Jacques Derrida was a French philosopher who introduced the theory of deconstruction in 1967. Deconstruction is a critical reading of a text to uncover assumptions and contradictions. It questions the relationship between language and meaning by analyzing binary oppositions in language. Derrida was influenced by thinkers like Nietzsche, Freud, and Heidegger. Deconstruction aims to expose power dynamics and how language constructs reality rather than reflects a stable truth. It has been applied to literature, philosophy and other cultural texts.

1. Deconstruction by Jacques Derrida...
Name:- Ekta Jayswal
Class:-M.A. [SEM:2]
Roll No.:- 10
Paper No.7:-Literary Theory and Criticism
Batch:-2017/19
Enrollment No.:-PG2069108420180027
E-mail ID:- ektajayswal12@gmail.com
Submitted to:- Dr. Dilip Barad
S.B.Gardi English Department [MKBU]

2. Jacques Derrida...

3. Who is a Jacques Derrida....!
 Derrida was a French Philosopher, Theorist and Writer...
 He was born in Algeria in 1930,into a Jewish family.
 He was highly influenced by Freidrich Nietzsche, Sigmund
Freud and Martin Heidegger..
 He received a great deal of popularity for his theories and
writing style and equally as much criticism for them..
 In 1967,he introduced the Theory of Deconstruction.
 Perhaps he was best known for developing and analytical
technique of DECONSTRUCTION....
 Derrida also known as a father of Deconstruction.

4. What is a Deconstruction?
 A close and critical
reading of a written text to
uncover the wags of
thinking that constraint
our impressions or
conceptualization of the
world..
 Jacques Derrida,
explained as a strategy,.
.."Rules for reading,
interpretation and
writing"..

5. *History of Deconstruction.....
✓ Rene Descartes (1596-1650) and Fredrick
Nietzsche (1844-1900) were pioneers in
Deconstruction...
✓ They began to question the objective truth of
language..
✓ This is also known as Post Structuralist,this
Criticism came after structuralism..

6. What is a Structuralism?
This is the prelude of
Deconstruction...
It is a science that seeks to
understand how to a system works
,in this case..
The structure of language comes
from the human mind..

7. Origins of Deconstruction....
• Derrida's main influence for
the development of this
theory was from the
theorist,Martin Heidegger...
• In his work called Being
and Time, Heidegger talks
about "Destructuring" of
previous ontological
concepts such as time,
history,matter,etc..

8. Binary opposition...
Words have binary opposites like
good/evil,mind/body,speech/writing..
Usually one side is valued higher than the other,this
creates difficulties that Deconstruction aims to correct...
By Deconstructing these binary oppositions,we are able
to uncover the foundation..
Derrida argued the philosophical traditions were largely
"Marginalized" and with the application of
Deconstruction..It is possible to express what has been
repressed in these traditions...

9. • It is the most important part of
Deconstruction...
• A used of binary oppositions to look at what
is not in a story

10. Comparison...
Formalism..
 Every feature works
together to create
meaning..
 Critics say that the formalist
approach does not give
enough consideration to
historical and cultural
factors
Deconstruction...
 Finds way that the
features of a literary work
contradict each other..
 Ignores historical factors..
 May also lead to Nihilism
or Relativism

11. *Deconstructionists focus on
how language is used to
achieve power,since they
believe,in the words of critic
David Lehman, that....
"There are no truth's, only
rival interpretation"....
*Deconstructionists look for
the way the elements in
literature contradict each
other...
*Words cannot express
meaning.

12. Impact of Deconstruction...
 It takes away from the text because you are looking for what's not there..
 It makes literature seem like "word play"..
 As per Humanist view it as a "wedge between life and literature"....
 It's looks for the ideologies that are in our language...
 In Deconstruction the signified and the signifier are unstable and can take on
multiple meanings.
 We live in a logo centric world -we want to believe that everything is grounded..
 In Deconstruction, this is the opposite of the logo centric view...

13. Deconstruction in Hindu Mythology...

14. • This two epics of Hindu mythology carries a lot of weight and reverence in our
society..
• In Mahabharata, there were great many strong women's,who were in position
of power like Satyavati,Anna and of course Draupadi and Kunti..
• Inspite of the patriarchal society they belonged to, they wielded a lot of power.
• In contrast to Mahabharata,in the Ramayana we find the main characters of
Sita to be exploited time and again and submitting quitely to the torture..

15. • This theory can
be applied in
many ways and
one can only try
to complete it,
because it is a
kind of a process
which never ends
what you have
Deconstructed....

16. Conclusion....
 Derrida has derived the term
from Heidegger and Nietzsche,
who have given the concept of
“Destruction” and “Demolition”
in German; from this the idea
of “Deconstruction” is derived.
 Derrida says, deconstruction is
a word whose fortunes have
disagreeably surprised me.
Defining deconstruction is an
activity that goes against the
whole thrust of Derrida’s
thought. ...

17. Thank You...