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Although deconstruction has become a popular catchword, as an intellectual movement it has never entirely caught on within the university. For some in the academy, deconstruction, and Jacques Derrida in particular, are responsible for the demise of accountability in the study of literature.
Countering these facile dismissals of Derrida and deconstruction, Herman Rapaport explores the incoherence that has plagued critical theory since the 1960s and the resulting legitimacy crisis in the humanities. Against the backdrop of a rich, informed discussion of Derrida's writings—and how they have been misconstrued by critics and admirers alike—The Theory Mess investigates the vicissitudes of Anglo-American criticism over the past thirty years and proposes some possibilities for reform.
Preface
Introduction
Beginnings
Co-opting Deconstruction
Theory as Postphilosophy: Rosi Braidotti, Geoffrey Hartman, Annette Kolodny
The Misconstruction of Deconstruction: Gerald Graff and Frank Lentricchia
Demonizing Deconstruction: Walter Jackson Bate, RenÇ Wellek, and David Lehman
America is Deconstruction?
Non-Placet
A World Apart: Derrida and the Frankfurt School
1980--1987: A World of Difference
Deconstructing Otherwise: Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak
British Developments: The Influence of ÆMDULØScreenÆMDNMØ
Eclipsing Deconstruction: History of Subject-Positions I
Eclipsing Deconstruction: History of Subject-Positions II
Lurching to the Right
Social Acts and Excitable Speech
Vicious Dualisms
Deconstruction of the Social Relation I: Heidegger and Sex
Deconstruction of the Social Relation II: Derrida's Itineraries
Derrida and the Political
Reconceiving the Theory Mess
Postscript
Notes
Bibliography