Christopher Norris (1) (1947–)

Published in the heyday of the American reception of deconstruction, Norris' book is a good, if somewhat dated (before Derrida's "ethical/political turn"), introduction to deconstruction, with an emphasis on its role in 20th century evolution of literary theory and criticism. Norris provides a lucid, sympathetic and mostly accurate, if occasionally (and he admits as much) simplifying, account of Derrida's work up to that point, including a bit on his relation to Heidegger and Husserl.

Much show more of the book is dedicated to providing an overview of the American reception of Derrida's work and its relation to main trends in American literary theory and criticism, specifically structuralism, New Criticism, and Marxist criticism. Norris clearly has his favourites among Derrida's American heirs: Paul de Man is repeatedly lauded for his rigour, while certain others come in for some minor censure for going too far into the sort of rhapsodic flights of imagination and whimsy that deconstruction can sometimes be taken to legitimate. But his criticism and praise avoid both fawning and the histrionics that deconstruction has sometimes inspired in its detractors.

If you are looking for a philosophical introduction to Derrida's work, this is not it, but that is clearly not its aim. show less