a critical technique, e.g. in literary or film criticism, in which the implied unity of a work of art is dismantled to reveal a variety of possible interpretations
a critical technique, e.g. in literary or film criticism, which claims that there is no single innate meaning and thus no single correct interpretation of a text, but that the task of the critic or reader is to dismantle the implied unity of a work of art to reveal the variety of interpretations that are possible
Loosely applied to any rejection of the usual conventions of construction (in the case of avant-garde films, or even fashion garments that show their seams), deconstruction in a more specific sense is attributable to the philosopher Jacques Derrida (b.1930), who shows how, when two terms are opposed, each owes its meaning to its difference from the other. This trace of difference, and so of the other in the selfsame, deconstructs the apparent antithesis between them — Professor Catherine Belsey
deconstructionism noun
deconstructionist noun and adj