Literary Criticism: A look Into Deconstruction

A Little Literary Humor!

 What is Deconstruction?

• It is a radical approach to reading.

• This literary criticism is not fully
developed.
• The founder of deconstruction is Jacques
Derrida
• Explained as a strategy “Rules for
reading, interpretation and writing.”
 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.
 Ferdinand de Saussure
• Looked at language
Diachronically.
• He traced words
over time looking
for the changes in
sounds and
meanings.
 Rules of Language

• These rules of language were developed by

Ferdinand de Saussure.
• Langue - Language is made of a set of rules, known
as this.
• Parole - General rules of language applied by
members of a specific community.
• Signs – He depicted language as a set of signs, that
came in two parts the Signifier and the Signified
Signified and Signifier in Deconstruction

• Signifier – The written and sound

construction that makes up a word
• Signified – The meaning of the word.
• Deconstruction looks at the ambiguities
in signifiers, and states that there can be
many different signified meanings for a
single signifier
 Binary Oppositions
The most important part
of Deconstruction.
This literary criticism uses
Binary Oppositions to
look at what is not in a
story.
Of the two parts of binary
oppositions, There is a
dominant and a oppressed
or non-dominant.
 Others Involved
Roland Barthes(1915-1980) – French Theorist
whom worked on the development of structuralism
and Deconstruction.

Vladamir Propp(1895-1970) – Russian scholar that

worked on folk tales.

Jonathan Culler(1944-Today) – Worked at Cornell

University; Worked on Structuralism.
 Impact of Deconstruction
Takes away from the text
because you are looking
for what's not there.
Makes literature seem like
“Word Play”(Dobie)
Humanists view it as a
“wedge between life and
literature”(Dobie)
Looks for the Ideologies
that are in our language.
 Deconstruction In Practice
In deconstruction the
signified and the signifier
are unstable, and can take
on multiple meanings.
We live in a logo centric
world – We want to
believe that everything is
grounded.
In Deconstruction, this is
the opposite of the logo
centric view.
 Deconstructive Analysis
In a Deconstructive analysis you are looking to
reverse the dominant and non-dominant binary
oppositions.
Giving the privileged status to the oppressed of the
two Binary opposites.
Tries to find blind spots in the literature.
Derrida derived this method because “By
deconstructing constraints, he tried to open new
ways of thinking and knowing”(Dobie)
Poem Deconstruction – Snow
• Look at Symbolism of
Snow
snow to extract the
By Frederick Seidel opposite:
• White
Snow is what it does.
It falls and it stays and it goes. • Cold
It melts and it is here somewhere. • Winter
We all will get there.
• Usually symbolizing death
Source: Poetry (September so the opposite could be
2012). life.
• This poem then could be
talking about the Rebirth
of humans in religion.
 Poem Deconstruction – Six Lines for Louise Bogan

Six Lines for Louise Bogan  This poem almost

deconstructs itself.
By Michael Collier
 Notice that there are 2
All that has tamed me I have learned
to love
parts to each sentence,
and lost that wildness that was making 4 in each line.
once beloved.
 This poem tells of each
All that was loved I’ve learned to tame opposite in itself.
and lost the beloved that once
was wild.  Tamed
All that is wild is tamed by love—
 Love
and the beloved (wildness) that  Wildness
once was loved.
 Beloved
Source: Poetry (April 2012).
 Credits and Citations

Dobie, Ann B. Theory into Practice. Wadsworth, Cengage Learning,

2012. Paperback.

Slide 2: http://xkcd.com/451/
Slide 4:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_BA__Bih8snc/S7RYxRBiiiI/AAAAAAAACT4/1KUXSjC1S
L8/s1600/p1.jpg
Slide 5:
http://www.cepolina.com/photo/art/architecture/tensile_structure/5/tensile_struct
ure_cone_column.jpg
Slide 6:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/de/Ferdinand_de_Saus
sure_by_Jullien.png/406px-Ferdinand_de_Saussure_by_Jullien.png
Slide 9: http://alexakeeler.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/yin-yang1.jpg
Slide 11: http://nukeitfromorbit.com/xnuke.jpg.pagespeed.ic.XD9-0bi6PQ.jpg
Slide 12: http://www.englishbiz.co.uk/images/rightwrongtshirt.gif