Abstract

DECONSTRUCTIVE READING OF ALEXANDER RAJU’S POETIC WORK “THE HOPES AND FEARS”

Alehegn Bitew Melesse

Volume: 8 Issue: 3 2018

Abstract:

This paper tries to examine Alexander Raju‟s “Hopes and Fears” (2003) from a deconstructive critical perspective. The study tries to come, as close as it can, to the text in order to deconstruct it and reaches at a new reading of the poem by applying the principles of the theory of Deconstruction. “A New Critical reading of the text” as Tyson declares “is often a useful first step in deconstructing a literary work because such readings can almost always be found to rest on a binary opposition in which one member of the pair is privileged over the other” (260). So, firstly the poem is analyzed from new critical point of view, and then it is analyzed using deconstructive principle. A deconstructive critic looks for meanings in the text that conflict with its main theme, focusing on self-contradictions of which the text seems unaware. The paper begins by discussing the concepts of deconstruction as a modern critical theory. It reveals to the reader an overview of deconstruction as a theory of reading texts. Moreover, it proceeds to examine how deconstruction can illuminate the above-mentioned poem by analyzing its verbal contradictions in terms of meaning and structure. Under the scrutiny of deconstruction, these characteristics ultimately uncover the instability of literary language and meaning. This deconstructive reading of the text will allow the reader to gain a better understanding not only of the poem, but also of deconstruction as a literary theory.

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