Through the Eyes of Jacques Derrida

Logocentrism is the belief that there is an ultimate reality or center of truth that can serve as the basis for all thoughts and actions. All structures or systems oriented themselves through a center, a moment at which the substitution of elements ceased, something that fixed or held the structure in place. The history of the concept of structure can be read as a series of substitutions of center for center, of a chain of determinations of the center (in terms of being/presence/fullness/positivity). Deconstruction questions the definite judgments, clarity, organization, hierarchy, and solidarity of these centers. In an attempt to demonstrate the decentered nature of reality, its playfulness and fluidity, this collection analyzes the deconstructed nature of identity, culture, morality, and gender in a wide variety of literature including "The English Patient" by Michael Ondaatje, "In Praise of the Stepmother" by Mario Vargas Llosa's, "Corregidora" by Gayl Jones, and "The Sheltering Sky" by Paul Bowles.