Deconstructive Criticism An Advanced Introduction [Paperback]

Vincent B. Leitch is professor of English at Purdue University and author of Cultural Criticism, Literary Theory, Poststructuralism and American Literary Criticism from the Thirties to the Eighties, both from Columbia University Press.The ideal prelude to the study of deconstructive theory for the as-yet-uninitiated reader. Leitch uses in-depth analyses, surveys of historical background, and helpful overviews to address the questions posed by the major figures—Saussure, Lacan, Levi-Strauss, Heidegger, Derrida, Barthes Foucault—then penetrates and displays the subtle intricacies of their answers.Deconstructive Criticism neither vulgarizes and oversimplifies deconstruction, nor protects it for an elite, and this is indeed a substantial achievement.