Deconstruction For Beginners

Deconstruction is so labyrinthine (and rumored to be fatal) that it's become the monster that murdered philosophy. When Jacques Derrida, the father of deconstruction, uses buzz-words such as "phallogocentrism" and "transcendental signified," humanities students and aspiring philosophers may get weak in the knees.

Following up on the success of Derrida For Beginners, Jim  Powell's Deconstruction For Beginners is romp through deconstructive domains. Powell offers lucid explanations and irreverent caricatures of the most important deconstructive ideas (such as Derrida's "phallocentrism")  and texts. He also dives into lesser known works. One of these, The Right to Look, finds Derrida offering his thoughts on a photo-novella consisting of images of women making love with each other, which some in straight society consider to be a perverted act.  Powell also goes on to explore how deconstruction, like an unruly mistress, has escaped Derrida, especially in the realm of architecture. Then, based on Derrida's assertion that deconstruction happens differently in different cultures, Powell examines how - through Buddhism and Taoism - deconstruction took place in ancient India, Japan, and China. Gentle readers should be advised that some of Derrida's terms that Powell caricatures stem from Freud's terms rooted in sexual anatomy.