• In this quote from Derrida’s Of Grammatology, Derrida begins to deconstruct the logocentrism of Western philosophy. He has argued that Western philosophy is logocentric meaning it favors speech (which indicates presence) over writing (with its indication of absence). However, as Derrida points out in this quote, writing is everywhere and it is the very method employed by philosophers to deliver their arguments. In this sense, writing, just in its act of existing, indicates that a philosophy based on the superiority of speech, which nevertheless manifests itself in writing, is based on a false superiority. It is in this way that Derrida deconstructs logocentric philosophy. This method of using the method of an argument to show its inherent paradoxes, misconceptions, or other structural “flaws” is what is known as deconstruction and is a particular genre of post-structuralist criticism. As Derrida notes in this selection, deconstruction is not demolition. In other words, deconstruction does not aim to destroy an argument but rather to call attention to the assumptions necessary to reach that argument in order to destabilize assumptions of truth.

• In this quote from Lacan’s “The Instance of the Letter in the Unconscious or Reason since Freud,” he describes the inability of language to ever encapsulate the “real.” For Lacan, a neo-Freudian psychoanalyst, the Sasssuerian model of signifier over signified (S/s) indicates the difference between the two. The line between S and s is a bar which cannot be breached because The signified and the signifier belong to different orders. S (signified) belongs to the order of words and representations; s (signifier) belongs to the order of the real which can never be reached. Lacan equates this model to the structure of the unconscious where desire exists in the realm of the real and can never be satisfied by the available means because they belong to the symbolic order.

• This quote from Cixous’s “The Newly Born Woman” points out several assumptions that have been mis-assumed as truth in western philosophy: that man is (at) the beginning, that the feminine is subordinate, and that these are requirements of the system of philosophy. In this selection, Cixous reminds us that saying that the feminine is subordinate to the masculine perpetuates the philosophical system wherein the feminine is subordinated which “gives the appearance” that this is the natural order and a precondition of the system. In other words, Cixous is arguing that this system has falsely subordinated the feminine and now claims that such a subordination is both natural and a requirement. Cixous points out that since the subordination is falsely created and hardened into “fact,” it can be undone, and philosophy will still function. This argument is both deconstructionist and feminist in nature and seeks to destabilize something (Western, phallocenric philosophy) in order to show that it is not natural and can, in fact, be very political and even dangerous to those subordinated.

• This quote comes from Shklovsky’s Art as a Technique published around the late 1910’s. In his quote he discusses his vision for the role of art. He sees the purpose of the literary language, in particular, to make the familiar seem strange, or to give the reader a feeling that he experiences events or things as if for the first time. This notion of the “de-familiarization” is one of the major contributions of his work. He gives several examples of this technique from the novels of Tolstoy in the essay. In one of the section he describes the way in which Tolstoy de-familiarizes the idea of ownership by presenting it from the point of view of a horse. Through the formalistic change of the point of view, Tolstoy is able to make the familiar concept seem foreign. Shklovsky views the effect of different forms of literary language, or “roughening of the language” as he calls it, to be the defining characteristic of literature. His work contributes to the project of Russian Formalists.

• This quote comes from Bataille’s Heterology, published around 1930’s. In this quote Bataille discusses one of the main notions of his economic and social system of “heterology.” According to him they system would avoid any form of over-generalization or of any “one size fits all” approaches. This system would make use of all the elements that are currently neglected including waste and excrement. In Bataille’s system there would be space for all forms of social diversity including criminals and the mentally ill. The diversity of the system and of its various products and components, rather than exclusion and reduction become the major notions in Bataille’s system. In the quote Bataille discusses the current homogeneous economic system as being reductive to only creating a consumer-based materialistic culture. Bataille’s work is typically classified under Post-Structuralism since it challenges underlying structures of materialistic economic systems and over-generalized notions of representation.

• This selection from Barthes’s Mythologies is the foundation for his argument throughout that work. In Mythologies, Barthes looks to the Structuralist model of language and finds it duplicated in myth. In other words, for Structuralists, language is made up of the signifier (word) + signified (concept) = sign (both signifier and signified). Meaning is to be derived from the sign, but only because the sign indicates the relationship between the signifier and signified. In myth, Barthes finds that signs (the end result in the aforementioned model), become signifiers in a second order system of signifier + signified = sign. He uses this second order semiological system to analyze the politics and inherent assumptions present in public messages such as famous photographs, travel guides, and advertisements, which he dubs myths.

Sample Essay

     Slavoj Žižek analyzes the function of WikiLeaks phenomena. In his analysis he draws on several literary theories, including Structuralism, Post-Structuralism and Historicism. He employs these theories in order to explain the real function of WikiLeaks in the modern, Western society.

            “The true targets here weren’t the dirty details and the individuals responsible for them:” writes Žižek “not those in power, in other words, so much as power itself its structure” (9D-10A). In this description, he draws on the ideas of Structuralism--situating the “real” meaning of the breach not in the content of what was revealed, but rather in the challenged to the “structure of power itself.” He goes on to assert that WikiLeaks challenged the acceptable methods of opposing power (10A). In asserting this, Žižek counteracts the typical representations of WikiLeaks as merely “good” group vs. “bad” government (9B). He also challenges the view of WikiLeaks being “another chapter for “the ‘free flow of information’ and the citizen’s right to know’ (9B). In other words, he challenges the view of WikiLeaks as another example of a “democratic” challenge of power. Žižek explains why this interpretation is incorrect in the following way: “what isn’t questioned in these critiques is the democratic-liberal framing of the fight against these excesses […] democratic state is never questioned” (9B). Therefore he separates WikiLeaks and gives it greater significance because he asserts that it questions not those particular individuals who are in power (equivalent to parole in Saussure’s terminology), but rather the underlying structures of power itself (equivalent to la langue).

            Žižek’s interpretation of WikiLeak’s critique of power, however, extends beyond demonstrating the challenges to the structure of power. He draws on the techniques of Post-Structuralism in order to challenge the view notions of maintaining power, even through the democratic structure. Similar to Baudrillard’s idea of “hyper-real,” Žižek asserts that whole need for power rests on a “lie.” He uses the example of a Joke from Dark Night, who wants to expose Batman in order for the power structure of the city to fall. The “good guys” have to lie in order to protect the corruption in the story (9A). In other words, those who are in power would like to represent WikiLeaks as a “legitimate challenge” in order to continue the illusion that power can really rest merely in the hands of individuals. “The ultimate show of power on the part of the ruling ideology” writes Žižek “is to allow what appears to be powerful criticism” (9B). Criticism, therefore, works to support the illusory idea of a need for power; it works to support appearances. Later on Žižek even assert that power largely relies on appearances (10A). However, what truly lands Žižek’s discussion in the realm of Post-Structuralism is his Foucaultian view of power. He writes:

‘Power’ is held by the bad guys at the top [in Hollywood films], and is not conceived as something that              permeates the entire social body, determining how we work, think, and consume. (9B)

In other words, the framing of challenges to those who are in power in the accepted terms reinforces the view that the power structure itself is “good,” “worthy,” “effective” and so on, if the structure allows such challenges to those who are in power. It covers up the historical and social nature of the power system itself, which relies on the citizen’s acceptance of the system to function.

            In light of situating power, Žižek draws on Historicisms and the information he re-interprets several historical events to illustrate their relevance to covering up the artificial nature of political power structures. One of the events that he draws on is he 1918 Bolshevik take over. In this event, he argues, Bolsheviks exposed the secrets of tsarist government in order to undermine its “power” among Russian citizens. However, in the same way, they also re-asserted their own power since by exposing this information they did not challenge the conceptions of power itself (9D). Another historical case that Žižek draws on is the agreement between opposing parties in Portugal in 1974. He illustrates that through tact (and lies) those in power were able to come to a mutual agreement to avoid a revolution. They also were able to maintain the democratic political structure and to subvert the opposing forces within a society into socially acceptable methods of opposition (10B). He claims a similar method of tact in the case of Cuban Missile Crises, where only a mutually accepted lies, conflict was avoided.

            Žižek exposes WikiLeaks significance through drawing on these literary and cultural theories. According to him, the real effect was to illicit “the shame--our shame for tolerating such power over us” (10D). By bringing to light the “secrets” of those who are in power is capable of doing something that the other challenges Žižek describes were incapable of doing: bringing to light the role of the masses in allowing a capitalistically driven “democratic” power structure to exist. It challenges the very structure of “a global order whose agents only imagine that they believe in their ideas of democracy, human rights and so on” (10D).