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DECONSTRUCTION/POST-STRUCTURALISM

Post-Structuralism draws on some of the tenets of structuralism and attempts to go beyond them in various ways. The two are oftentimes grouped together because Deconstruction, a critical movement most influenced by French critic Jacques Derrida, is closely related to, but not synonymous with Post-Structuralism. The main difference between the two is that Deconstruction emphasizes the instability of signs and signifiers within a text and the way that authors "play" with meaning and metaphor. Deconstruction stresses the way in which literature "deconstructs" itself via the contradiction of signs and symbols. Buzzwords that are helpful in identifying this school of criticism include textuality, discourse, difference, logocentrism, and dissemination.

Major Critics: Paul de Man, Jacques Derrida, Jonathan Culler

©2001 Andy Lein and Melissa Vene. Last Updated: December 2001

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