criticism

[Otto Sell]

"All criticism claims to be enlightenment or Aufklärung."

from one of Terrance's Conrad links:
http://www.unc.edu/~pinaula/deconstr.htm

Murfin, Ross C. and Miller, J. Hillis. "Deconstruction and Heart of
Darkness." in "Heart of Darkness": A Case Study in Contemporary Criticism.
New York: St. Martin's Press, 1989, pp. 199-225.

 The website includes in fact two essays. The first is by Murfin and is
entitled "What is Deconstruction" and is a very well-done brief
introduction, explaining mainly Derrida (others too) and provides a reading
list:

"To deconstruct a text isn't to show that all the high old themes aren't
there to be found in it. It is, rather, to show that a text --- not unlike
DNA with its double helix --- can have intertwined, opposite
"discourses" --- strands of narrative, threads of meaning." - J. Hillis
Miller, "Stevens' Rock and Criticism as Cure, II," The Georgia Review 30
(1976), p. 341.

The second essay is by Miller: "A DECONSTRUCTIVE CRITIC AT WORK J. HILLIS
MILLER: Heart of Darkness Revisited":

"The meanings of the stories of most seamen, says the narrator, are inside
the narration like the kernel of a cracked nut. (...) It is far otherwise
with Marlow's stories. Their meaning --- like the meaning of a parable -- is
outside, not in. It envelops the tale rather than being enveloped by it. The
relation of container and thing contained is reversed. The meaning now
contains the tale. (...) The tale magically brings the "unseen" meaning out
and makes it visible."

Binary oppositions:
inside vs outside
meaning vs narration/tale
container vs thing contained
unseen vs visible

Lots of HoD on GR

Otto