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Catherine Belsey - Poststructuralism: A Very Short Introduction
Belsey has written an eloquent and graspable introduction to a quite complex theme: in
her 'Very Short Introduction' to poststructuralism she focuses not only on the ideas
themselves, but also on their background and - to a certain extent - historical and cultural
roots. Successfully, she relates them to current trends, such as postcolonialism and modern
research, and to clasics such as Carrol's 'Alice in Wonderland' (1865) and Duchamp's 'Fountain'
(1917). She shows how poststructuralist thought is not merely a set of paranoid ideas of
suppression and linguistic imperialism, but rather a quite powerful set of terms for analysis
of literature and politics and everything in between.
The text seems not to define poststructuralism too clearly - in fact, the closest Belsey ever
comes to defining poststructuralism seems to be on page 10: "The simple inference that meaning
is differential, not referential, has profound implications for our understanding of the
relations between human beings and the world" - a quite incomplete and unsatisfactory
definition. The reason for this absence, however, may be found in the very essence of the
poststructural ideas; in the rejection of definitions as anything but 'differential'. When
language is claimed to be a set of signifiers defined by their difference from other signifiers,
defining poststructuralism would simply mean pointing out how it is dissimilar from other
academic movements. Indeed, Belsey quite ambitiously takes on this task.
The poststructuralist rejection of definitions - indeed, of the adequacy of langauge to describe
reality at all - brings to mind a rather ineloquent critique of the poststructuralist stance:
"If you're a poststructuralist you might as well shut up!" Indeed, Barthes' idea of the need for
a metalanguage effectively infertilizes such an argument and could favourably have been
discussed in much greater detail in the book. Similarly, other arguments against the
poststructuralist stance could have been covered in more depth. After all, this 'Very Short
Introduction' is an appallingly short one and another concluding chapter questioning the validity
of the ideas would have made the introduction appear as both a more trustworthy and viable one.
It should also be noted, however, that the poststructuralist ideas are of French origin and remain,
to this day, a mainly French phenomena. As Belsey notes in her section on "differance (with an 'a')",
some of the terms and thoughts are not fully translateable between French and English and the
terminology (and hence, in a sense, the idea) loses some of its edge. Nevertheless, Belsey seems
confident enough to apply the English translation of the ideas to Shakespeare's Sonnet 18 'Shall I
compare thee to a summer's day'.
In conclusion, therefore, it could be noted that Belsey gives an overview of the poststructuralist
ideas as they appear in English today, largely ignoring some of the critique and alternative ideas
because her imtroduction is to the ideas, not to their place in academic history. When she does
touch upon their roots and development also that is rather to illustrate how they developed than why.
An excellent introduction to the ideas, Belsey's book does perhaps fall short on their place in history.
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Belsey has written an eloquent and graspable introduction to a quite complex theme: in
her 'Very Short Introduction' to poststructuralism she focuses not only on the ideas
themselves, but also on their background and - to a certain extent - historical and cultural
roots. Successfully, she relates them to current trends, such as postcolonialism and modern
research, and to clasics such as Carrol's 'Alice in Wonderland' (1865) and Duchamp's 'Fountain'
(1917). She shows how poststructuralist thought is not merely a set of paranoid ideas of
suppression and linguistic imperialism, but rather a quite powerful set of terms for analysis
of literature and politics and everything in between.
The text seems not to define poststructuralism too clearly - in fact, the closest Belsey ever
comes to defining poststructuralism seems to be on page 10: "The simple inference that meaning
is differential, not referential, has profound implications for our understanding of the
relations between human beings and the world" - a quite incomplete and unsatisfactory
definition. The reason for this absence, however, may be found in the very essence of the
poststructural ideas; in the rejection of definitions as anything but 'differential'. When
language is claimed to be a set of signifiers defined by their difference from other signifiers,
defining poststructuralism would simply mean pointing out how it is dissimilar from other
academic movements. Indeed, Belsey quite ambitiously takes on this task.
The poststructuralist rejection of definitions - indeed, of the adequacy of langauge to describe
reality at all - brings to mind a rather ineloquent critique of the poststructuralist stance:
"If you're a poststructuralist you might as well shut up!" Indeed, Barthes' idea of the need for
a metalanguage effectively infertilizes such an argument and could favourably have been
discussed in much greater detail in the book. Similarly, other arguments against the
poststructuralist stance could have been covered in more depth. After all, this 'Very Short
Introduction' is an appallingly short one and another concluding chapter questioning the validity
of the ideas would have made the introduction appear as both a more trustworthy and viable one.
It should also be noted, however, that the poststructuralist ideas are of French origin and remain,
to this day, a mainly French phenomena. As Belsey notes in her section on "differance (with an 'a')",
some of the terms and thoughts are not fully translateable between French and English and the
terminology (and hence, in a sense, the idea) loses some of its edge. Nevertheless, Belsey seems
confident enough to apply the English translation of the ideas to Shakespeare's Sonnet 18 'Shall I
compare thee to a summer's day'.
In conclusion, therefore, it could be noted that Belsey gives an overview of the poststructuralist
ideas as they appear in English today, largely ignoring some of the critique and alternative ideas
because her imtroduction is to the ideas, not to their place in academic history. When she does
touch upon their roots and development also that is rather to illustrate how they developed than why.
An excellent introduction to the ideas, Belsey's book does perhaps fall short on their place in history.
