The Architecture of Deconstruction: Derrida's Haunt

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Summary: A ghost dance with a conspiracy theorist
Review: Originally written as a PhD thesis in 1986, this book should have been published sooner than it was (1993) because it forewarns just were Jacques Derrida's elusive philosophy was taking us - to a ghost dance, specifically to Derrida's latest ill-fated attempt to prove the ethico-political relevance of his Deconstruction in his book, Specters of Marx, 1993. The Architecture of Deconstruction focuses on Derrida's essays on Husserl (Introduction to the Origin of Geometry) and on Abraham and Torok (Fors) rather than Derrida's essays on architecture (there are enough now to full a book, many concerning Plato's intriguing use of the word Chora, but in '86 there was only one published) in order, writes Wigley, "to think the covert architectural economy of his (Derrida's) work", thus, a poverty of resource is disguised as a guiding principle. Wigley had ample opportunity to correct this before publishing but he chose not to. The core of Wigley's thesis is that there exists an unspoken contract between architecture and philosophy. The former lends itself to the latter as a cluster of metaphors for stability (spatially systematised concepts inside built on solid foundations outside) and in return architectural discourse is granted the authority and respectability of higher learning that only philosophy can give. And like all good conspiracy theories this is a self-fulfilling prophesy: someone will inevitably contradict you, thereby proving the conspiracy is operative by attempting to cover it up. If anything, this book proves that conspiracy theories do indeed work, but when Deconstruction dances, its partner will always be a ghost.