Decoding Literary Theories

  Jacques Derrida (1930–2004) was a French philosopher who deeply influenced modern literary theory and philosophy. Born in Algeria during French colonial rule, he later became one of the leading voices of post-structuralism. Derrida is best known for developing deconstruction , a way of reading texts that shows how meanings are never fixed, final, or fully stable. His famous 1966 lecture, “Structure, Sign and Play in the Discourse of the Human Sciences,” questioned the idea that systems of thought have a secure center or absolute truth. Some of his other major works include Of Grammatology (1967), where he critiques Western philosophy’s preference for speech over writing; Writing and Difference (1967), a collection of essays exploring philosophy and literature; and Speech and Phenomena (1967), which examines language and consciousness. Through these works, Derrida transformed the way we read texts and think about meaning. His ideas continue to influence literary criticism, fe...

  Introduction Elaine Showalter’s essay “Twenty Years On: A Literature of Their Own Revisited” is a retrospective reflection on her influential feminist literary history A Literature of Their Own, published in 1977. In this essay, Showalter examines how feminist literary criticism emerged, how her work contributed to its foundations, and how it has been debated, criticized, revised, and expanded over two decades. The essay is both autobiographical and critical, tracing the intellectual history of feminist criticism alongside her own scholarly journey. For students, this essay is important because it explains why women’s writing was excluded from the canon and how feminist criticism reshaped literary studies. Academic Climate Before Feminist Criticism Showalter begins by recalling the academic atmosphere of the 1960s, when feminist criticism did not exist as a recognized field. Women writers were largely absent from university syllabi, literary histories, and critical discussions. ...

Louis Althusser (1918–1990) was a French Marxist thinker who changed the way we understand power in modern society. Instead of focusing only on force or laws, he asked an important question: Why do people willingly accept systems that control them? Althusser argued that power works mainly through ideology—ideas and beliefs taught by institutions like schools, family, religion, and media. His famous essay “Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses” explains how these institutions shape individuals into obedient social subjects. By highlighting the hidden role of ideology in everyday life, Althusser made Marxist theory more relevant to culture, literature, and education. To explain how ideology operates in everyday life, Althusser builds on Marxist theory but moves beyond its traditional focus on economic forces alone. He argues that for capitalism to survive, it must constantly reproduce not only wealth but also obedient workers and citizens. This reproduction is made possible through...