Against Deconstruction [Paperback]

John Martin Ellis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 1990 | ISBN-10: 0691014841 | ISBN-13: 978-0691014845

"The focus of any genuinely new piece of criticism or interpretation must be on the creative act of finding the new, but deconstruction puts the matter the other way around: its emphasis is on debunking the old. But aside from the fact that this program is inherently uninteresting, it is, in fact, not at all clear that it is possible. . . . [T]he navet of the crowd is deconstruction's very starting point, and its subsequent move is as much an emotional as an intellectual leap to a position that feels different as much in the one way as the other. . . ." --From the book

Editorial Reviews

Review

Ellis argues with force and clarity. . . . [He] concludes that what Deconstruction provides is largely an emotional bonus--it gives its adherents 'a routine way to a feeling of being excitedly shocking.' They get the feeling that might attend a genuine piece of original thinking, but here it can be achieved without comparable effort. -- London Review of Books

From the Back Cover

"Ellis's elegant and absolutely unsentimental book can serve as a sort of solvent in today's critical debates. Not much remains intact: binary oppositions, 'alternative logic,' texts as 'play,' and 'performance,' are all subject to rigorous examination. In the process, Ellis lucidly restores Saussurean categories (so battered and reduced in contemporary criticism) to their original complexity. Appalled by the growth of a class of critics who appear to risk nothing when they take on a literary text, Ellis challenges every reader under the spell of new vocabularies to stop and think. Rarely has scholarly exasperation been put to better or more timely use."--Caryl Emerson, Princeton University

Product Details

• Paperback: 184 pages
• Publisher: Princeton University Press (February 1, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0691014841
• ISBN-13: 978-0691014845
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,173,993 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

75 of 77 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A response to the comment below..., December 8, 1999

By 

S. Vivian (Chicago) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Against Deconstruction (Paperback)

Because I've read the work of John M. Ellis very closely for several years (including *Against Deconstruction*), I'd like to offer a corrective or two to the review below. Just how carefully the reader read the text in question is unclear, but the review betrays some very fundamental confusions. For instance, the review states:

"Twentieth century analytic philosophy has, with its emphasis on necessary connections between words and things, reduced the subtle beauty and infinite complexity of language to a stereo manual. Derrida is the greatest living philosopher of our current age, along with perhaps Noam Chomsky."

Now, Derrida and Chomsky may or may not be great philosophers; what *is* certain is that their views of language are very much at odds. Derrida speaks of "infinite signification" in the absence of a "transcendent signifier"...a fancy way of saying that since words don't map directly or "neutrally" onto referents, then signification (meaning) is "infinite".

On the other hand, Chomsky's UG (Univeral Grammar) argues for a "principles and perimeters" view of the brain and human intelligence: in plainer English, he means that the brain has discrete "modules" or sections that are responsible for equally discrete "modules" or sections of intelligence...so, for instance, one part of the brain handles syntax (grammar), while another handles spatio-visual data. This idea, take it or leave it, is very much like the "stereo" idea that the review below mocks...and the same review, of course, praises Chomsky. AND it categorizes Chomsky and Derrida as two great philosophers...well, given that the two are so much at odds, they can't *both* be on the money about language and signification. If Chomsky is right about language, then deconstruction is very much wrong, and visa versa. Yet the review lumps them together and shows no knowledge of the wide gulf between the two approaches.

So, take the review below with a grain of salt, to say the least. Read *Against Deconstruction* yourself and make up your own mind. Whether you finally agree or disagree with Ellis's view of post-structuralism, you'll almost certainly learn an awful lot about language and linguistics; Ellis's rescue of Ferdinand de Saussure from the misunderstandings of poststructuralism alone is worth the price of the book.

20 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Beginner's Defense, March 28, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Against Deconstruction (Paperback)

John Ellis' book remains a good beginning for individuals caught up in the deconstruction phase of their lives. Deconstruction is simply untenable, and Ellis simply elucidates this. His arguments are clear, concise, and often redundant, but then this is the obverse of deconstruction, so it may need repeating. There are other challenges to deconstruction that Ellis does not make, challenges more in line with the philosophy of language and mind (e.g., Kripke, Searle, Ryle, et alia) that are more decisive, but also more complex. This simple tome, however, has enough to get one started, and if the deconstruction bug is still not eradicated, there are other compelling arguments elsewhere to bolster some of the gaps.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent discussion; a well-informed, enjoyable read., September 1, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Against Deconstruction (Paperback)

In this slim, clear-headed volume, John M. Ellis gives a strong and well-informed account of the many outstanding logical, philosophical, and critical-theoretic objections to Jacques Derrida's theory of deconstruction. Juxtaposing his own lucid common-sense forms of discourse and analysis with those of the deconstructive mode, Ellis seeks to demonstrate here that deconstruction's goals are not only unreachable, but also pointless to pursue: the rear cover excerpt speaks of the essential critical act of "finding the new, rather than debunking the old". And at that, the author excels.

"Against Deconstruction" is written in an exceedingly clear and precise scholarly style, one that tastes of cool, classical Greek rhetoric. Each sentence is an enjoyable lesson in how to write clearly and think sharply, as is Ellis' clean large-scale organization; for this reason alone I would recommend it as an instructive rhetorical model for students and writers.

Ellis' mental camera zooms in on the contemporary critical scene, first documenting the strange patterns of denial and argument that have appeared since deconstruction's rise to popularity in world academe. Next he examines Derrida's brainchild itself, untangling the Gordian knot of deconstructive theory and practice. Moving from logic and reason to linguistics and interpretation, Ellis subjects deconstruction to a rigorous logical and historical analysis, finally diagnosing it as a reactionary product of the French educational system, a product that has little value anywhere outside that environment.

In his judgment of deconstruction's proper place in the critical landscape, Ellis articulates an elegant set of criteria for such judgments, and there lies the book's best feature. His formulation asks, "How do we appraise a critical method? By what criteria do we judge the value of statements of critical theory, and individual works of criticism?" Ellis' answers to those questions are excellent and well-presented.