of Beirut.

What I didn’t know was what a skilled and independent traveller Dan is. Due to my work schedule I was only able to spend one full day showing him around on the weekend. To my astonishment, he figured out the rest of the city himself almost immediately, simply by using an inexpensive map booklet I lent him. We also had three long dinners’ worth of discussions on contemporary philosophy, and I wish I had a transcript of his remarks, which threw fresh light onto a number of topics.

Dan’s Deleuze book is appearing with Edinburgh University Press within the next couple of months, perhaps in time for the Deleuze conference in New Orleans.