Poststructuralism and Derrida

Distinct definitions

1.A critique of 'the idea that human societies and their traditions can be understood according to universal and unchanging structures that are replicated in texts,art works etc.'(Castle 2008:154)

2.Challenges Ferdinand De Saussure's linguistic and Claude Levi-Strauss structural anthropology.

Jacques Derrida -Essay "Structure,sign and play in the Discourse of the Human sciences"(1966)

The idea behind this essay is questioning the idea of center.In essence it makes us examine the concept of centering as a balance in a structured environment.

'In the poststructuralist critique of structure,the center is deconstructed ,exposed as contradictory,incoherent a "mythology of presence"."The center is at the center of totality".Derrida claims ,and yet,since the center does not belong to totality,...it has its center elsewhere.

'Derridas ..deconstructive methods have been borrowed by literary critics and used in the reading of literary works.Deconstructive reading...tends to make emblems of the decentered universe we have been discussing.Texts previously regarded as unified artistic artifacts are shown to be fragmented,self -divided and centre less.They always turn out to be representations of the 'monstrous births' predicted at the end of 'Structure,sign and play.'(Barry 2009:65)

'Deconstruction ,which can be roughly defined as' reading against the grain' or 'reading against the text itself'

with the purpose of knowing the text as it cannot know itself.(These are Terry Eagletons definitions )  A way of describing this would be to say deconstructive reading uncovers the unconcious rather than the concious dimensions of the text.(Barry 2009:65)

This process is looking for a new dimension in particular at reading texts .Social and historical events in essence favour this concept as a new way of reading.To look beyond the text is inevitably asking us to embrace the metanarrative .

'Derridas own description of deconstructive reading has the same purport .A deconstructive reading.

must always aim at a certain relationship ,unperceived by the writer ,between what he commands and what he does not command of the patterns of language that he uses ...[It] attempts to make the not-seen accessible to sight' .(Of Grammatology p.p 158 and 163) (Barry 2009:69)

Thus what this process does as in Barry it produces 'textual harrassemnt' or 'oppostionl reading'. in 'pursuance of its aims ,the deconstruction process will often fix on a detail of the text which looks incidental -the presence of a particular  metaphor ,for instance and then use it as the key to the whole text,so that everything is read through it....The deconstructionist looks for evidence of gaps and discontinuities of all kinds. '

(Barry 2009:71)

The structuralist                                                                                    post structuralist

Parallels/Echoes                                                                                  Contradictions/Paradox's

Balances                                                                                               Shifts/Brakes in Tone:

                                                                                                               Viewpoint

                                                                                                               Tense

                                                                                                               Time 

                                                                                                               Person

                                                                                                               Attitude

Reflections/repetitions                                                                         Conflicts

Contrasts                                                                                                Linguistic Quirks

Patterns                                                                                                  Aporia

Effect :to show textual unity and coherence                                              Effect:to show textual disunity

(Barry 2009:70)

From this chart it is obvious that the text must be viewed for its inner meaning,we must look beyond the words and find conflicts and paradox's and viewpoints which make the text contradictory.Fixing upon words and metaphors are directly linked to how the text itself must be read.And in the case of the kiss of the spider women it is evident that passages carry a multiplicity of meanings as the blurb becomes fused with the text itself in parts.The shifts and breaks which occur are directly linked to Molina subverting into the fantasy world of film,where he becomes the heroine.

Three stages of deconstructive practice 

Verbal

Look at the paradox's and contradictions at a verbal level ,which is the written text itself and if it contradicts its own ideas.

Textual

This looks at the overhaul text and looks for a lack of construction,the deconstructive nature of the text

Linguistic

'the linguistic stage involves looking for moments in the poem when the adequacy of language itself as a medium of communication is called into question.'(Barry 2009:73)...In Piug this is the moment when the subtext of the films merge themselves into the subtext.