Deconstruction: A Reader: A Reader

by Martin McQuillan (editor)

Philosophers 'do' 'it', literary critics 'do' 'it', even architects, poets, painters 'do' 'it'. It can involve the concepts of capital, politics, and justice. So what, after all, is deconstruction? Deconstruction: A Reader makes an answer to this question available in the only way possible - by offering a selection of breathtaking range and depth of essential texts. With more than sixty selections by fifty contributors, including nine pieces by Jacques Derrida, this is the ultimate anthology of deconstructive reading, demonstrating that deconstruction is vivid, surprising, varied, and true to the text.

596 pages, Hardcover

First published February 28, 2001

Reviews

[Spoust1 · Rating 4 out of 5]

An expensive book - I happened to get it at a used bookstore for relatively cheap. If you can find it at a low price, grab it. The quality of the essays is sometimes uneven, which is to be expected, seeing as how much of a fad deconstruction was. Overall the quality is anywhere from insightful to brilliant - but then there are a few downright stupid essays. The ones that are good are really good, though.

What makes this book worth taking a look at is that it includes some really big names. Judith Butler, Rudolph Gasche, Geoffrey Bennington, Richard Rorty, Simon Critchley, John Caputo, Jean-Luc Nancy, Emmanuel Levinas, Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe, Drucilla Cornell, Gayatri Spivak, J. Hillis Miller, Paul de Man, Barbara Johnson, Helen Cixous, Geoffrey Hartman, Jean-Fracois Lyotard, Peggy Kamuf. There are several essays by Jacques Derrida, and they are excellent selections because they are difficult to find elsewhere - not the standard samples from "Of Grammatology." Also, there is a valuable chapter that includes some writings by thinkers who influenced deconstruction: Heidegger, Freud, Benjamin, Bataille, Marx, Blanchot, Valery.