Derrida passes from authorial control at 74.

Jacques Derrida died last night in a Parisian hospital from pancreatic cancer, at the age of 74. The controversial philosopher and social/culture critic had a sizable effect on the practice of social science and literary study around the world. From the positive effect of forcing social scientists to admit their inevitable 'presence' as author in their writings (with positive and negative biases), to the use of literary deconstruction as an effective analytic tool, to the debilitating effect on the social sciences of more nihilistic deconstructionism, his interpreters will no doubt be working with his materials for generations. Perhaps best known for asserting that authors lose control over their literary works once the work is published, Derrida displayed no sense of irony in suing publishers over copyright violation. Like him or not, in whole or part, we're now left with only his interpreters.

Reuters story: http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=600118§ion=news