Synopses & Reviews
'What is Deconstruction?' Deconstruction, developed by the French philosopher Jacques Derrida, was a term initially used in literary criticism to describe a method of reading in which conflicting textual 'meanings' were shown to undermine any fixed interpretation. This 'method' has been applied not only to texts but also to the visual arts and architecture. By way of an introduction, Christopher Norris here clearly outlines the basic precepts of this approach, firmly locating it within, and as a reaction to, Western metaphysics. Andrew Benjamin further develops the discussion with illustrations from the work of artists such as Cy Twombly, Anselm Kiefer, Valerio Adami, and architects such as Peter Eisenman, Zaha Hadid, Bernard Tschumi and Daniel Libeskind. 56 pages, over 30 illustrations, 26 in colour Other What is .. ? titles include What is Post-Modernism? (Fourth Edition), What is Abstraction?, What is Classicism? and the forthcoming What is Modernism?
Synopsis
Norris provides a comprehensive documentation of Deconstruction theory and its root in modern literature, while Benjamin produces a thorough and well justified explanation. This is a vial guide to understanding Deconstruction in contemporary art and architecture and its relationship to modern critical methods.
Synopsis
Provides comprehensive documentation of deconstruction theory.
About the Author
Andrew Benjamin is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Warwick and Director of the Centre for Research in Philosophy and Literature, Warwick. He has recently completed a term as visiting professor of architecture at Columbia University, New York, and his publications include Art, Mimesis and the Avant-Garde, The Plural Event and Object? Painting. He is Editor of the Journal of Philosophy and the Visual Arts.
Table of Contents
Deconstruction, Oost-Modernism and the Visual Arts by Christopher Norris
The Metaphysics of Presence: Plato, Rousseau, Saussure
Framing the Text: Kant and Hegel
Truth, Writing. Representation
Double Sessions: Derrida on Mallarm? and Adami
Against Post-modernism: the Politics of Deconstruction
Deconstruction and Art/the Art of Deconstruction by Andrew Benjamin
Deconstruction Itself
Deconstruction and the Architecture of Affirmation
Writing about Adami
Interpreting/Painting and the Art of Deconstruction