Post- Structuralist

A Review of Structuralism Language is primary means of signification Signification is how we achieve meaning through linguistic signs and other symbols Language comprises its own rule-governed system to achieve meaning Language is not the only sign system Act of reading is a cultural and social practice that contains its own codes Meaning in a text resides in these codes

Structuralism, continued Reader has mastered codes before he/she ever picks up the text Proper study of literature is inquiry into conditions surrounding the act of interpretation itself, not the investigation of the text Structuralists seek to discover the overall system (langue) that accounts for the individual interpretation (parole)

Deconstruction A method of critical analysis of philosophical and literary language that emphasizes the internal workings of language and conceptual systems, the relational quality of meaning, and the assumptions implicit in forms of expression.

DECONSTRUCTION Challenges structuralist assumptions that a text’s meaning can be discovered through and examination of its structural codes. Operates under the maxim of undecidability Asks a new set of questions to show that what a text claims it says and what it actually says are different

DECONSTRUCTION Casts doubts on previously held theories that sought to find meaning(s) in a text Declares that a text has an almost infinite number of possible interpretations Some assert that interpretations are as creative and important as the text

Example One can deconstruct a privileging in several different ways. For example, one can explore how the reasons for privileging A over B also apply to B, or how the reasons for B's subordinate status apply to A in unexpected ways. One may also consider how A depends upon B, or is actually a special case of B. The goal of these exercises is to achieve a new understanding of the relationship between A and B, which, to be sure, is always subject to further deconstruction.

Deconstruction: a new reading strategy Discover binary oppositions that govern a text Comment on values, concepts, ideas beyond the binaries Reverse these binaries Dismantle previously held worldviews Accept possibilities of various perspectives or levels of meaning Allow meaning to be undecidable

(constructing means to build) Deconstructing means to take apart Deconstructing a Poem (constructing means to build) Deconstructing means to take apart How do I do that? To deconstruct a poem: 1. Read it 2. Take it apart 3. Understand what you need to do 4. Determine how to analyze the poem properly National RtI Writing Demonstration Project

Terms Signifier: any material thing that signifies, e.g., words on a page, a facial expression, an image. Signified: the concept that a signifier refers to. Together, the signifier and signified make up the Sign: the smallest unit of meaning. Anything that can be used to communicate (or to tell a lie).

Symbolic (arbitrary) signs: signs where the relation between signifier and signified is purely conventional and culturally specific, e.g., most words. Iconic signs: signs where the signifier resembles the signified, e.g., a picture. Indexical Signs: signs where the signifier is caused by the signified, e.g., smoke signifies fire.

Ferdinand Saussure Linguistic SIGN (word) SIGNIFIER (spoken sound or written symbol) SIGNIFIED (concept signaled by signifier)

Linguistic Sign Is defined by differences that distinguish if from other signs

SIGNIFIER SPOKEN OR WRITTEN FORM Read this word: FIRE Say this word: FIRE

SIGNIFIED: concept or thing

SIGNIFIED: concept or thing

Fire?????????

Arbitrary. . .

Sign Is Arbitrary Key Eye Note Lie Guys Honey Home Post Book Girls Baby Heart

DERRIDA AND SAUSSURE Derrida affirms concept of language system based on difference Derrida asserts that the signified can also only be known through relationships

I filled the glass with milk. Glass is signifier of the signified concept of a container to hold the milk HOWEVER, IN THE FOLLOWING SENTENCE. . .

The container was filled with glass. Spoken or written “container” was signified in previous sentence, but Now is the signifier Its signified the concept of an object that can be filled Notice the changing use of the word GLASS

Western metaphysics invents a variety of terms to function as centers LOGOCENTRISM: Western desire to find a center and its belief in ultimate reality or center of truth to serve as basis for all thoughts and actions Western metaphysics invents a variety of terms to function as centers Each can operate as a concept that is self-sufficient and self-originating Thus serving as transcendental signified

Important Terms to Know Modernism Postructuralism Postmodernism Deconstruction Signification Langue Parole Mimetic Phonology Grammar Syntax Signifier Signified Sign Transcendental Signified Logocentrism Binary Oppositions Privileged Unprivileged

TERMS, continued Phonocentrism Metaphysics of presence Supplementation Differance

MODERNITY Human ability to reason and to grasp truth (Enlightenment) Undoubtable truths supplied by mathematics Science can lead the way to complete understanding of the physical world

MODERNITY Power and strength of individual mind Truth is to be discovered scientifically Texts possess some objective knowable existence that may be analyzed

POSTMODERNISM Challenges modernity’s view of world No objective reality All definitions of truth are subjective Truth is relative Map of meaning replaced with metaphor of collage Reality is human construct Meaning is provisional Decline of influence of religious systems