Deconstruction

Deconstruction is doesn't make much sense to me. The whole idea of having a "decentered" planet is a little hard for me to comprehend. A place where there is not absolute or fixed points, allowing 'free play' doesn't quite sit well with me. In the essay, Death of the Author, moving into the post-structuralism era makes the reader disconnect the author from the work, so that philosophical meanings can be derived from the free text. I do not quite buy that! The point is to not take into any consideration what the author intent on writing was. But don't authors write to convey their ideas and opinions? The whole notion that there is 'nothing outside the text' in some ways is false.

I understand that critics should look not only for the parallels as the structuralists do, but also look for the paradoxes, conflicts, ect. It is important to look at literature from all of the different angles, but I think that they need to be put together.

I once saw a deconstruction of the ballet, Swan Lake. When we bought tickets, we had not realized that it was a deconstruction interpretation. Instead of having a female cast, the entire cast was male, and the story was interpreted dramatically different than the traditional interpretation. I feel though that with this rendition of the ballet, the director did not take into consideration of the intent of the ballet to begin with, and the story was lost. The beauty was lost! Even thought this idea spawned creativity, I did not appreciate the deconstruction of the ballet. Sometimes, looking at something more traditionally in my opinion is better.