Icarus and the Myth of Deconstruction :: Essays Papers

Icarus and the Myth of DeconstructionIn all three texts, it is the act of outline which seems to occupy the center of the discursive stage, and the act of epitome of the act of depth psychology which in some way disrupts that centrality. In the resulting asymmetrical, abyssal structure, no analysis -- including this one -- can intervene without transforming and repeating other elements in the sequence, which is non a stable sequence. Barbara JohnsonThe Frame of ReferenceThe Critical Difference 1. universe Among its detractors, literary theory has a reputation for sinful ignorance of both writings and the outside world literary critics either overemphasize the word at the expense of mise en scene (as in formalistic criticisms) or overemphasize context at the expense of the word (as in political and historical criticisms). However, deconstructionism holds a particularly tenuous position among literary theories as a school that apparently commits both sins while formalistically focusing on the words on the page, deconstruction subjects those words to unnatural abuse. Thus, deconstruction seems locked in the ivory tower, in the company of resentful New-Critical neighbors. Such charges have received poor response from deconstructions top theorists who, though they define and redefine the basic tenets of their approach, fail to justify such an approach in the world. They have explained their purpose, plainly not their motivation. With this desperate need in mind, then, embarking on any new piece of deconstruction poses a twofold demand to not only anticipate to unfold new facets of a text (or texts) through a deconstructive lens, but to aim that lens outside of literature and show its implications in society, outside from any ivory tower. Ovid, Pieter Brueghel and W. H. Auden have (inadvertently) created a lineage convenient to these demands. In Ovids myth Concerning the Fall of Icarus from Metamorphosesi, he created a character that has become an icon, several(prenominal) millennia later. Pieter Brueghel adopted the icon in the sixteenth century for his painting adorn with the Fall of Icarus, which then received famous treatment in the ordinal century by W. H. Auden in his poem Muse diethylstilbesterol Beaux Arts. These three works provide a beautiful, laboratory-quality arena in which to halt various deconstructive ideas Jacques Derridas theories of translation and the dangerous supplement and Roland Barthes conception of the myth as language. However, such an inheritance necessarily extends to include the critical work that draws it together.