Reading Order
De la grammatologieDe la grammatologie Reading Order
De la grammatologie (Of Grammatology, 1967) by Jacques Derrida is the founding text of deconstruction — the work in which Derrida introduces the method of reading that would transform literary theory, philosophy, and the humanities internationally over the following three decades. The book argues that Western thought (the 'logocentric' tradition) has always privileged speech over writing, presence over absence, and the original over the supplement — and that this privilege is unstable, that the structures through which Western philosophy has grounded itself are constituted by the very distinctions (speech/writing, presence/absence) that they claim to overcome. The central chapters perform a deconstructive reading of Rousseau's Essay on the Origin of Languages, showing how Rousseau's text says the opposite of what it intends at precisely the points where it attempts to be most explicit about the primacy of nature over culture and speech over writing. Derrida published three major works in 1967: De la grammatologie, L'Écriture et la différence, and La Voix et le phénomène — the simultaneous publication established him instantly as the dominant figure of post-structuralism.
Where to start
Read De la grammatologie after at least a partial reading of Rousseau's Essay on the Origin of Languages and Lévi-Strauss's Tristes Tropiques — Derrida's readings of both are central to the book, and the arguments make much more sense if you have some familiarity with the texts. Start with the second part ('La Nature, la culture, l'écriture') rather than the first ('L'Écriture avant la lettre'), which is more accessible. Read L'Écriture et la différence (1967) for the more accessible essays on Freud, Foucault, and Levinas.
Complete De la grammatologie Book List
- 1Buy
De la grammatologie
Jacques Derrida·1967·Start with Part II on Rousseau — more accessible than Part I; the founding text of deconstruction; read Rousseau first; the deconstructive reading of logocentrism - 2Buy
L'Écriture et la différence
Jacques Derrida·1967·Writing and Difference — the more accessible companion volume; essays on Freud, Foucault, Levinas, Bataille; read alongside or before De la grammatologie - 3Buy
La Voix et le phénomène
Jacques Derrida·1967·Speech and Phenomena — the third 1967 book; the deconstructive reading of Husserl; shorter and more technically rigorous; read after the first two - 4Buy
Marges de la philosophie
Jacques Derrida·1972·Margins of Philosophy — the essays including 'Différance' (the central Derrida neologism); the most systematic statement of the deconstructive program; read after De la grammatologie - 5Buy
La Carte postale
Jacques Derrida·1980·The Post Card — the late playful Derrida; love letters, Freud, and Socrates; the most personal and most accessible of the later works; read after establishing the method
De la grammatologie — Frequently Asked Questions
What is deconstruction?
Deconstruction is the reading practice that Derrida developed to analyze the unstable structures of Western philosophical texts. The basic operation is to identify the hierarchical binary opposition on which a text depends (speech/writing, presence/absence, nature/culture, original/supplement) and then to show that the privileged term (speech, presence, nature, original) is constituted by the very thing it opposes and excludes — that the opposition is not stable but is undermined by the text's own logic. Deconstruction is not destruction — it does not destroy the opposition or deny that it operates; it shows that the opposition is simultaneously necessary and impossible. The result is not skepticism or relativism but a more rigorous reading that attends to what the text cannot say while saying what it does say.
What is différance?
Différance is Derrida's neologism — a word that cannot be heard (in French, 'différance' and 'différence' are pronounced identically; the difference between them is only visible in writing) — that captures two meanings simultaneously: to differ (être différent) and to defer (différer, to postpone). The différance is what makes both meaning and presence impossible: meaning is constituted by the difference between signs (not by a positive content), and this difference always defers the arrival of a final meaning or presence. Différance is not a concept that can be defined (that would make it present to thought) but a mark of the condition of possibility and impossibility of all concepts.
What is logocentrism?
Logocentrism (from logos, Greek for word/reason/speech) is Derrida's term for the structuring assumption of Western philosophy: that there is a founding presence, a transcendental signified, that grounds language and gives it meaning — whether this presence is called God, reason, truth, consciousness, the voice, or the subject. Logocentrism privileges speech over writing because speech seems to be closest to the living voice of presence, while writing seems to be a secondary, derivative, absent substitute. Derrida's analysis shows that this privilege is impossible to maintain — that the 'presence' that speech is supposed to bring is already constituted by the différance that makes speech possible, and that writing (in the broad sense, as mark, trace, and supplement) is the condition of possibility of all language including speech.
What is the critique of Lévi-Strauss in De la grammatologie?
Derrida's reading of Lévi-Strauss in De la grammatologie focuses on the chapter of Tristes Tropiques called 'The Writing Lesson,' in which Lévi-Strauss describes introducing writing to the Nambikwara chief and argues that writing entered the Nambikwara community as an instrument of power (the chief used it to impress his followers) rather than as a means of knowledge. Lévi-Strauss's argument assumes that the Nambikwara are innocent of writing and of the power it brings — that they exist in a pre-writing state of nature and community. Derrida shows that Lévi-Strauss's own descriptions undermine this assumption: the Nambikwara already have a form of writing (in the broad sense of a system of marks and differences) and a social hierarchy that precedes the introduction of alphabetic writing.
Why was Derrida so controversial in American universities?
Derrida's reception in American universities (he taught regularly at Yale and UC Irvine) was highly controversial for several reasons: his writing style was deliberately difficult, full of puns, neologisms, and wordplay that seemed to resist paraphrase; his influence on literary studies threatened the primacy of close reading and author intention that had characterized Anglo-American literary criticism; and some of his most visible American followers (Paul de Man, J. Hillis Miller, Geoffrey Hartman) were associated with a 'deconstructive' reading that seemed to deny that texts had stable meanings or authorial intentions. The controversy was intensified by the discovery that Paul de Man, the most influential deconstructivist, had written collaborationist articles during the German Occupation of Belgium — a discovery that his critics used to argue that deconstruction had fascist implications, which Derrida famously refuted in Mémoires: for Paul de Man (1988).
Monthly Newsletter
Never miss a big release
Get the most anticipated upcoming books delivered to your inbox once a month — no spam, no filler.
Monthly only. Unsubscribe anytime.
Book links are Amazon affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, BookReleaseRadar earns from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you.