
A Study of Bruce Norris’ Clybourne Park and The Pain and the Itch in the Light of Derridean Deconstructive Theory
Ali Nasseri, Iran, ID CLEaR2017-414; Abstract: Deconstruction refers to a series of techniques for reading texts developed by Jacques Derrida; these techniques in turn are connected to a set of philosophical claims about language and meaning. The deconstruction thinker looks for the ways in which one term in the opposition has been ‘privileged’ over the other in a particular text, argument, historical tradition or social practice. One term may be privileged because it is considered the general, normal, central case, while the other is considered special, exceptional, peripheral or derivative. Something may also be privileged because it is considered more true, more valuable, more important, or more universal than it’s opposite. Moreover, because things can have more than one opposite, many different types of privileging can occur simultaneously. Deconstruction does not show that all texts are meaningless, but rather that they are overflowing with multiple and often conflicting meanings. In this trend, logocentricism is dealt which refers to any system of thought which is founded on the stability and authority of the Logos. It can be said that Bruce Norris’ plays mostly deal with gender, class, and race. In fact, Gender expectations, constructs, identity, performance, performativity, voice, and power dynamics all appear in Clybourne Park and The Pain and the Itch. In these two plays race, class, and gender have been stereotyped and shown superior; however, through deconstructive reading of the plays, it can be concluded that the stereotyped superiority of race, class, and gender fails.
Keywords: Logocentricism, Binary Opposition, Differance, Aporia, Gender, Race, Class
Contact
Journal of Language and Cultural Education
Department of English Language and Literature
Faculty of Education
Priemyselna 4
P. O. BOX 9
918 43 Trnava
SLOVAKIA
+421 948 632253
jolace@slovakedu.com