On Deconstruction: Theory and Criticism after Structuralism

by Jonathan Culler

Overview

With an emphasis on readers and reading, Jonathan Culler considered deconstruction in terms of the questions raised by psychoanalytic, feminist, and reader-response criticism. On Deconstruction is both an authoritative synthesis of Derrida's thought and an analysis of the often-problematic relation between his philosophical writings and the work of literary critics. Culler's book is an indispensable guide for anyone interested in understanding modern critical thought. This edition marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the first publication of this landmark work and includes a new preface by the author that surveys deconstruction's history since the 1980s and assesses its place within cultural theory today.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781501746505
Publisher:	Cornell University Press
Publication date:	01/03/2008
Edition description:	25th Anniversary Edition
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 1.12(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Jonathan Culler is Class of 1916 Professor of English at Cornell University. He is the author of many books, including On Deconstruction: Theory and Criticism after Structuralism and The Pursuit of Signs: Semiotics, Literature, Deconstruction, both from Cornell University Press, and Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction.

Table of Contents

Preface to the 25th Anniversary Edition
Preface to the First Edition
Introduction     17
Readers and Reading     31
New Fortunes     31
Reading as a Woman     43
Stories of Reading     64
Deconstruction     85
Writing and Logocentrism     89
Meaning and Iterability     110
Grafts and Graft     134
Institutions and Inversions     156
Critical Consequences     180
Deconstructive Criticism     227
Bibliography     281
Translations Bibliography     303
Bibliography for the 25th Anniversary Edition     307
Index     313

Editorial Reviews

Academic literary criticism continues to be dominated by 'theory' and the struggle between deconstructionist and humanist approaches to the business of reading. Jonathan Culler's On Deconstruction is a typically patient, thoughtful, illuminating exposition of the ideas of Jacques Derrida and their application to literary studies.

David Lodge

"As a practicing critic, Culler has always been a deconstructor, and he approaches this topic with special immediacy and force. In On Deconstruction, he offers generous summaries of numerous representative articles and a fine annotated bibliography.... His magisterial way of tracing particular topics and techniques through our diaspora of critical texts, and his provocative analyses, cannot fail to focus any critic's thinking about deconstruction."

J. Modern Language Quarterly

"Academic literary criticism continues to be dominated by 'theory' and the struggle between deconstructionist and humanist approaches to the business of reading. Jonathan Culler's On Deconstruction is a typically patient, thoughtful, illuminating exposition of the ideas of Jacques Derrida and their application to literary studies."

Commonweal - David Lodge

"Culler is lucid and thorough, can move into and out of other people's arguments without losing the sense of his own voice and argument, and can manage to seem equally at home with Freudianism, feminism, and traditional literary criticism."

Times Literary Supplement

"Gifted with grace and clarity, Culler provides us with a stimulating survey of contemporary literary criticism."

Antioch Review

"Academic literary criticism continues to be dominated by 'theory' and the struggle between deconstructionist and humanist approaches to the business of reading. Jonathan Culler's On Deconstruction is a typically patient, thoughtful, illuminating exposition of the ideas of Jacques Derrida and their application to literary studies." David Lodge, Commonweal

"Culler is lucid and thorough, can move into and out of other people's arguments without losing the sense of his own voice and argument, and can manage to seem equally at home with Freudianism, feminism, and traditional literary criticism." Times Literary Supplement

"As a practicing critic Culler has always been a deconstructor, and he approaches this topic with special immediacy and force. In On Deconstruction he offers generous summaries of numerous representative articles and a fine annotated bibliography ... His magisterial way of tracing particular topics and techniques through our diaspora of critical texts, and his provocative analyses, cannote fail to focus any critic's thinking about deconstruction." Modern Language Quarterly

"Gifted with grace and clarity, Culler provides us with a stimulating survey of contemporary literary criticism." Antioch Review

From the Publisher