Deconstruction
From monstrouspossibility
Riva Roller and Brianna Lopez
Deconstruction is a type of literary theory developed by Jacques Derrida in his essay Of Grammatology, published in 1974. Deconstruction recieved most of it's focus and practice during the period directly after 1974 until the "de Man" scandal in 1987.(Eagleton 196)
Deconstruction aims to open or expose unimaginable possibilities for the future,"to show that things, texts, institutions,traditions, societies, beliefs, and practices...do not have definable meanings and determinable missions."(source unknown)
The main idea of deconstruction was to steer theorists away from finding a solid answer when interpreting a text. Emphasis was put on considering only the text that the author had written rather than reviews and author commentary. It aims to provide constantly changing interpretation and keep tradition from going stale.(Derrida) Deconstruction was often called "the end of philosophy"(source unknown)
We need some description here of Deconstruction as a Method: it involved a certain approach to texts and the investigation of their internal contradictions (usually in relation to problems with binary reasoning).
Sources Cited
Eagleton, Terry. Literary Theory Blackwell Publishers Ltd, Minneapolis, MN 1996
Derrida, Jacques. Deconstruction in a Nutshell Fordham University Press, NY 1997
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