Reconstructive Interpretation In Glas, Derrida By Barthes

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Barthes (1977) takes the same track by asserting that the original meaning of the word ‘text’ is “a tissue, a woven fabric.” Such an etymology implies the “stereographic plurality” of the text. A set of relationships with other texts, the text encompasses within it unaccountable references and echoes which may even be mutually incompatible. Therefore, what the reader perceives in the text is “multiple, irreducible, coming from a disconnected, heterogeneous variety of substances and perspectives” (Barthes, 1977: 159). In Leitch's (1983) words, the text, “explodes beyond stable meaning and truth toward the radical and ceaseless play of infinite meanings spread across textual surfaces dissemination” (1983: 105).
Derrida’s deconstructive interpretation …show more content…

On each page of Glas, there are two columns of prose, set in different sizes of type (Derrida, 1986). The left column is concerned with Hegel, whereas the right column dwells upon Genet. Let into these columns at the side are boldfaced interruptions, some of which are short and some are long. These interruptions resemble footnotes insofar as they relate to the subject matter discussed on the page. However, they are different from regular footnotes at the same time, because they do not essentially refer to any specific word or …show more content…

In Glas, there are numerous quotations, some of which are with quotation marks while the others are not. From the very beginning therefore, the reader of Glas is confronted with the difficulty of distinguishing quotations from non-quotations. Since there are so many “stolen things” in Glas, Derrida (1986) thus announces that Glas is “in effect a book on theft,” because “it revolves round property, appropriation, and usurpation” (1986: 18). The unmediated presence is impossible; presence always mediates. Neither the signifier nor the text is an autonomous

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