Derrida: Deconstruction from Phenomenology to Ethics

The problem with books about Jacques Derrida and deconstruction is that they tend to be as abstruse and difficult to approach as some of Derrida's own work. Derrida's philosophy, heavily influenced by semiotics (the science of signs) and linguistics, is hugely influential but seen by many to be willfully obscure. Deconstruction--the word comes from the French de (of) coupled with construction--is a method of very close reading that can be seen as a maverick way of reading the text against its ostensible intentions, sometimes against the conscious wishes of the author, thereby demonstrating its instability. Derrida also rails against what he calls "the metaphysics of presence"--the idea, central to Western philosophy, that a real, true self exists, which he identifies as part of a system of binary oppositions in which presence (male, white, etc.) is always prioritized over absence (female, black, etc.).

Christina Howells's invigorating, closely argued book has the great recommendation of readability and clarity. Her opening review of phenomenology ("a philosophy of consciousness which attempts to put aside preconceptions about the relationship between mind and world") is extremely useful. So too is her ongoing concern about the often ignored relationship between Derrida and the intellectual project of Jean-Paul Sartre's existentialism. Her chapter on structuralism is a little too brief and, overall, the book seldom takes issue with Derrida's positions, seeing in deconstruction a benign ethics and a truly democratic impulse. While many have questioned this position (often, according to Howells, through misreading Derrida by conflating his views with the author and text he is deconstructing), she ably defends the whole Derridean enterprise. Inevitably--particularly with a fast-working author like Derrida--such a primer has gaps, but these in no way mar this enjoyable overview, which will give many readers the confidence to tackle the source works. --Mark Thwaite, Amazon.co.uk