A philosophical theory of criticism (usually of literature or film) that seeks to expose deep-seated contradictions in a work by delving below its surface meaning. This method questions the ability of language to represent a fixed reality, and proposes that a text has no stable meaning because words only refer to other words, that metaphysical or ethnocentric assumptions about the meaning of words must be questioned, and words may be redefined in new contexts and new, equally valid and even contradictory meanings may be found. Such new interpretations may be based on the philosophical, political, or social implications of the words of a text, rather than solely on attempts to determine the author's intentions.
the process of criticising or interpreting a text by the method of deconstruction{1}.
A contemporary intellectual movement, especially in philosophy, literary theory and criticism concerned with (among other things) challenging the rigid or fixed hierarchies so central to Western thought and culture (for example, work/play; spirit/body; speaking/writing). In semiotics, deconstructionists would say there is no difference between the signifier and the signified--all signifieds are, in turn, themselves signifiers.
a philosophical method influential in literary criticism that demonstrates the inherently ambiguous and unavoidably repressive nature of language. Note: Opposed to structuralism, deconstruction dismantles Western tradition by showing that language does not correspond to nature or the external world. It also argues that all literary texts contain contradictions. By revealing what texts assume, suppress, and ignore, it produces skeptical responses to major works, freeing the reader to substitute personal for public meaning. See also structuralism.
is an approach to social analysis that undermines claims to authority by exposing rhetorical strategies used by social actors, including the authors of research reports themselves. It has been promoted in particular by the post-modernist Derrida.
literary critical methodology that assumes that language refers only to itself rather than to an extratextual reality; asserts multiple conflicting interpretations of a text; and bases such interpretations on the philosophical, political, or social implications of language usage in the text rather than on author intent.
a means of interpretation that regards a work not as a closed entity but as an open and many-layered network of the most varied elements in form and content. These elements, their functions and contradictions, are revealed by deconstruction.
The process by which the audience identifies the elements that make up the construction of meaning within a text.
A method of analysis initially articulated in the work of Jacques Derrida that involves exposing the submerged philosophical assumptions that underpin texts and concepts. Derrida asserted that all Western thought is founded upon countless sets of binary oppositions (black and white, speech and writing, man and woman, etc.) wherein one term is invariably considered to be superior to its “opposite,” a valuation with vast cultural consequences. Deconstructionist readings attempt to discover how such unarticulated ideologies underpin seemingly straightforward surface meanings.
Controversial mode of textual analysis that can reveal hidden ideological assumptions. Questions hierarchical thinking in which one term is privileged over another (e.g. culture versus nature, man versus woman). Draws on thought of French theorist Jacques Derrida, who elaborated on linguist Ferdinand de Saussure s vision of language as a system of differences.
a term coined by French philosophy Jacques Derrida in the 1960s, and used in its stricter sense to dsignate a critical system holding that speech and writing are too imprecise to represent reality, because words only refer to other words. Used in its looser sense, the term means to take apart a narrative, a hypothesis, a theme, to show that it is not disinterested or objective, but motivated by the ideology characteristic of the author. In this second sense, the impossibility of concrete meaning key to Derrida's use is ignored.
The same text may be interpreted in a huge number of ways dependent on how specific readers and writers interpret language. There can never be any fixed meaning. It is an idea central to post-structuralism.
is about the limitations of language, about the impossibility of a single representation that all will agree is true. It tries to work backwards from an interpretation of reality to identify the biases, meanings and preconceptions of those who constructed a particular reality in the first place.
a technique of understanding a theme by removing its central leitmotif or dominant tendencies. A technique by which the 'duality' and 'multiplicity' of meaning is brought about, by weakening the predilections of the original authors of a text. A technique of demonstrating against 'singularity' of conviction in any text, particularly of cultural reading. Origin from French Philosopher Jacques Derrida pioneering works. Also used in terms of an architectural style which depart wildly from the ‘standardized' forms of older styles.
Form of literary criticism developed by the French philosopher Jacques Derrida which stated that literary texts (including poems) have no fixed or definitive meaning but, instead, are full of contradictions and inconsistencies and are open to a variety of interpretations.