- Paperback: 184 pages
- Publisher: Princeton University Press; Reprint edition (1 Feb 1990)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0691014841
- ISBN-13: 978-0691014845
- Product Dimensions: 21.6 x 13.9 x 1.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 486,512 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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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
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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
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format: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.
8 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I can only second the comments of David O'Toole below. This is a great book. I would like to add one more item to praise -- Ellis clearly shows that Derrida's ideas about words and meaning are not only NOT "revolutionary" -- they're a bit old; Derrida is not the first human being to have wondered how much our words correspond to reality, but he and his disciples sure act like they were.
Freud, Foucault, Derrida -- is there some sort of disease among academics which causes them to flock to such demented preachers?
6 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
It is always nice to hear the other side. Having read Thomas Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions for a philosophy of science class I recognize the old-guard's last grasp for power when I see it. Certainly this is a well written book and insightful at times but it is also a representative document of the way we were. Deconstructivism is a hugely important area of study if only because it explodes the various fields it encompasses and allows us to re-evaluate the politics and powers which have heretofore shaped 'the facts' and 'truths' referenced in those fields. As far as Derrida goes, his work is a huge breath of fresh air. 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. And the last writer was correct, Derrida's theories are not specifically new (I love Nietzsche too) but his applications are. He illustrates the dynamic in language which analytic philosophers pretend is not there. You cannot truly know insects when the ones you study are already pinned in the cornell box. It's Heisenberg's principle of uncertainty all over again. So read this book -- it is always good to know the other side, but don't be afraid to shed the dead weight and question the 'facts' and 'truths' you have been spoon-feed by capitalism and patriarchy -- the two (one-sided) fathers of our current academic system which, after all these years is finally losing some ground to real truths. P.S. Read Nietzsche -- to create the new, one does not just foppishly debunk the old -- one smashes it!
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