Deconstruction-Per+6

**Deconstruction** ﻿  By: Lorenzo, Justin, Mark, and Brendan

**What is Deconstruction?**


 * Deconstruction: philosophy of meaning, dealing with the ways that readers, writers, and texts construct meaning.


 * Developed by the French philosopher Jacques Derrida in the 1960s.


 * This philosophy represents a complex response to a variety of theoretical and philosophical movements of the 20th century.


 * Deconstruction began as a response to structuralism and formalism.


 * The theory support﻿ed the notion that literature means nothing because language means nothing.


 * Deconstruction states that it is rather difficult to find a central meaning to literary works due to various individuals’ perspectives.


 * Deconstruction can be helpful in revealing contradictions present in a text.


 * Critics who use deconstruction commonly point out inconsistences within a work of literature.


 * “Deconstruction is not a method and cannot be transformed into one.” – Jacques Derrida


 * Reading a deconstruction of text is similar to decoding a secret message.


 * Deconstruction had an enormous impact on Anglo-American criticism.

**Jacques Derrida (1930 - 2004)**


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 26px;">Developed the theory of deconstruction.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 26px;">Derrida criticized the western practice of binary oppositions.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 26px;">Binary Oppositions: contrasts one superior term with one inferior term. (large/small; conscious/unconscious)


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 26px;">Derrida rejected the structuralistic belief that literature has an identifiable “central” meaning.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 26px;">Derrida rejected the formalistic beliefs that literature is unified from beginning to end and that literature is organized around a center point or idea. (Undecidability)


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 26px;">Through undecidability, readers find it nearly impossible to generate a meaning from certain texts.



<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">**Examples of Deconstruction**

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 13pt;">- __Finnegans Wake__ by: James Joyce <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 13pt;">- __Huckleberry Finn__ by: Mark Twain <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 13pt;">- __The Great Gatsby__ by: F. Scott Fitzgerald <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 13pt;">- __The Death of the Author__ by: Roland Barthes <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 13pt;">- __Cosmopolis__ by: Stephen Toulmin <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 13pt;">- __City of Glass__ by: Paul Auster <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 13pt;">- __The Waterfront Journals__ by: David Wojnarowicz



<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">**Critiques**

<span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 13pt; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In our perspectives, the theory of deconstruction is a useful tool in explaining how various people have different views on a single text. Although the theory has many confusing aspects to it, the core concepts do make sense. The theory of deconstruction can be used not only in literature but in the world as well. For example, a tourist attraction can evoke many emotions that can vary from person to person. The tourist attraction does not give off one specific emotion to everybody or else it would be rather pointless and dull. At first we thought Jacques Derrida developed this theory in order to aggravate critics and readers alike, but after exploring the theory in more detail we all began to understand its relevance to works of literature. <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; text-align: left;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 13pt; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">

**Works Cited** []

1 - "Deconstruction - Introduction." __Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism__. Ed. Janet Witalec Project Editor. Vol. 138. Gale Cengage, 2003. __eNotes.com__. 11 Sep, 2011 <http://www.enotes.com/deconstruction-criticism/deconstruction/introduction>

Link: []

2 - Christensen, Tricia Ellis. "What is Deconstruction?" //Wisegeek//. Ed. Niki Foster. Conjecture Corporation, 21 Aug. 2011. Web. 11 Sept. 2011. <http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-deconstruction.htm>.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">L﻿ink: []

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">3 <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> - "Jacques Derrida: Deconstruction." Stanford Presidential Lectures in the Humanities and <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11pt; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Arts. Stanford University. Web. 11 Sept. 2011. <http://prelectur.stanford.edu/lecturers/derrida/deconstruction.html>.

Link: <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline;">[|__http://prelectur.stanford.edu/lecturers/derrida/deconstruction.html__]