Urgent!!

[lily of valley]

Hey …
I am reading Difference by Derrida. I NEED YR HELP GUYS! I have never applied deconstruction to a text. My question is: what do we look at when we deconstruct a text? Is it just words and sentences?! Is it just textual?! I feel a bit tense coz it is the first time I apply this theory to a text. I think I might apply it on The Bridge by Kafka.
Thank you so much!;)

[PeterL]

Hey …
I am reading Difference by Derrida. I NEED YR HELP GUYS! I have never applied deconstruction to a text. My question is: what do we look at when we deconstruct a text? Is it just words and sentences?! Is it just textual?! I feel a bit tense coz it is the first time I apply this theory to a text. I think I might apply it on The Bridge by Kafka.
Thank you so much!;)

Derrida almost answered that question in On Grammatology. I believe that you can deconstruct anything that you want to, and Derrida's writing is a prime candidate. You certainly don't have to restrict yourself to the text. BTW, I am extremely cynical about Derrida.

[lily of valley]

hey

why are u cynical about derrida?!

thank u

[PeterL]

If you had read On Grammatology, you would also be cynical. The book is a bad joke, but many people have taken it seriously.

[mousemouse]

To deconstruct a text (the way I understand the theory) is to define the oppositions in the text such as: inside/outside, mind/body, literal/metaphorical, speech/writing, nature/culture and so on. The point of the theory is, that either the text or the critisism should show, that these oppositions are manmade and not unavoidable or natural. This is supposed to give a clear picture of what the author wants to "say" without saying it.
Hope this helps

[lily of valley]

Hey mousemouse,
U killed 2 birds with one stone, as we say in Arabic. The 2 birds are: the "undoing of binary oppositions" helps the deconstructionist reader ravel the unsaid in the text. But, this is one part of what Derrida wants. I am reading of grammatology now. I am suffering coz I know nothing about Heidegger who is mentioned quite a lot by Derrida.
THANK U MOUSEMOUSE