Deconstruction: theory and practice

ince first appearing in 1982 this book has been acknowledged as the most readable and authoritative text of its kind. While in no way oversimplifying the complexities of the subject, or understating the challenge it presents, Norris's book sets out to make deconstruction more accessible to the open-minded reader. For this revised edition, the author has provided a substantial postscript which looks back over the past ten years of critical debate and seeks to correct some prevailing misunderstandings. The volume also contains an updated bibliography giving details of more than 200 books published during that period. Some critics have dismissed deconstruction as a harmless academic game; others have denounced it as a terrorist weapon or as a discourse of last-ditch nihilist unreason. As Norris demonstrates, both responses are equally wide of the mark. Focusing on Derrida's major texts, and offering a detailed commentary on his readings of Plato, Rousseau, Nietzsche, Husserl, Saussure, Levi-Strauss, J.L. Austin and others, this book brings out the extraordinary subtlety and force that have characterized his project from the outset.