Deconstruction Is/In America: A New Sense of the Political

It has become common to speak of deconstruction as having been simply displaced by political concerns. The essays in this volume seek to bring out what was–dare I say?–always already political in deconstruction, while at the same time suggesting that politics is, or could be, deconstructive. Deconstruction Is/In America offers a provocative vision of a different politics. –Steven Rendall, Editor, Comparative Literature What impact has deconstruction had on the way we read American culture? And how is American culture itself peculiarly deconstructive? To address these questions, this volume brings together some of the most provocative thinkers associated with deconstruction, among them Jacques Derrida, Judith Butler, and Avital Ronnel. Ranging across a wide field, from the ethics of reading to the rhetoric of performance, the contributors offer provocative insights into a new sense of the political. The America of the volume’s title turns out to be the place where the politics and poetics of responsibility meet. It is also the place where we confront the tension between difference and profound otherness.