Skip to main content

Deconstruction and Negative Meaning in Medieval Mysticism

  • Chapter
Negation, Critical Theory, and Postmodern Textuality

Abstract

One of the unfortunate corollaries of poststructuralist theorizing about literary texts has been the equation of a skepticism concerning language with a skepticism concerning meaning. It almost appears as if, under the name of deconstruction, the academy has sheltered a viper within its bosom, a presence which seeks to destroy the host which succours it.1 The perceived menace of unrestrained relativism has tended to polarize the university community into proponents of a ‘logo-diffuse’ onto-epistemology and proponents of a ‘logo-centric’ one, and critical practice has followed this lead.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Works Cited

  • Aurelius, Augustinius. Basic Writings of Saint Augustine. Ed. Whitney J. Oates. N.Y.: Random House, 1948.

    Google Scholar 

  • Armstrong, Hilary. “Negative Theology.” Downside Review 95 (1977): 176–189.

    Google Scholar 

  • Battenhouse, Roy. “Anti-Religion in Academia.” Christianity and Literature 37 (Fall 1987): 7–22.

    Google Scholar 

  • Derrida, Jacques. “How To Avoid Speaking: Denials.” Budick, Sanford and Wolfgang Iser. Eds. Languages of the Unsayable: the Play of Negativity in Literature and Literary Theory. N.Y.: Columbia UP, 1989: 3–70.

    Google Scholar 

  • Derrida, Jacques. Limited Inc. Evanston: Northwestern UP, 1988.

    Google Scholar 

  • Derrida, Jacques. Of Grammatology. Tr. Gayatri Spivak. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1976.

    Google Scholar 

  • Derrida, Jacques. Margins of Philosophy. Tr. Alan Bass. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1982.

    Google Scholar 

  • Handelman, Susan A. “Jacques Derrida and the Heretic Hermeneutic.” Displacement: Derrida and After. Ed. Mark Krupnick. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1983.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hirsch, E. D., Jr. Validity in Interpretation. New Haven: Yale UP, 1967.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jeffrey, David Lyle. “Caveat Lector: Structuralism, Deconstructionism and Ideology.” Christian Scholar’s Review 17 (June 1988): 436–448.

    Google Scholar 

  • John of the Cross. The Ascent of Mount Carmel. Tr. Kieren Kavanaugh and Otilio Rodriguez. Washington, D.C.: ICS Publications, 1979.

    Google Scholar 

  • Julian of Norwich. Revelations of Divine Love. Tr. Clifton Wolters. London: Penguin, 1966.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kernan, Alvin. The Death of Literature. New Haven: Yale UP, 1990.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kimball, Roger. Tenured Radicals. N.Y.: Harper & Row, 1990.

    Google Scholar 

  • Levinas, Emmanuel. “To Love the Torah More Than God.” Tr. Helen A. Stephenson and Richard I. Sugarman. Judaism 28 (1979): 216–223.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mackey, Louis. “Slouching Toward Bethlehem: Deconstructive Strategies in Theology.” Anglican Theological Review 65 (1983): 255–269.

    Google Scholar 

  • Richard of St. Victor. The Twelve Patriarchs. Tr. Grover A. Zinn. N.Y.: Paulist Press, 1979.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ryken, Leland. “The Contours of Christian Criticism in 1987.” Christianity and Literature 37 (Fall 1987): 23–37.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schrag, Calvin O. Radical Reflection. ection. West Lafayette, Ind.: Purdue UP, 1980.

    Google Scholar 

  • Searle, John. “The Storm Over the University.” New York Review of Books December 6, 1990: 34–42.

    Google Scholar 

  • Spikes, Michael P. “Self-Present Meaning and the One-Many Paradox: A Kripkean Critique of Jacques Derrida.” Christianity and Literature 37 (Spring 1988): 13–28.

    Google Scholar 

  • Teresa of Avila. Interior Castle. Tr. E. Allison Peers. N.Y.: Doubleday, 1961.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 1994 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Thomson, D. (1994). Deconstruction and Negative Meaning in Medieval Mysticism. In: Fischlin, D. (eds) Negation, Critical Theory, and Postmodern Textuality. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-8291-9_2

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-8291-9_2

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-90-481-4403-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-015-8291-9

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics