I have become more and more curious about - Derrida and Deconstruction!
Can anyone suggest what texts I could read of His as an introduction into his thought? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
“There is no necessary order amongst signifiers” - Derrida
Probably ‘Positions’ is the best place to start.
James
I thtarted with the “Missionary” - I think that’th probably the eathiest for a beginner.
Start with ‘Deconstruction, Theory & Practice’ by Christopher Norris.
The best brief overview of the whole field that I’ve ever found. Concise and clear.
Or the Reader called Between the Blinds, which is an excellent overview of Derrida’s work, or the Deconstruction Reader edited by Martin McQuillan, which is a collection of essays from all over the field…
If you want to actually start with a text by Derrida then any of his collections of interviews is worth taking in. Don’t start with Limited Inc., Spectres of Marx, Speech and Phenomena because they’ll all require you to know other stuff about Derrida for any of them to make sense.
The ‘meaning’ of a signifier is other signifiers - there’s no position outside of the signifying chains (il n’y a pas de hors-texts)
in the ydays of pinchoisms rule.
If you’ve got nothing sensible to add then please maintain a respectable silence. Better to be silent and be though a fool than to open ones mouth and remove all doubt.
Homer: (thinking) What does that mean? I dunno, quick, say something or they’ll think you’re stupid. (out loud) Takes one to know one!