In Eternal Youth and the Myth of Deconstruction, Bret Alderman puts forth a compelling thesis: Deconstruction tells a mythic story. Through an attentive examination of multiple texts and literary works, he elucidates this story in psychological and philosophical terms.
Deconstruction, the method of philosophical and literary analysis originated by Jacques Derrida, arises from what Carl Jung called -a kind of readiness to produce over and over again the same or similar mythical ideas.- In the case of deconstruction, such ideas bear a striking resemblance to a figure that Jungian and Post-Jungian writers refer to as the puer aeternus or eternal youth. To make his case, in addition to a careful analysis of numerous Derridean texts, he offers readings of literary works by Milan Kundera, J.M. Barrie, Dante, Apuleius, and others. These texts help illustrate that deconstruction-s preoccupations over questions of presence, deferral, authority, limits, time, and represe
