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John M. Ellis

Against Deconstruction 0th Edition

by John Martin Ellis (Author)

3.5 15 ratings

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"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 naïvetê 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

ISBN-10

0691014841
ISBN-13

978-0691014845
Edition

0
Publisher

Princeton University Press
Publication date

February 1, 1990
Language

English
Dimensions

5 x 0.45 x 8 inches
Print length

184 pages
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Editorial Reviews

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"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

Review

"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

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Princeton University Press; 0 edition (February 1, 1990)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 184 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0691014841
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0691014845
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 7 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5 x 0.45 x 8 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,248,496 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #277 in Deconstructivist Philosophy
- #419 in Literary Theory
- #6,243 in Philosophy (Books)

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3.5 15 ratings

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Martin Asiner

The Emperor of Deconstruction Has No Clothes

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 29, 2007

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John Ellis has spent a long and distinguished career debunking what he saw as trendy, illogical, and just plain faulty theories of literary criticism. For him, if any theory purports to explain the relation that a text has with its readers, that theory should be able to withstand a rigorous dissection by those who are more interested in truth and logic than in following the crowd. In AGAINST DECONSTRUCTION, Ellis takes to task the theory called deconstruction, as initially promulgated by Jacques Derrida in 1966. Even before deconstruction took firm hold in academia, Ellis, in his earlier THE THEORY OF LITERARY CRITICISM (1974), sounded a warning that theories which claim a special exemption from analysis and wrap themselves in mystic splendor are likely to be far less sophisticated than at first glance. Ellis shows disdain for any theoretician who stridently asserts that "logic, reason, and analysis are insufficient to discuss Derrida" (9). He further takes offense at the prevalent mode of deconstructionist thought that implies it need do no more than dismantle previously existing worn-out theories without offering a viable and presumably more useful alternative. A recurrent theme, Ellis sees in Derrida, is the latter's refusal to investigate alternatives to his own animus toward logocentrism. Ellis also exposes Derrida as one who shamelessly claims to be a firm originator of a dramatic and even heroic basis for judging texts in terms of their inherent contradictions as indicated by their binary opposites. Such binaries, Ellis notes, are neither original with Derrida nor a particularly fruitful way to limit academic discourse to polar opposites while totally ignoring a vast range of shades of meaning that are interspersed between them. Finally, Ellis lists many rhetorical tricks, flourishes, and deceptive practices, all of which add up to a theory that has succeeded in entrenching itself in literary discourse despite its many flaws. Clearly, as long as Derrida's followers can repeat the mantra that "all interpretation is misinterpretation," then the validity of deconstruction as a useful tool in literary analysis will endure only for as long as it takes enough people to see that the literary emperor truly has no clothes.

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John D. Lavendoski

Ellis Reveals that this "Emperor Has No Clothes"

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 24, 2016

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Ellis mercilessly deconstructs "Deconstruction". It is not the easiest of reads, but it is worthwhile for both philosophy students and interested lay persons. Witty as well as wise....

One person found this helpful

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Bruce E. Fleming

Envelope arrived empty.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 12, 2018

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Envelope arrived empty. No way to contact anybody.

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P.A. d.G.

clear; charitably critical; nevertheless corrigible

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 18, 2011

First of all this text is remarkably lucid. Furthermore, it is quite fair in its critical analysis of the subject at hand. This text is also, though now around two decades old, very important to the ongoing debates concerning "deconstructive events".

Strengths: Ellis raises powerful objections to the privilege with which "deconstruction" is treated by its adherents. Specifically, through this text the author makes it quite clear, even early on, that "deconstruction" may be read as self-undermining, both in presentation and execution. Even more particularly, Ellis's observation that there are better and worse interpretations of deconstruction, evinced by both Derrida and his commentators, directly flies in the face of the central "deconstructive" tenet that authorial intent can not be a controlling factor.

Ellis also admirably calls to question some of Derrida's rhetorical movements, especially those key movements on which major points turn. For example, Ellis points out the habit of switching out terms for other terms, in supposed demonstration of validity, while no such successful demonstration may actually be taking place. I am thinking specifically of Ellis's discussion of the "language:speech/writing" translation, by Derrida, to "writing:phonic/graphic". This observation is quite prudent.

The chapter on the utility of "deconstruction" as criticism is among the best in the book. I recommend this chapter be read along with the writings of Gasché (against the possibility of "deconstructive" criticism) as well as the writings of someone like de Man or Norris (for the possibility).

Weaknesses: There are several, but of most notable interest to me was the early discussion of what Ellis takes to be a confused understanding of Saussure by Derrida. I do want to emphasize that on much of this material concerning a historical and conceptual analysis of Saussure, Ellis is quite spot-on; for example, his discussion of the "garbling" of 'sign', 'signifier', and 'signified' on the part of Derrida and his commentators is remarkably keen and one of the most poignant contributions he brings to the discussion. I hope that many readers, especially those committed to Derrida's "project", pay close attention to these passages. Elsewhere, however, I take it that Ellis is misconstruing things. For example, Ellis offers evidence that he takes to directly call into question the idea of ethnocentric logocentrism, in particular that Saussure offered a groundbreaking response to the Western tradition of preference for the written (strictly-speaking, not the written in any expansive Derridean sense of the term) in an ostensibly total lack of awareness of Plato's opinion on the matter --- and this is very much an area to which Derrida, following Nietzsche before him, looks to respond. Here Ellis takes Derrida to commit the offense which he condemns in Saussure -- privileging the written over the oral, but this is decidedly off-base.

The text also looks to be too selective for a deep critique. For example, some of the passages withdrawn from Spivak's translation of Grammatology are encapsulated within a lack of original context, and in some cases the questionable points of argumentation hold much more weight when taken within the entire essay or chapter within which they are found. This, alas, can be a struggle in the composition of any critical response to a text. I also have small concerns about the extent to which Ellis really went through the original French versions on his own -- being no issue had he not explicitly noted in a footnote on p. 18 that he had done so. I think that, at points, some passages fall victim to poor translation into English. Of course, this burden may not be exclusively placed upon Ellis, but if he is able to read the French, I see it as a less excusable error than it would be with the lack of French ability.

In a word: This is an extremely valuable text but like any other it cannot offer any final word on the matter of the "deconstructive" possibility. I would recommend this book more to dogmatic followers of Derrida than I would to those who have already dismissed his project, although this text should be read by philosophers and lit critics alike, not to mention anyone else working within the humanities or social sciences.

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Top reviews from other countries

Kindle Customer

A reasonably cogent critique of deconstruction, but Ellis fails ...

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on November 14, 2016

Verified Purchase

A reasonably cogent critique of deconstruction, but Ellis fails to situate the phenomenon in the cultural ambience that made its acceptance in the United States possible.

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