DECONSTRUCTION “Poststructuralism”

Rose Katherine H. JavierDISCUSSANT

January 2015

The National Teachers College

School of Advanced Studies

ENG 302: Literary Theory & Criticism

Prof. Gene Alfred U. Paras

History of Deconstruction

Rene Descartes (1596-1650) and Fredrick Nietzsche (1844-1900) were pioneers in deconstruction.

They began to question the objective truth of language.

This is also known as Poststructuralist, this criticism came after structuralism.

Structuralism

This is the prelude to Deconstruction.

It is a science that seeks to understand how a system works, In this case, Language.

The structure of language comes from the human mind.

DECONSTRUCTIONbegan in the 1960s Jacques Derrida*

took the ideas of Structuralism to their extreme. His concepts have been further developed by Roland

Barthes, Jean-François Lyotard, Michel Foucault, J. Hillis Miller, Jonathan Culler, and others.

http://people.uwec.edu/juettjc/post-structuralism/images/Nicole/derridapic2.jpg

DECONSTRUCTION “Deconstruction seems to center around

the idea that language and meaning are often inadequate in trying to convey the message or idea a communicator is trying to express. Since the confusion stems from the language and not the object then one should break down or deconstruct the language to see if we can better understand where the confusion stems.”

- DerridaArticle Source: http://EzineArticles.com/84192

"Deconstruction refers to all of the techniques and strategies used by

Derrida in order to destabilize, crack open and displace texts that are explicitly or invisibly idealistic“

(Hottois, 1998)

- Language is a collection of signs; meaning is transient, arbitrary, & uncertain

- Concepts are contained in their opposites- Texts are full of contradictions and lack unity/ coherence- There can be no final interpretation of the text- We live in a universe of radical uncertainty

MAIN IDEAS

-MAIN IDEAS

•Deconstructionists look for the ways the elements in literature contradict each other.Premises:Words cannot express

meaning.Every utterance contains a lie

by omitting all other possible utterances.

•Interpretations are sometimes bizarre and contradictory.

http://ninapaley.com/mimiandeunice/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/ME_131_A_DeathOfAuthor.png

http://ninapaley.com/mimiandeunice/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/ME_132_AuthorIsDead-640x199.png

In Deconstruction, Derrida considers an assertion that texts outlive their authors, and become part

of a set of cultural habits equal to, if not surpassing, the importance of authorial intent.

ONE MAIN QUESTION:

How does this text

undermine itself?

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However, to deconstruct is not to destroy, and deconstruction is achieved in two steps:

1. A reversal phase: Since the pair was hierarchically ranked, we must first extinguish the power struggle. During this first phase, then, writing must dominate speech, other must prevail over self, absence over presence, perception over understanding, and so on.2. A neutralization phase: The term favoured during the first phase must be uprooted from binary logic, binary opposition**. In this way, we leave behind all of the previous significations anchored in dualistic thinking. This phase gives rise to androgyny, super-speech, and arche-writing. The deconstructed term thus becomes undecidable (Hottois, 1998, 306).

Phases of Deconstruction

1st Phase

• Reverse the hierarchies so that the repressed could dominate.

• Ex: Writing is more valued than speech, so now speech is valued over writing

• Argue to support the reversal with terms like “in” or “within”

• Speech is in writing. Writing is within speech.

2nd Phase

• The previously devalued

term now has an

opportunity to have a

hierarchy of its own.

How is it used in Literary Analysis?

• Used as a tool in narrative analysis

• Starts with a very careful reading that looks for inconsistency and contradictions in the text

• The results often uncovering of a that is difficult to make sense of deeply complex foundation

• This is one of the many criticism of Deconstruction, that it nihilistic and unproductive because it leads to uncertainty.

Sample Texts Analyzed Using Deconstruction:

JAPAYUKISAN ****

Snow by Frederick Seidel ***

SourcesBarry, Peter. Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and

Cultural Theory. 2nd edition. NY: Manchester UP, 2002. Print.

Brizee , Allen, and J. Case Tompkins. “Literary Theory and

Schools of Criticism.” Copyright ©1995-2011 by The Writing

Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. Web. 13

Sept. 2011.

Morner, Kathleen and Ralph Rausch. NTC's Dictionary of Literary

Terms. Chicago: NTC, 1991. Print.

https://www.google.com.ph/?gfe_rd=cr&ei=SJy_VJLTD4yK8Qe5u

oDwCg&gws_rd=ssl#q=literary+deconstruction+reversal+ph

ase

http://www.signosemio.com/derrida/deconstruction-and-

differance.asp