deconstructionn.
a. The action of undoing the construction of a thing.
ΚΠ
1882 McCarthy in 19th Cent. 859 A reform the beginnings of which must be a work of deconstruction.
b. Philosophy and Literary Theory. A strategy of critical analysis associated with the French philosopher Jacques Derrida (1930–2004), directed towards exposing unquestioned metaphysical assumptions and internal contradictions in philosophical and literary language. Also transferred.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > philosophy of language > language theories of individual philosophers > [noun] > deconstructionism (in Derrida)
deconstruction1973
deconstructionism1980
Derrideanism1982
society > leisure > the arts > literature > literary and textual criticism > literary criticism > [noun] > types of literary criticism
criticism1625
critical theory1799
literary theory1807
autocriticism1820
pseudo-criticism1851
Formgeschichte1923
form-criticism1928
form-history1928
practical criticism1929
New Criticism1941
contextualism1955
patternism1956
objectivism1961
narratology1971
new historicism1972
deconstruction1973
post-structuralism1975
deconstructionism1980
theory1982
1973 D. B. Allison tr. J. Derrida Speech & Phenomena vi. 74 The prerogative of being cannot withstand the deconstruction of the word.
1973 D. Matias & P. Willemen tr. M. Cegarra in Screen Spring 130 A radical reading of the texts/films, a turning back upon theories and types of criticism, effecting deconstructions, ruptures, deletions and renewals.
1976 G. C. Spivak in J. Derrida Of Grammatology p. lxxvii To locate the promising marginal text, to disclose the undecidable moment, to pry it loose with the positive lever of the signifier; to reverse the resident hierarchy, only to displace it; to dismantle in order to reconstitute what is always already inscribed. Deconstruction in a nutshell.
1979 London Rev. Bks. 25 Oct. 2/4 We are not in favour of the current fashion for the ‘deconstruction’ of literary texts, for the elimination of the author from his work.
1982 Encounter May 87/1 The strength of these critiques is that they offer alternative constructions as well as critical deconstructions of language.
1983 Notes & Queries Dec. 549/2 Boucher, Lemoyne, Natoire, discard space as it was created by Masaccio and their work is a ‘deconstruction’ of quattrocento achievement.
Derivatives
deconˈstructionism n. the theory or practice of deconstruction (sense b).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > philosophy of language > language theories of individual philosophers > [noun] > deconstructionism (in Derrida)
deconstruction1973
deconstructionism1980
Derrideanism1982
society > leisure > the arts > literature > literary and textual criticism > literary criticism > [noun] > types of literary criticism
criticism1625
critical theory1799
literary theory1807
autocriticism1820
pseudo-criticism1851
Formgeschichte1923
form-criticism1928
form-history1928
practical criticism1929
New Criticism1941
contextualism1955
patternism1956
objectivism1961
narratology1971
new historicism1972
deconstruction1973
post-structuralism1975
deconstructionism1980
theory1982
1980 R. M. Adams in L. Michaels & C. B. Ricks State of Lang. 584 The coincidence of vulgar with erudite deconstructionism is a circumstance worth remarking.
1983 Notes & Queries June 286/2 In 1979 he rather recommended J. Hillis Miller's Yale deconstructionism.
deconˈstructionist adj. and n. (characteristic of) an adherent or practitioner of deconstructionism.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > philosophy of language > language theories of individual philosophers > [adjective] > characterized by deconstructionism
deconstructive1977
deconstructionist1982
the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > philosophy of language > language theories of individual philosophers > [noun] > deconstructionism (in Derrida) > adherent of
deconstructor1978
Derridean1978
deconstructionist1982
society > leisure > the arts > literature > literary and textual criticism > literary criticism > [adjective] > type of literary critic
verbal1483
deconstructionist1982
society > leisure > the arts > literature > literary and textual criticism > literary criticism > [noun] > types of literary criticism > exponent of
form-historian1928
form-critic1933
contextualist1936
New Critic1941
style critic1959
Barthesian1966
new historicist1971
narratologist1974
post-structuralist1974
deconstructor1978
Derridean1978
deconstructionist1982
1982 Notes & Queries June 193/2 To see in this poem a ‘structureless habit of proceeding’ is too determinedly deconstructionist.
1983 D. Lodge in Times Lit. Suppl. 11 Nov. 1237/2 ‘Bartleby’ is indeed the sort of story that makes deconstructionists' mouths water, an astonishingly early assault on the conventions and assumptions of the ‘classic realist text’.
1984 Listener 15 Mar. 16/2 This follows, as the deconstructionists never tire of telling us, ‘from the systematic and collective nature of language and literary convention’.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1972; most recently modified version published online March 2019).
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