Deconstructive Perspectives

What is Deconstruction?  A RADICAL approach to reading.  This Literary Criticism is NOT FULLY DEVELOPED!  The founder is Jacques Derrida  Explained as a strategy “Rules for…  Reading  Interpretation  Writing

History of Deconstruction  Rene Descartes ( ) and Frederik Nietzsches ( ) were pioneers in Deconstruction.  They began to question the objective truth of language.  This time is also known as Poststructuralist, it came after Structuralism.

Binary Oppositions  The most important part of Deconstruction.  This type of criticism looks at the binary oppositions that are NOT in the story.  There is a dominant and a non-dominant section of each.

Deconstructionists Another Type of Structuralist  Look for opposition in literary works.  Look for other kinds of texts such as:  Films,  Advertisements  Social institutions  Schools  Hospitals

EMPHASIZING DIFFERENCES Black/White Light/Dark Young/Old Male/Female Alive/Dead Near/Far Good/Evil Sight/Blindness Masked/Unmasked Animate/Inanimate Past/Present Construct/Deconstruct Hope/Despair Lost/FoundWhole/Part

Deconstruction Differs from Structuralism:  They believe there are always things that need to be called into question about a text. They need to be:  Subverted  Undermined  Challenged

Deconstructionists believe:  Language is irretrievably self-contradictory and self- destroying.  Literary works mean more than the author is aware of.  Their meanings are as unstable as the language in which they are constructed.  The work is always more than the surface.

To explain, they use terms such as:  Unmasking  Unraveling  Recovering  Suppression  Contradiction

Playing with Language  It could be that there is a word that has a different meaning.  It could be that the absence of a word can have a double meaning.  The EXPLICIT meaning may be hidden behind an “obvious” meaning and the IMPLICT meaning is suppressed.

Impact of Deconstruction  Takes away from the text because you look for what is not there.  Makes literature seem like “word play” (Dobie).  Humanists view it as a “wedge between life and literature” (Dobie).  Looks for the Ideologies in our language.

Poem Deconstruction-- Snow Snow by Frederick Siedel Snow is what it does It falls and it stays and it goes. It melts and it is here somewhere. We all will get there. Source: Poetry (September, 2012) Look at the Symbolism of snow to extract the opposite:  Cold  White  Winter Usually symbolizing death so the opposite could be life. This poem could be talking about the Rebirth of humans in Religion.

Poem Deconstruction: Six Lines for Louis Brogan Six Lines for Louis Bogan By: Michael Collier All that has tamed me, I have learned to love. and lost that wildness that was once beloved All that was loved I’ve learned to tame and lost the beloved that once was wild. All that is wild is tamed by love--- and the beloved (wildness) that once was loved.  This poem almost deconstructs itself.  Notice that there are 2 parts to each sentence, making 4 in each line.  This poem tells of each opposite in itself.  Tamed  Love  Wildness  Beloved

Work Cited DiYanni, Robert, Literature: Reading Fiction, Poetry and Drama. McGraw Hill, 2007, print. Dobie, Anne B., Theory Into Practice, Wadsworth, Centage Learning, 2012, print.