tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3966360.post1478505553300131844..comments2024-01-26T14:21:13.102-05:00Comments on HG Poetics: On demand : Menand on de ManHenry Gouldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06763188178644726622noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3966360.post-44840530426846583552014-03-21T12:11:03.281-04:002014-03-21T12:11:03.281-04:00Thanks, Andrew - interesting + (positive).Thanks, Andrew - interesting + (positive).Henry Gouldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06763188178644726622noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3966360.post-27676575462728091572014-03-21T12:08:05.683-04:002014-03-21T12:08:05.683-04:00Deconstruction identifies binary oppositions at th...Deconstruction identifies binary oppositions at the heart of any given system (philosophical, anthropological, linguistic, literary, artistic). As part of that process, it also draws out how the system depends on constructing its binaries as hierarchies, in which one side of the binary is seen as "good" in one way or another, while the other side is seen as "bad."<br /><br />The key step is actually the next one: show how dependent the system is on the exclusion of that "bad" side of the binary.<br /><br />Once you begin to see these how the binary logic works and how you can "deconstruct" it, the actual process of deconstruction gets kind of boring. So what if you've found another system that works this way?<br /><br />And de Man took Derrida's work and added a dodgy moment to it: he takes contrasts and pretends they are "hierarchicalized" binary oppositions, when they are not. His attempt to read "rhetorical questions" like "what's the difference?" this way involves a particularly obvious shift from contrast to opposition.Andrew Shieldshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02804655739574694901noreply@blogger.com