DAVID LODGE
Deconstruction: A Review of the Tate Gallery Symposium
n.v fllr Ihe bl'st and 1I10si cOJIII>rchcnsive review orIhe T~l l c G~lllcry Sym posium. t his uri iete.tirst publ ishcd in Ihe •Revic" .
section or the Guardian. Frid:'IY. April8l h. 1988, is included here bee.lUsc or both the context it gil'cs to the event itself,
and Ihe clear and general overview or the subject as a whole. Ucginning wilh the Ocrride'lIl notion or Deconstruction in
philosophy amlliterCllure. if goes all to question the wider :'IPlllication of'such ideas in the lieIds 01' art and archill'Cture.
The onl} .... ay you I:oukl gel inlo [he iluJiltJriulll for Ihe Tale Gallery',
one·da) ,ymplhium on O\..'Con...lmclion In Art .md ArchileclUrc W:I'
through a ...wing doorclearly mar~cd .... IIh the 1t1lcrnalIOnai .No Entry'
\}'mbol. Whelher IhlS wa'\ planned or:Iccidenlal. it-.cemed approprime
Ih!!, .... c ~holJld be tran"£re",,ing the convelllional meaning of Ihis
f;mlili;lr ~Ign all d!!y long (and it wa~ a long. day). as we ,hufllcd
b:lckw:lrd.. and forw!!rd!<o octl·H!Cn the !!udiloriuln :md the lobbic!.: for
une u1 lhe axiom" of Dccun"truction i.. that the b0nd between lhe
. \lgmllcr and the ..ignilied i\ nOl;l\ ,,[able a\ i\genemHy ~UPPo"C(l. but
on the contrary 'always already' ~ubjcl.:1 \l1 "Jippage <lnd the pl<ly of
llijfh"f//I{('.
Some who pmhcd their .....ay through Ihe No Entry sign were hoping
10 find out .....hOl' Deconstruction wa\. Other" of u'\ were curiou'\ 10
dl~o\er whal it could pos,ibly have to do wnh An and ArchitcclUrc,
Dccomtruction i.,the br:linclllh.l of the Frent'h philo...ophcr beque,
Dcrrid!!. Over Ihe 1:.\. :20 year, i[ h!!" been :In IlllpClnanl - .,OIllC would
\ay the dominant clement in thaI gcncralmo\emcnt in Ihe hurn;1ll
\l"I~'ncc" kilO.... na\ po"t-\lructur:llislIl, It'" nul '0 much:l method, more
01 j'ranK' (If nllnd one that ha" lirelc"..ly qlle~llOned Ihe nalure alld
IXlS,lbiIIIY ofmeaning [hrough {/lIuir.l'i,\" ufand commentary upon ICxt'
origm;llly philo~ophical texl'.lhen lilerary lexts.
T'lking Iheir cut' from Dcrrida'" :h!.Crtion [hat 'language bcar~
v.ilhin il\elf Ihe nece~,ily of its own critique', Dccon~truclioniM
liler<lr} cntic,. e'pl'Ci:llly at y..lc. have delllon~lr..IIed. 10 Iheir own
,:IIi,faction and in the teelh of tradilion:11,cholar<,hip. th.11 ally le.'lt
inevil.lbly undermine" it, 0.... n cl:ll1ll to have a detenninalC l11eanlllg..
StIlee thi' procedure opens up the le'l 10 Illultiple interprelallOn,. Ih
:lppcallO litemry critics i~ pcrh:lp' obvlOu".
Bul hoI.\, could a mo\emcnt \(J dceply IIwesled III Ihe analy~i, of
\crb;tll;lI1guage be rdevanllo art ;md architecture? My firsl reaclion
10 Ihe ;l1l1lOUnCe11lenl of Ihe Tate Symposi Itnl wa~ incredul ity,
W!.'!!. I.\, c IiYC !lnd learn. I"o(JtHli ,cnvered Ihat Derrida hilll\elf had
publl"hed a whok book aboullhe ae'thelic" or rhe yi,ual :In,. recelltly
Iran,l:lIcd IIItO English a~ Tilt, Trufh III PWllfillg, and Ihat he h:I" taken
a keen inieresl III ,lrchiteClure. 10 the poml of collabormrng .... l1h
Bt'm:lrd T,chU1lli and Petcr Ei\Cnman on project.. for the Pare de I..
Villcllc. a kind of post-!otruclur:JIi'1Iheme p<lrk now LImier conslruclion
tor ,hould one !.:Iy. undcrdecomtruction'!)on acleared Illdustrial
'I'e 11I1he nonhern .,ubllrb~ of Pari~.
T~chumi and Ei..enman arc among -.even archilects whme work b
10 ~ exhihil\!d at the MU\elllll of Modern Art In New York Ihi~
"L1llllller under the heading or Decoll$lruClion or DccOI1~lructivi);1l1
jlhere is ,ome my~lery and contro\'el'~y aboullhc CX;K'llitle), an evenI
aW;JIil'd wilh keen illlere~t and Ihe audible !.harpcning of kniyes in the
;.rchnectural fr~lIenIllY. The T:lIc Sympo,iulll wa~ in !.ome M'n!.C a
prelimin:lry !.kirmish in the controyer!.y Ihi!;!ohow i, bound to prmoke.
Peter Ei~nl1lall indeed complained Iha! it would be the tir~t lime in
hi\tory thai :1Il exhibition Wil' being conullent('(\ on before II had
hapllCned. What he W:l\ rcgi'\lering wa!o the crut'i,,1 placc of lilt
illlcrmilional conference a\:ln mqilutlon in modem intellectual hft
New trend~ now "tan nOl from e'lhibition~ or public:llion, but from
conference~. 11 W;I';;. ;\fler nil. [he 1966 conference :It Johll Ilopkin)
Unl\'er~ity. Baltimore. 'The L:lI1guage~ of Criticism ;tnd Ihe SCLences
of M;Jn.' attended by Dernd:l and other Parisian savanh, Ih;LI fir,1 PUt
the idea~ ofpost-~tructur:Lli,m into circul;J[ion in America, where the")
were developed. in"titulionali..ed, and ullimately rc-eXIXlrled 10 EurOI)C
:md Ihc re't of the :tcadcmic world,
• • •
Not \urpri'ingly. therefore, theT:IIc Sympo'lulll {JOIn' I} );ponsoredb)
the Ac:tdemy publi~hll1g group, who arc publishmg Iwo useful ~pecl:r1
l"ues of Iheir h:lI1d!.OLIlcly IlIu~lr:tted journal" Art (.Ii f)C'Si,~11 and
Architt'{'tllrul Dt'sigll in conjunction with the even!) W;J' over-\ubo
,(.Titled long before the day. c~pecially :I" Derrida him,clf W;t~ adver·
II"cd ;t" ;1 part icipant. CynieaIveIer:II1" of Ihe interniLtiOlla Iconfcrence
CirCUli were equally un~urpriscd when Derrid:1 didn'[ ~how up.
In,tead we were "hown an edited videolapc ofan rnterview wLlh him
recorded a few days carlier by Chri~lopher Norri~. Profe"or or
Engli~h 31 Cardiff and Ihe leadin!! Brili~h expen on Dccon,lruction.
Perhap~ aft~r all 11 W;J\ fi lling thai Ihe relcntle~s erillc of the ideaof
·prc-.cnce' in We,tem melaphy~ic~ ..hould be a palpilble :lb-.el1ce at tht
gillhenng he had indirecily provoked.
On thi.~ fua)" jerky bl! of video (DeconMruction, as I di\Co\cred
liI"t year in the pnx::c,,~ of rnaJ..ing .. film forChilll11el4 aboul u\unilaJ
(.;(l11fercnce. ~eems to have a bad effect on Ihe focal propcnie~ ofT\'
c;ul1eras) Dcrrida. se:Lled in a glazed .sludy surrounded by lu~h greenery,
admilled that he had lurmelf once been doubtful about the
appliciliion of Decon~trucl1on 10 architeclure, bul the pcr~I'tence of
architeclural mCI'.phors in philo),ophical and Iheorelical di~our'i(
(. found:llion'. 'supcr,lruclure', 'ordtiu'( (tIItill" etc) had encoumged
hun 10 inve~ti£.ale funher. Architech. he ),uggc),led. u-.ed DecOfl'
Iruetlon lochallenge the hegemony ofarchilecturJ.1principle» ~uch3.'
'funelion' and' beiLuty' I'Cm,cribing thi" challenge 11\ their work,
Whal doc~ this mcan 111 prac\lce? Well, it mean.. warped plallC,
"J..e","cd lines, exploded corner~, nying bcam~ and what Dr Johmoo,
describing metaphysical ver~c, called 'heterogcneou~ ideas yoked by
violence toge[her'.
TaJ..c. for instance. Frank Gehry'); Ilou.se in Los Angeles, nti~ iS3l1
ordinary 'uhurban shingle hou'\C. painled pink by Ihe previou\ ()wner\.
10 which Gchry added a vi~ually disoriema[ing eXICI1,iol1 made of
corrugated steel. glass. chain link. bl:lck asphal[ and cheap timber
po~t~, full of ,,~cwed angle~ and unexpected galh. and generally
~u!!gl.'~tive of a ~cho{)l playground or the ha('k of a film <,et.
h i\ unpopular" ilh GdJrY', neighbour!o.. onc of whom ha... deo,crib...'1i
it a,'a dirty thing to do in \Omeone chc'" Irom y:mJ', hut a
'l()UTCI,' of irllcrhc rrllcre!o.[ among archilech and de~ig.ner\ indeed it
I~ po~,ibly th(' tl10~t writtcn-ahOll! hou~c 10 have been bui lt in the la~t
decarlc.
Gl.'hry him-.clf i... cheerfully untheor('II(:al about h i~ work hi~
an~\f,er 10 Ihe quc...ILon. \\ hat i., Ihe differencc het\\ een an and architecture.
bemg tl1.11 '1 he .m:hitCCIr, " illing to PUllilOLlet in hi., '>,rue,ure.
bill his exploilat ion ofdi~c{ml. di~eontinui ty and dL...tortion, to break
down accepted an.:hitce\ural di...tinetions octwecn form and rum::tinn.
~aut} and ugline......, in...ide and out,ide, have made him willy-nLlly:L
\001'1 of figureheOid in Ihe Dccon...tmclioni...t movement, and hi... worl..
\\.111 femure in the MOMA e'(hi1)llion.
Peter Ei-.cmnan r, :\ morc ,clf-con'\Ciou,ly theorelLcal architect,
....ho has ba\ed hi~ worl.. (e~pccially a ,eril!" of hou~e, known au,tcrely
II Hou'>C I. 1I0u<"c 11. 1I0u...c 111 ctc) on lingui\tie rnodel~. 111\ early
IHlfk \\.a, In\pired b) Chom,l..i:m gl!lIenttlvc gr.unmar, C'ntailmg. a
\tnes of ·trJn..formallon...· of a geometrical decp-:,.tfucture wllh IOtal
indifference 10 the comforI and conveniencc of \11\ client....
Hi, Hou'>C VI. for 1n\lanCe, ha, Llon-fum:tLonal columLl~ which
,><'pJrate people ~lt!lL1g at the dining table. and a ,lit in the !lOOf oflh('
maIler bcdrOOrl1that mat..es twin bcd, rnandawry. When climbing. the
!d3JI3 }OU mu~ttal..c care not \0 bang your head (lfl:1 ,ccond imened
-t:lLrcasc ~1Uct.. on the cl'ihng. The architccI', conversion 10 Decon'llruclLon
~J' marked by II()u~e X, which ha, acanTilevered tran'paren!
glass tloor and no identifiable centre.
Ei<,;enm:tn W;I' the fiN ora panel of ...peat..er~ on ;lr<.'hileclure mlhe
morning SC\\lon of the Symp<hium, introduced by ChariI,'''' Jencl..'. an
,o\mcrican;tr\nitlc re,ident III England, with a',lecial.\Ollle would ....Ly
proprielonal. imerc\t in PO\l-Modemi\lll. TIli... he define!) not merely
J\ lin arChLh!l.'turJI reactlOl1 IIg"in,t the '>Cverely funclional cubLc
,hares ofCorhu,icr and Gropw" hut as a wider cultural phenomenon
of 'double cWlng' to oc found acro~!o. the board of cont('!1lIXlrary
Inno~alhe an.
Whether Dcron...tructlon is pari ofor the ...ame .1\ l~o,t-ModcrlH"'lIl
\\3) one of the recurrent i~~u!!, of the day', debate... Jem:I.....· vic"
'iCl'med to he that m,ofar 3, Decon,truclioni...t archileclure wa, di,tlll~ui\hable
from P{)~t-Mo(krni'm 11 wa~ probahly not ard! Ltecturc, but
a kind of ae\thetic jol..e. Ih~ inlroduclol)' di~eouro:,e wa... entitled
·!Nt:onstruclion: Ihe sound of one mind lauglung.'
Ei..cnm:m "a, n01 :ullu~ed .. I'm lluite fond of Charle~: thi... fel\lY
t-iell Yorker dru\.\.led inlo the nllcrophonc. 'but enough'., enough.
N~xt tnne (1ll11d we hu~e an introdLlcer who t..now~ what he'~ tall..ing
about'!' To have blood on the c;Lrpct ..0 early in Ihe proceeding' wa,
agoodsL£II. The,lUdience clapped :lI1d ...al upexpecI:lIltl). Jencl....., who
•\ u.~ 10 bemg the man other p'-"'Ople in the art world love to hate,
didn't ~m unduly disturbed.
Though Ei~rnllan' ~ building' ~ound fairly loony in descnption, hi...
ilk'a~ are il11erc,ting. Hi~ vcr...ion of Deconstruction has a psychoanaI~'til'al
slam: 11 breat..... down dialel.'tlca( oppo.,itiom 10 reveal whal they
b.1~e repTC\-.cd. ln the [Xl\t, vi,ual ani<;[!)' told u!> tmth, about archih..'C·
tUI~ Illat alt:hitect~ preferred to (·onceal. Munch'\ painting!. reveal lhe
f~3f and lo,uhml? entombed within Ihe bourgeois house. Pirone:.i
decon,lructed per"'l>cctlVe and point of view hy the in<:.oluble riddlc~
Ilfhi~ \'3ult~-d \tULlt:3O;C,. Thl.' medieval cathedrals acknowledged what
Ibey reprc~\Cd in the foml 01' decorative gargoyle.... We wanlto make
W repre~~tJ \truclUrJ.t: \!lid Eisenman 10 'I,;UI into the area" of
~3K"q re...i\!:mce:
Then Bemard T'"-'humi (Swi,.. in origin, American-ba~dl, ...0111brely
tJre~~ed in ~had" of hillcl.. lind dark grey. ~howcd slide, of hi!,
prue-winning plan for the Parc dela Villette. It\chLeffeaturc i~ a <,eric')
Iif ro:emric·loot..mg red building... vaguely reminiscent of Ru~~ian
forhtructivi,m in shape, sc:ll1cred over the nat .,ile al 120 metre
Dc\ VtD LODGE
interval, according 10 a IXlint grid. and calledj(/!i/'l' a Dcrridean pun
on the Engli,h ardmeclural folly and Ihe French word for ·mad·
ne,,!)C...'.
Derrida him-.clfha... givcllthc enlerpri...e an appr<l\'in!!comnlel1l<lT)':
'lhe[ofil'l put imo operalion agtllcral d",IOClltion: ... they decomtruct
fiN 01 all, but not only, Ihe sell1antic, of arl'hitccture:
The functiom of Ihe fil/ll's ;Lrc nl!xiblc and ambLguous, ant.
T...chunll told us, originally eaml.uled a~ a children')o cenlre. IS now a
I ideo ",Iudio. Another ha... been de'oign:ltcd al different ~l4tge' a
re'laurant. a garden I,;cnlrc :lIld mo,t recently an art gallery. Another
wa~ de'lgncd with no 'iipecific fUIll'tlOn 111 mind.
T,chunlL's approach \0 archilecture i... fiercely hl\torici~t in the
POPI>crian ~n-.e. The ~pced of modern cOlTImUniC;lllorh. he a...sureJ
U..., h:!... m..de traditional measure redundant. II LS no u-.c try,"!, 10
di'gui...c the abolition of permanence, We live in a period of dercgulation
.ofairline~, ofthe Stock Exchlntgc and the luws of('Ia'sical
phY'Lc~. The PlIre de la Villettc L"ed l>crmul:Ltion and ~ub,titulion \0
:IliacI.. Ihc oh~olele logic or cau...e and cffe('\. Thi" l\dlUmi claimed.
wa~ a truly I)o~t-Moderni~t archLteclure ~ the (.'('letlLc rcvivafl~m
which claim" Ihat n..me being merely regre",inc'. 01 desperdte allem\>!
to n.'Cullerate a dbcrcdited nOlion of meaning,
There i... a bleat.., fanaticil con...i<,tency about T~l.'humi·s vi"on
which ~eel1l'" all 100 lit..cly to qc realised in the Pare de la Villelle,
Loot..mg:lt the <,lide... I kcpt im:lgining lillie group~ 01 di!>Col1'>Olate
people w;mdcring through the Pare on a weI Sunday. ,1:lOng numbly
:It the meaningIe"" red building' a... the min dripped frotllthe functionless
J1ym£ be'lm, onto theLr umbrella,. wondering whal wa, ex.pecled
of them.
ACl'ordin~ to 7':lha lIadid. a L(ltldon-b;:lscd architect of Per...ian
exlmellon. who ~pot..e nex!. the new architecture affiml... lhat 'much
about the 10th cenlury i, very enJoyable.' and for mc Iter Munnlllg
architectural paintLng~. drawn a!o. if vie~ed from Ihe cocl..l)it of:l low·
I1YLllg Jctp1:l!Ie, expre~~ed thi~ hedoni~til.' principlc more <,ucce~srully
than T,chul11i'sfi!/il'_I,
Hadid', archileclure h:t~ hcen de'>Cribcd as .anjJ-~nl\'ltalional· . The
prilewlnningde'ign for aclubon lOp of a mountain overlooking Hong
Kong i... m her own word..., 'a honzontal 'I..y~craper.· bUI the cunnmg
arrangement ofit......lah~ and ramps mal..e, Ltlook as ifit is about to ~Iide
duwnlh!! ~idc or the mount:Lin. It', a pily the client ha, su~pcnded the
project becau..e of ~ome unspt.."Cified trouble with the Hong Kong
authoritl!!': it would he interesting 10 ,ce if It could be built.
Marl.. Wlgky, the young eo-organi'>Cr of the impending MOMA
show, MTC,scd th.lt the exhibit!o. (Ihey include Hadid's) "er(' nOI
utopi:m fanta'iiies. Willi... might be 'tonllented', structure and materia!,
broughl to the vcry limLts oflokrablc ~trc...~. but Ihey could all bebuih.
Contrary toT!>Chum i. Wigley claimed Ihal architectural o...--construction
wa... n01 a new 'i,m' or av'Lnt-glirde, but an etlon 10 uncover Ih('
problemalic'> ofall archlleeture. It adminiMered 'the ,hock ofthe old'.
On that nOlI,' we adjourned to a buffct lunch.
• • •
Latcr in Ihe afternoon. the se"sion de~O\cd 10 art and ~culpture "":1\
rJ.lher more subdued. perhap'> becau..c the ~peakers were all "Cholar...
and critic:. rather thun practitioner\, JX!rhaps becau~e the quiche
lorruitle und chocolate gateaux they were digesting ~Iowed them
down, but mainly. Ilhint.., because thl! rctation~hip of Dccon~truclion
to Ihe visual arls is Ie..... ~pccilic Ihall III the ca~ of drehitccture.
'nlcre arc a few uni"I". such ;15 Franci!o. Bacon, who claim 10 hale
been influenced by Dcnida, and !«lOle, hl..e Valerio Adami and Gerard
Titu~-C:lTlnel. on whom he has commented ~YlllpathclL!,;"lIy and at
length. BUI ~o much modem art isconec!1led with the IIllerrogation of
it" own processes and thc l.jue~l ioning of 0 prion a...~umplion~ ..bout
perceplion and the world. thai the lemllA"ConslrucllOn can be applied
loosely tonlmostanything. and precisely to almosillollting. from POM-
,.
DECONSTRucnON
Impressioni~1Il onwards.
GeoffBenninglon ofSussex Univcrsity. theco-translatorofDcrrida's
Truth //I Paillll1lN (a taskcomparablc indifficully to serving spaghelll
with a knitting needle) ;askcd rhetorically whether to name a movement
in an ' Occon!>tntctionisl'. ,Old gave the impression that only
politeness restraincd him from giving a negative answer.
The fact is thai the tem} Deconstruction is in danger of being
appropriated indiscriminately by ani~ts and an critics searching for
impressive-sounding theorctical concepts with which to explain and
Justify the varied assaults ofmodem an upon common sense. Derrid<J
is on record as l\aying that ' Deconstruction is a word whose fortune..
havc disagreeably surprised mc', and one SU~pcCIS th<JI he would gel
some unpleasant shock.. brow\ing through thc special issue of An &
Oe,ligl1 on ' Occonstructivc Tendencie~ in Art',
Argu<Jbly thc :lpplicmion of the term to archilecture i ~ ju:,t :IS
SpeCIOUS. bUI Ihe cxbtel1ce of a number of pnlctising architects with
some understanding of the theory behind it makes a focused dcb:tte
possible. This was perhaps onc rcason why thc audicncc ilt the
symposium rebelled against thc org,lIIi'iCrs' prov ision for two discussion
p'LIlcls. one on painting, one on:Irchitecture. to close the day. and
insisted on a singlc panel of all the ~I>caker~. (Another rea!>on was that
because Ihe programme was running laIC, they would have had 10 miss
thcir tea 10 11!1end both paneh. Ofcour\C, Ihe audience alway~ objects
10 the way thing~ have been arranged towards Ihe cnd of such cvents:
enforced silence for hours on end whilc being lectured al gencrates a
kind of collectivc Te"l:ntmcnl which has to be discharged somehow.)
II became clear in Ihe la"l sc<.sion th:llthe key to the whole symposium
was anotherevell1that, a.!> Ei!>Cnl1l;l!I pointed 0 111, had not yethappened:
IheMOMA exhibition. What makes thi<.showpotcntiallyso imponam
is that il has been ' instigated' and co-organised by Philip John!>On. the
doyen of Americ;tn architects.
When he was a young man. in 1932 to be precise. Johl1<>on eoorgani'\Cd
another exhibition al MOMA callcd 'The Internmional
Slyle.' which launched the work of CorbU'>ier and thc Bauhaus in
America, and thus in duecoursc changed the face ofthe modern world.
In the latc 1970~ Johnloon was lopectacularly convened to POSIModernism
(he is the architect of the nOlorious 'Chippendalc' sky!>Craper
for AT&T in New Yor~ ), ,Hid now it '>eems he is pUlling his
enormous <Juthority behind a group ofarchitects prcviously thought of
a~ marginal :md eccentric. Is it conceivablc Ihat J)cconstntction could
become the new International Style'!
A lady of mature ycar~ in Ihe audience obviously exprcssed the
misgivings of lll:I11Y when she observed that the architecture diplayed
90
in the cOllr<,e of the day had seemed to her both 'cliti~t and sprawllIlg'
- what relevance dId It have to today's overcrowded world?
In reply, T<;ehuml said his architecture was expressing a revolullOD
that had already happencd (hc mcant an information revolution).
Eisenman ~id hb architecture wal\ a critique of architecture. Hadid
said architects could inject new ideas into socicty by rewriting the
architectur.l.1 brief. In ~hon . they retreated behind a shicld of profes·
sionaliMn.
It was intercl>ling. and perhaPl\ predictable. that the allack 011
Decomtruetioni\t architccture ~hould have had a political slnnt. because
tlte same thing has been happening in the field ofliterary ~tudiet
Deconstructionist criticism is in retreat. especially in America, from
!>omelhing c:tlled the Ncw Hi!>lOricism. a quasi-Marxist. quasi·Fou·
cauldian '>ilualingof Iitcml ure in its socio-economic context-<;o mud
~o thaI J lIilli ~ Miller, one of the luminaries of the Yale School or
Decon~tructioni~ts. felt impelll.'d to rally the troops in a remarkable
prcsident i;ll addres~ to the Modem Language Association of Amcrica
in December I986,'1'he Triumph of Theory. the Resistance 10 Read·
ing. ilnd the Question of the Mllteri;ll Base'. in which he ;lffimlcd that
'the future of Iiterilry studies depends on maintaining and developIng
Ihat rhclOrical re:lding which today is called 'Occonstruction.'
In the scholarlyjourn:ll ~, however. there is an increasing scnloC that
Occonstruction is nn the wanc. Derrida's own late wor~ has become
increllsingly whiml\ical. ficlive and difricultto methodisc (he hnmelf
always denied that it wa~ :1method).
Morc recently. the prestige of Deconstruction has ~uSlaincd a blollr
from which it may never recover III American academic.: Circles: Iht
discovcry (noted recently IIl the!>C columns by Desmond Christy)11131
PlIul de Man, the mo:.t revered lind lluthoratlllive memberof lhe Yale
Schoolofcritici...m, whodicd. muchmourned. in 1983. had.ll...ayoung
mom in occupied Belgium. pUbli<;hed II great many newspllperanicles
symp:lIhetic to the Nali causc.
Imagine thaI F R Lcavh wa~ diM:overcd, shortly after his dcath.1D
havc once been a member of Mo..,ley's blackshirts ilnd you will have
..ome idea of Ihe imp,\cI of Ih,.. revcl:tt ion on American ilcademics.
It has been a gift to thol\e on the intellectual left who have alwK)"'
sll ~pected Ihat Dl.'con~lruct ion is dangerous 10 mornl health. that its
crititille or rea~on is a pretexI for cvading social and politiCil1 rcspon·
.,iblilics.
Architects. in ~ hof1 . llppear 10 be scrillllbling onlO the Dccon~truct
ioni ~t bandwagon j u~t:Lt Ihe moment when litcrary intdlectuah
arc jumping orr. It remain" to be seen whether Ihis will save thc eauiIC
of Deconstruction or con~ ig n the architecture to limbo.