Langue

Language as a structure or a system.

Studied synchronically: as if this system could be viewed outside of

Theore

Todorovs structural analysis Its object is the literary discourse rather than the

work of literature (hence it is theore

Theore

Analyzing mythology: the classical approach

1. Collect as many versions of the myth as possible, including all available informa

Analyzing mythology: the Structuralist approach

1. Start with one myth, chosen more or less at random. 2. Compare it to other myths (or other ethnographic

data) rst from the same community, then from others, looking for similar or isomorphic elements.

3. In this way uncover the underlying structure of this group of myths.

4. The insights thus gained also contribute to illumina

all these destruc

The opposi@on of nature and culture; and thescandal of the incest prohibi@on

Levi-Strauss argues that, when analyzing a culture: anything which is universal and spontaneous, and not dependent on any par

Obviously, there is no scandal except within a system of concepts which accredits the dIerence. between nature and culture. By commencing his work with the factum of the incest prohibi

The other choice (which I believe corresponds more closely to Levi-Strauss manner), in order to avoid the possibly sterilizing eects of the rst one, consists in conserving all these old concepts within the domain of empIrIcal dlscovery while here and there denouncing their limits, trea

But, Derrida observes, it must be said that every dIscourse is bricoleur. The engineer, whom Levi-Strauss opposes to the bricoleur, should be the one to construct the totality of his language, syntax, and lexicon. In this sense the engineer is a myth. A subject who supposedly would be the absolute origin of his own discourse and supposedly would construct it "out of nothing," "out of whole cloth," would be the creator of the verb, the verb itself. The no

What should we do when our founda@onal concepts (such as the opposi@on of nature and culture) are thrown into ques@on? Derrida says there are two basic choices:

1. Systema

But Levi-Strauss's remarkable endeavor does not simply consist in proposing, notably in his most recent inves

I can go further. If cri

Totaliza

Why does Levi-Strauss reject empirical totaliza@on: that is, the demand that, in a tradi

1. It is impossible to totalize because: there are too many myths to be able to collect them

all; and, beside, our object (mythology) only exists in

2. It is useless or unnecessary to totalize, because: One can uncover the underlying structure of any system

(such as language or mythology) with only a limited number of examples.:

Experience shows that a linguist can work out the grammar of a given language from a remarkably small number of sentences ... (Levi-Strauss 4).

This model of inquiry involves: A eld of play, that is, a eld of innite substitutions

only because it is nite (Derrida 289).

If Levi-Strauss, be?er than any other, has brought to light the play of repe

This arma

Constative: a statement of fact, a statement that can be judged either true or false. The sky is blue. This room is too warm.

Performative (or speech act): an utterance that does not state a fact, but rather, performs or constitutes an action. I take this woman to be my lawful wedded wife. I christen this ship the Queen Elizabeth.

Two specic kinds of performa@ve uRerance or speech act: The illocu@onary: when a speaker vows or promises: I promise to pay you Friday.

The perlocu@onary: when a speaker performs a concrete ac

Aus

:

If you push the argument far enough, all u?erances might seem to be performa

Judith Butler: gender as performance

A project that seeks to expose the founda

Logocentrism: the philosophic belief in being as presence in all

senses of the word (Derrida)

Truth (logos): absolute PRESENCE

speech: self-presence

Wri

Phallogocentrism: logocentrism revealed as essen

Compulsory heterosexuality

Adrienne Richs term for social ins

Derrida, Signature, Event, Context

TEXT

context

context

Text versus context as a ques

THUS: A formalist cri

Marxist or psychoanaly

Does the word communica

It seems obvious that the specic meaning of the word communica

I would like to demonstrate why a context is never absolutely determinable (310).

This demonstra@on will have two eects: 1. The usual theore

Is wri

@enne Bonnot, Abb de Condillac (1715-1780) Men capable of communica

For Condillac, and in the whole history of understanding language, wri

Condillac argues that people invented wri

In the classical view of language:

one assumes an ideal content called meaning which is communicated through speech and then, perhaps, extended and preserved in wri

As opposed to this classical view, Derrida advances two hypotheses:

1. Speech seems to require presence, as opposed to wri

What is the absence that wri

The absence of wri

All this implies four large conclusions: 1. Wri

As if this wasnt enough, now Derrida says that all these characteris@cs of wri@ng: would be valid not only for all the orders of signs and for all languages in general, but even, beyond semiolinguis

What are the essen@al characteris@cs of wri@ng? 1. Wri

These three points are not accidental or incidental: they are essen

Spoken language too:

can only signify because it is the repe

Therefore:

All language, spoken and wri?en, is

predicated on absence; and cannot be understood simply as communica

And, because we live and experience only in

This is what Derrida calls dirance: a French pun that combines the senses of dierence and deferral to dier and to defer.

Dirance, Derrida says elsewhere, is

the becoming-

Dirance Since every moment of life passes away as soon

as it comes to be, it must be inscribed as a mark or trace of some kind in order to exist or be knowable at all: this is the becoming-space of

This is the possibility on which I wish to insist Every sign, spoken or wri?en can be cited, put between quota

What does J.L. Aus

1. A speech-act or performa

For these four reasons, at least, it could appear that Aus

All of Aus

Aus

For example: one thing Aus

When someone says, in a literal wedding ceremony, with this ring I thee wed

Would that formula succeed if it had not been said before, if it was not an itera

ALSO: Aus

The signature Aus

The signature For the signer, a signature marks and retains his having been present in a past now, which will remain a future now, and therefore in a now in general, in the transcendental form of nowness. This is the enigma

Do such things occur? Are there signatures? Yes of course, every day BUT The condi

In order to func

Three summary conclusions: FIRST: Wri

Logocentrism Truth (logos):

absolute PRESENCE

speech: self-presence

Wri

Three summary conclusions:

SECOND: Wri

Three summary conclusions: THIRD: In Derridas argument the classical philosophical

opposi

wri

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