The Postmodernist Concept of the Text

The concept of the text is perhaps one of the most problematical issues in contemporary critical theory. Postmodernism has significantly changed the concept of the text. After postmodernism, the term "text" has come to refer to many objects, aspects and activities, mostly extrinsic to the work itself. This book attempts to research the way postmodernism has affected the traditional concept of the text. The author suggests five strategies which are thought to be the most functional in deconstructing literary texts, examining the way they are applied to readings of some popular romantic poems. In a sense, the aim of this book is to prove that there is a strategy for deconstruction through examining both the theoretical premises and the practical discourse of postmodernism. This becomes possible through the exploration both of the relation between the text and reality and the relation between the text and the subject. It is also made clear through an examination of the suggested major strategies of deconstruction and their application to romantic poetry.